Behistun Inscription

(noun)

An inscription carved in a cliff face of Mount Behistrun in Iran; it provided a key to deciphering cuneiform script.

Related Terms

Examples of Behistun Inscription in the following topics:

  • Government and Trade in the Achaemenid Empire

    • Sometime after his coronation, Darius ordered an inscription to be carved on a limestone cliff of Mount Behistun in modern Iran.
    • The Behistun Inscription, the text of which Darius wrote, came to have great linguistic significance as a crucial clue in deciphering cuneiform script.
    • Researchers were able to compare the scripts and use it to help decipher ancient languages, in this way making the Behistun Inscription as valuable to cuneiform as the Rosetta Stone is to Egyptian hieroglyphs.
    • A section of the Behistun Inscription on a limestone cliff of Mount Behistun in western Iran, which became a key in deciphering cuneiform script.

  • Architecture of the Maya

    • The Temple of the Inscriptions is a nine-level pyramid that rises to a height of about 75 feet.
    • Inscriptions line the back wall of the outer chamber, giving the temple its name.
    • Across from the Temple of Inscriptions is the Palace, a complex of several adjacent buildings and courtyards, built on a wide artificial terrace.
    • Temple of the Inscriptions (tomb pyramid of Lord Pakal), Palenque, Mexico, 7th century
    • Palace (right) and Temple of the Inscriptions, tomb-pyramid of Lord Pakal (left).

  • Cultures of Mesoamerica

    • One of those buildings, the Temple of the Inscriptions, is a nine-level pyramid that is 75 feet high.
    • Inscriptions line the back wall of the temple, giving the building its name.

  • Art Under the Zhou Dynasty

  • Zoroastrianism

    • Darius I, and later Achaemenid emperors, acknowledged their devotion to Ahura Mazda in inscriptions (as attested to several times in the Behistun inscription), and appear to have continued the model of coexistence with other religions.

  • Bronze under the Zhou Dynasty

  • Art and Architecture of the Achaemenid Empire

    • Inscriptions describe a great fire that engulfed "the palace" but do not specify which palace.

  • Jelling Stones

  • Ashoka's Conversion

    • Edict 13 on the Edicts of Ashoka Rock Inscriptions reflect the great remorse the king felt after observing the destruction of Kalinga: