The Behistun Inscription This monumental inscription is the same text written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian (Akkadian), commissioned by Darius the Great of the Persian Empire as political propaganda. The inscription emphasizes the legitimacy of Darius’ rule, accounting the death of the previous king, Cyrus, and Darius’ defeat of the false kings who emerged to take his place. Because of the continual emphasis on Darius’ legitimacy, archaeologists have speculated that Darius himself may have been involved in the death of Cyrus and used the inscription as a public way of reinforcing his legitimacy and intimidating his enemies. The inscription was placed on a heavily travelled road and written in multiple languages to accommodate the ethnically diverse population of Persia and the Near East. Deciphered by Sir Henry Crewsicke Rawlinson, the Behistun Inscription is the longest known text written in Old Persian and led to the decipherment of many other Near Eastern languages. Often called the Persian Rosetta Stone, the Behistun Inscription was critically important in both the Persia of antiquity and academic studies of the present day.
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 10:16:31 +0000
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