Bisotun

Bisotun ( Behistun ) is a village not far from Ecbatana, around 30 kilometers east of Kermanshah in Iran. A steep rocky ridge in this village ( the so-called mountain of the gods ) and its surroundings, is a historically significant place on the main connecting route between the Mediterranean and China.

The massif is home to several reliefs. The most significant was the Achämenidenkönig Darius I inscribe. The pictorial representation, a good five feet wide and three feet high, is Darius ' victory over his main opponent Gaumata dar. with the scene, which is crowned by the winged sun disk of the god Ahura Mazda, Darius wants legitimierem his claim to the throne, he in 19 had to fight various battles. His proclamation in the underlying inscription field, called the Behistun inscription contains 1200 rows and is trilingual written in Old Persian, Elamite and Neubabylonisch. Therefore, it was for the decipherment of cuneiform similarly important as the Rosetta Stone for Egyptian hieroglyphs.

About three meters above the path that leads up to Dariusrelief, was the Heracles relief uncovered during road works from the time of the Seleucids. It shows almost vollplastisch the superimposed on a lion's skin Heracles with a cup in her hand. The inscription on his head dated the work to the year 148 BC.

Right behind it, there are already heavily weathered Part Herre Liefs. On the left rock art are shown four satraps, the king Mithridates II ( 124-87 BC) homage. The right commemorates the victory of the Parthian king Gotarzes II, (shown on horseback ) his enemy (probably the anti-king Meherdates, 50 AD), pierced with a spear. An inscription from the 17th century was carved on the reliefs.

Several caves in the rock solid evidence of a settlement of the area during the Mittelpaläolithikums.