About Bisotun Inscription

Bisotun Inscription is a multilingual inscription and large rock relief on a cliff at Mount Bisotun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran, established by Darius the Great. The inscription includes three versions of the same text, written in three different cuneiform script languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.

Authored by Darius the Great sometime between his coronation as king of the Persian Empire in the summer of 522 BC and his death in autumn of 486 BC, the inscription begins with a brief autobiography of Darius, including his ancestry and lineage. Later in the inscription, Darius provides a lengthy sequence of events following the deaths of Cyrus the Great and Cambyses II in which he fought nineteen battles in a period of one year to put down multiple rebellions throughout the Persian Empire. The inscription states in detail that the rebellions, which had resulted from the deaths of Cyrus the Great and his son Cambyses II, were orchestrated by several impostors and their co-conspirators in various cities throughout the empire, each of whom falsely proclaimed kinghood during the upheaval following Cyrus's death. Darius the Great proclaimed himself victorious in all battles during the period of upheaval, attributing his success to the grace of Ahura Mazda.

The inscription is approximately 15 m high by 25 m wide and 100 m up a limestone cliff from an ancient road connecting the capitals of Babylonia and Medes (Babylon and Ecbatana, respectively). The site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.

City

Bisotun

Bisotun is a city and capital of Bisotun District, in Harsin County, Kermanshah Province, Iran.
See Bisotun