Behistun

Behistun, a mountain near a village of the same name in Persia, province of Irak-Ajemi, celebrated for the sculpture and inscriptions cut out on its side. The principal of these relates to Darius Hystaspes, who is represented with a bow in his hand, and a number of captives before him chained together by the neck, and with his foot upon one. These inscriptions are at an elevation of 300 feet from the ground, and the labour expended in cutting them out must have been enormous. Their probable date is 515 B.C. There are other inscriptions in Greek and Arabic. The Darius tablets were translated by Sir Henry Rawlinson, whose account of his work is given in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.