Definition: The Behistun inscription is a "rosetta stone", that is to say, one inscription recorded in three different languages, Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. The text, including a description of the early military campaigns of the Achaemenid King Darius I (522-486 BC), was carved on the side of a cliff about 300 feet off the ground near the town of Bisotun, Iraq, on the ancient road connecting the Assyrian towns of Babylon and Media.
The inscription, carved between 520 and 518 BC, describes (among other things) Darius' risky (but successful) attack on Egypt, and a failed coup attempt on the Achaemenid empire while he was away. The first archaeologist to scale the cliff to take a close look was Henry Rawlinson in 1835, who translated the text and published it in 1835.
The inscription, carved between 520 and 518 BC, describes (among other things) Darius' risky (but successful) attack on Egypt, and a failed coup attempt on the Achaemenid empire while he was away. The first archaeologist to scale the cliff to take a close look was Henry Rawlinson in 1835, who translated the text and published it in 1835.
Sources
Briant, Pierre. 2005. History of the Persian Empire (550-330 BC). Pp 12-17 in Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia, edited by John E. Curtis and Nigel Tallis. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Tavernier, Jan 2001 An Achaemenid Royal Inscription: The Text of Paragraph 13 of the Aramaic Version of the Bisitun Inscription. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60(3):61-176.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
Alternate Spellings: Bisitun, Bisotun
Common Misspellings: Beistun
