The Inscription of Bisotun, Kermanshah

The Inscription of Bisotun, Kermanshah

The Inscription of Bisotun (Behistun)

Here is a fragment of the inscription of Bisotun. By such things we will understand how historians have been able to study the past. But the importance of the inscription is not only the knowledge of the history, but it could be said that it is the Rosetta stone to know the Elamite and the Babylonian civilizations.

I beat and captured nine kings. One was called Gaumata, a magician; He lied; So he said: I am Esmerdis, the son of Cyrus ... One, named Acina, an Elamite; He lied; thus said he: I am king in ... One, named Nidintu-Bel, a Babylonian; He lied; Thus said he: I am Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus. King Darius then tells us, the Lie made them rebels, so that these people deceived the people. You (Xerxes) will be king from here on, protect yourself with strength against the Lie; the man that is a follower of the lie, that punish him well, if that you should think. Let my country be safe!

This text is a fragment of the inscription of Bisotun (Behistun). This majestic Inscription carved and sculpted on the side of a cliff in the Zagros mountains, in the current province of Kermanshah, in western Iran. The text is related to the Achaemenid Empire in Persia during the second half of the first millennium BC. In this fragment the victory of Darius I (549 - 486 A.C.), king of Persia, on nine kings, to which he calls liars is narrated. In addition, he leaves a message to his heir, Xerxes, to protect himself and punish the liars.

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The Persian Empire in the time of Darius I

At that time, the Persian Empire was at its zenith in the Middle East. It had extensive territories, which included Persia, Mesopotamia, the Anatolian peninsula, Assyria, the Mediterranean coast of the Near East, Egypt, some Greek areas and some areas of the Indian subcontinent.

Darius I ascended to the throne after assassinating the usurper Bardia, as mentioned in the Inscription of Bisotun (Behistun). Throughout his reign he had to face numerous revolts. Some of the leaders of the revolts are also mentioned in the inscription, so that the victory of Darius I over them is remembered.

Darius reformed the Persian Empire. The Empire was organized into 20 satrapies (or provinces). These satrapies retained their own administration although they paid an annual tribute to the Persian king. In order to carry out this administration, an extensive network of roads was designed and built to facilitate these administrative services. To improve the functioning of the Empire, a new and unified monetary system was introduced, the Aramaic became the official language in the empire and important construction projects were accomplished. All these actions made the Persian Achaemenid Empire one of the most important empires in the history of Antiquity in the world.

Discovery of the inscription of Bisotun (Behistn)

In 1598, Robert Shirley saw the inscription during a diplomatic mission in Persia. This discovery the western countries believed that such inscriptions were biblical. In 1835, Sir Henry Rawlinson, a British army officer, began to study the inscriptions in a more serious and professional way, and he found interesting facts about them.

Importance of the inscription of Bisotun (Behistn)

The inscription of Bisotun has the same text written in three different languages ​​(old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian). Rawlison was able to translate the text into Persian in the year 1838, and the Elamite and Babylonian texts could be translated in 1843.

Thus, dead languages ​​could be known from the translation of the ancient Persian texts. From there they could begin to study and translate texts written in Elamite and Babylonian, which helped the investigation of ancient history. The Bisotun inscription is sometimes compared to the Rosetta Stone because of its importance in the knowledge of ancient Near Eastern scriptures and languages. The Bisotun inscription was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2006.

As a personal comment, Darius I was fully successful in placing the inscription in a place with difficult access. Thanks to this, he has been able to pass to posterity in his original place, chosen in a premeditated way, and has not ended up in another room of the British Museum.

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