The Old Iranian languages are the earliest attested stage of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian, spoken until around 400 BC. Only two languages of this stage survive in direct written evidence, Old Persian, best preserved in the Behistun inscription of about 520 BC, and Avestan, the liturgical language of the Zoroastrian Avesta, divided into Old Avestan and Younger Avestan; differing sound changes between the two suggest Iranian had already split into at least three groups by this period.
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