Behistun (inscription)
The Behistun Inscription, Rock of Behistun, or Bisotun is a super sized ancient billboard bas-relief engraved into the side Mount Behistun overlooking the township of Bisotun in Kermanshah in western Iran. It records the legacy of Darius I and is situated on the ancient intersect between the highways leading to Ecbatana in Media, Babylon and Susa in Persia.
The relief details Darius' assassination of False Smerdis and the eight rebels he subdued with the addition of the king of the Scythians whom he conquered at a later date.
Containing three different languages, its translation greatly aided the study of these languages and represents the final word on much of these events. In the nineteenth century, Henry Creswick Rawlinson deciphered the cuneiform on the Rock of Behistun by comparing it to the same text in old Persian.
