Persian rulers translated imperial edicts into each provincial language

Evidence

A passage in the Book of Esther tells us that in the Persian empire an order was sent ‘to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred and twenty-seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language’ (Esther 8: 9). A considerable task, to translate an imperial order into presumably 127 languages so that the ruler’s orders would be understood in all the provinces of his empire, from India even unto Ethiopia. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 142

Categorization

• SHARE: Good for someone interested in multilingual empires and the administrative mechanics of translation.