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'Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions' is a stele of pink granite discovered in 1866, by Charles de Lesseps, near Kabret, 130 kilometers from Suez in Egypt. The stele belonged to Darius the Great, king of ancient Persia, whose reign lasted from 522 BCE to 486 BCE. The monument, also known as the ''Chalouf stele'', testified the construction of the forerunner of the Suez Canal by the Persians.

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Part of the inscriptions' text:

★ In Old Persian:
xâmanišiya thâtiy Dârayavauš XŠ adam Pârsa amiy hacâ Pâ
rsâ Mudrâyam agarbâyam adam niyaštâyam imâm yauviyâ
m katanaiy hacâ Pirâva nâma rauta tya Mudrâyaiy danuvatiy ab
iy draya tya hacâ Pârsâ aitiy pasâva iyam yauviyâ akaniya
avathâ yathâ adam niyaštâyam utâ nâva âyatâ hacâ Mudrâ
yâ tara imâm yauviyâm abiy Pârsam avathâ yathâ mâm kâma âha

★ English translation:
"King Darius says: I am a Persian; setting out from Persia I conquered Egypt. I ordered to dig this canal from the river that is called Nile and flows in Egypt, to the sea that begins in Persia. Therefore, when this canal had been dug as I had ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as I had intended."

See also

★ Achaemenids

★ History of Egypt under Achaemenid Persian domination