GANJ-NĀMA
(lit. treasure book), location in a pass at an altitude of about 2,000 m across the Alvand Kūh leading westward to Tūyserkān, 12 km southwest of Hamadān.

GANJ-NĀMA (lit. treasure book), location in a pass at an altitude of about 2,000 m across the Alvand Kūh (q.v.) leading westward to Tūyserkān, 12 km southwest of Hamadān (q.v.). Apparently, in the pre-Hellenistic period, this was the major east-west pass through the Alvand. On a vertically cut rock face are two trilingual (OPers., Neo-Babylonian, Neo-Elamite) cuneiform inscriptions in panels each measuring 2 by 3 m. The texts, praising Ahura Mazdā and listing lineages and conquests, are identical except for the royal name. The text on the upper left is by Darius I (521-485 B.C.E.; Kent, Old Persian, pp. 111, 147), while that on the lower right is by Xerxes I (485-65 B.C.E.; Kent, Old Persian, pp. 113, 152). The reliefs are flanked by holes, which probably secured protective covers. Investigations by Heinz Luschey (unpublished) identified a rock-cut terrace above the inscriptions (for photographs, see Lockhart, lower plate opposite p. 95 and Vanden Berghe, pl. 138a). See also ECBATANA.
Bibliography
L. Lockhart, Persian Cities, London, 1960.
L. Vanden Berghe, Archéologie de l’Iran ancien, Leiden, 1959.