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BEHISTUN

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 657 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEHISTUN , or BISrTuN, now pronounced Bisutun, a little See also:

village at the See also:foot of a precipitous See also:rock, 1700 ft. high, in the centre of the Zagros range in See also:Persia on the right See also:bank of the Samas-Ab, the See also:principal tributary of the Kerkha (Choaspes). The See also:original See also:form of the name, Bagistana, " See also:place of the gods " or " of See also:God " has been preserved by the See also:Greek authors Stephanus of See also:Byzantium, and Diodorus (ii. 13), the latter of whom says that the place was sacred to See also:Zeus, i.e. Ahuramazda (Ormuzd). At its foot passes the See also:great road which leads from Babylonia (See also:Bagdad) to the See also:highlands of See also:Media (See also:Ecbatana, See also:Hamadan). On the steep See also:face of the rock, some 500 ft. above the See also:plain, See also:Darius I., See also:king of Persia, had engraved a great See also:cuneiform inscription (11 or 12 ft. high), which recounts the way in which, after the See also:death of See also:Cambyses, he killed the usurper Gaumata (in See also:Justin Gometes, the pseudo-See also:Smerdis), defeated the numerous rebels, and restored the See also:kingdom of the Achaemenidae. Above the inscription the picture of the king himself is graven, with a See also:bow in his See also:hand, putting his See also:left foot on the See also:body of Gaumata. Nine See also:rebel chiefs are led before him, their hands See also:bound behind them, and a rope See also:round their necks: the ninth is Skunka, the See also:chief of the Scythians (Sacae) whom he defeated. Behind the king stand his bow-See also:bearer and his See also:lance-bearer; in the See also:air appears the figure of the great god Ahuramazda, whose See also:protection led him to victory.' The See also:inscriptions are composed in the three See also:languages which are written with cuneiform signs, and were used in all See also:official inscriptions of the Achaemenian See also:kings: the chief place ' A passage in the inscription runs:—" Thus saith Darius the king: That which I have done I have done altogether by the See also:grace of Ahuramazda. Ahuramazda, and the other gods that be, brought aid to me. For this See also:reason did Ahuramazda, and the other gods that be, bring aid to me, because I was not hostile, nor a liar, nor a wrongdoer, neither I nor my See also:family, but according to Rectitude (arstam) have I ruled." (A. V.

\Villiams See also:

Jackson, Persia, Past and See also:Present.) is of course given to the See also:Persian See also:language (in four columns); the three Susian (Elamitic) columns See also:lie to the left, and the Babylonian See also:text is on a slanting See also:boulder above them; a See also:part of the Babylonian has been destroyed by a torrent, which has made its way over it. In former times the second language has often been called Scythian, Turanian or Median; but we now know from numerous inscriptions of See also:Susa that it is the language of See also:Elam which was spoken in Susa, the See also:capital of the Persian See also:empire. In 1835 the difficult and almost inaccessible cliff was first climbed by See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Rawlinson, who copied and deciphered the inscriptions (183 184J), and thus completed the See also:reading of the old cuneiform text and laid the See also:foundation of the See also:science of Assyriology. Diodorus ii. 13 (cf. xvii. 11o) , probably following a later author who wrote the See also:history of See also:Alexander's See also:campaigns, mentions the sculptures and inscriptions, but attributes them to See also:Semiramis. At the foot of the rock are the remainders of some other sculptures (quite destroyed), the fragments of a Greek inscription of the See also:Parthian See also:prince See also:Gotarzes (A.D. 4o; text in Dittenberger, Orientis graeci inscr. selectee, no. 431), and of an Arabic inscription. See Sir Henry Rawlinson in the Journ. R. Geog.

See also:

Soc. ix., 1839; J. R. See also:Asiatic Soc. x. 1866, xiv., 1853, xv., 1855; Archaeologia, xxxiv., 1852; Sir R. See also:Ker See also:Porter, Travels, ii. 149 ff. ; Flandin and Coste, Voyage en Perse, i. pl. 16; and the See also:modern See also:editions of the inscriptions, the best of which, up to the end of the 19th See also:century, were: Weissbach and See also:Bang, See also:Die altpersischen Keilinschriften (1893) Weissbach, Die Achaemenideninschriften zweiter See also:Art (1890); Bezold, Die (babylonischen) Achaemenideninschriften (1882). A description of the locality, with comments on the present See also:state of the inscriptions and doubtful passages of the Persian text, was given by Dr A. V. See also:Williams Jackson in the See also:Journal of the See also:American See also:Oriental Society, See also:xxiv., 1903, and in his Persia, Past and Present (1906). Dr Jackson in 1903 climbed to the ledge of the rock and was able to collate the See also:lower part of the four large Persian columns; he thus convinced himself that See also:Foy's conjecture of arstam (" righteousness ") for Rawlinson's abistam or abastam was correct.

A later investigation was carried out in 1904 on the instructions of the See also:

British Museum Trustees by Messrs. L. W. King and R. C. See also:Thompson, who published their results in 1907 under the See also:title, The Inscription of Darius the Great at Behistiin, including a full illustrated See also:account of the sculptures and the inscription, and a See also:complete See also:collation of the text. (En.

End of Article: BEHISTUN

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