The Behistun Inscription

The Behistun Inscription is a monumental carving on a cliff in Iran, created around 520 BCE by King Darius the Great. It features a detailed relief and inscriptions in three languages—Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian—describing Darius’s rise to power and victories. The inscription served as a royal declaration and a historical record, and it helped later scholars understand cuneiform writing through the multilingual text. Its significance lies in its role as a key to deciphering ancient scripts and in illustrating the empire's history and the king’s legitimacy.