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Iron Age Britain, Barry Cunliffe

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Bisitun - Ancient Village or Settlement in Iran

Submitted by DrewParsons on Sunday, 30 May 2010  Page Views: 11421

Multi-periodSite Name: Bisitun Alternative Name: Bistun, Behistun, Bisotun, Bisutun, Bīsotūn, Bagastana, بیست 
Country: Iran
NOTE: This site is 8.657 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Kermanshah  Nearest Village: Bisitun
Latitude: 34.390480N  Longitude: 47.435960E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by SolarMegalith : Site in Iran The inscription is written in three languages - Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian (photo taken on April 2007). (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient settlement with cliff carved text relating the deeds of Darius the Great, located in Bisitun 30 kilometres to the west of the Iranian city of Kermanshah. Bisitun with its many variant spellings is a site located 30 kilometres to the west of the Iranian city of Kermanshah. The site comprises settlement evidence dating from prehistoric times to the thirteenth century.

These include the Medians (728 BCE to 550 BCE), through the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanians to the Ilkhanate Empire founded by Genghis's grandson, Hulagu in the thirteenth century.

The most famous object at Bisitun is the bas-relief carving in the rock face above the valley describing the victories of the Achaemenid king Darius the Great who reigned from 522 - 486 BC. The carving was commenced in 520 BC and was written in three types of cuneiform script, not a language but a common writing system for hundreds of years in the Middle East. Modern discovery and translation of this rock script owes much to the efforts of a British army officer Henry Rawlinson who, hanging from scaffolding, copied most of the script in the summer of 1844, and then spent years working on breaking the cuneiform script's code and translating it. He was followed by other scholars who were then able to translate the Neo-Babylonian and Elamite texts giving us the key to understanding those languages too. This led to the translation of cuneiform texts across the Middle East. Effectively this rock was the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone in allowing historians to understand the history of this period once Rawlinson had translated the Old Persian version of the text.

The texts are 15 metres high and 25 metres wide, standing 100 metres up a limestone cliff above an ancient route which linked the capitals of Babylonia and Media. Illustrating the texts is a life sized carving of Darius holding a bow, a sign of kingship, with his left foot on a figure below him, interpreted as Gaumata, whilst servants and captives are set around him.

There are a number of other important sites at Bisitun including a 2nd century BC sculpture of Hercules, two heavily eroded Parthian bas-reliefs, the excavations of a Sassanian palace, and in 2009 the start of work on a newly discovered Parthian settlement.

For a comprehensive coverage of the story of the discovery and translation of the scripts see: Empires of the Plain - Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon, by Lesley Adkins, Harper Perennial, London, 2004

More at:http://wapedia.mobi/en/Bisitun


Note: Archaeologists to study the World Heritage Site of Bistun, see comment
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Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by durhamnature : Old photo from "The Romance of Excavation..." a wonderful book via archive.org Site in Iran (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by SolarMegalith : Site in Iran Sculpture of Heracles on the way to Behistun inscription (photo taken on April 2007). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by SolarMegalith : Site in Iran Inscription in Behistun - autobiography of Darius the Great (550 BCE - 486 BCE) written in three languages and cut in a 100 m high limestone cliff. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : View from the Farhād Tārăs site towards the Safavid caravanserai. April 2014. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : Farhād Tārăs is an immense cleared rock face prepared for an inscription by Khosrow II in the 7th century AD but never started other than the smoothing of the rock wall. The site is 300 metres further west from the Darius the Great Inscriptions. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The site sign for the blank Farhād Tārăs site. April 2014 (2 comments)

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : Vologases or King Balāš relief - to the right of the king on the next face of the rock stands another man approaching King Balāš, but there were 5 such Parthian named kings and so the relief can only be dated to between 51 and 228 AD. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : Vologases or King Balāš relief - the rear of the rock with a man approaching the king from this side. The king is on the next face of the rock. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : King Balāš relief. This side of the rock carries the image of the king, on adjacent sides other figures approach the king. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The site sign for the Vologases or King Balāš relief. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The Seleucid carving of Heracles dated to 148BC. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The site sign for the Seleucid carving of Heracles. April 2014

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : Scaffolding at the inscription of Darius the Great. Be sure to take binoculars and view the site from across the pond at its base! April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : Site sign for the Inscription of Darius the Great. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The inscription of Darius the Great. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The inscription of Darius the Great seen from across the lake and partially hidden by scaffolding in April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The relief of Mithradates II carved around 123 - 110 BC and subsequently over carved in the 17th century with Islamic dedications (in the framed area). April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by DrewParsons : The Neanderthal cave at Bisitun where the arm of a Neanderthal was found together with stone tools and animal bones, plus later objects from Assyrian and Achaemenid eras. April 2014.

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by durhamnature : Old drawing, from "Babylonian Expedition...." via archive.org Site in Iran

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by durhamnature : Old photo of carving of King Gotarzes from "Sculptures and Inscriptions..." via archive.org Site in Iran

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by durhamnature : Explanatory drawing from "Sculptures and Inscriptions..." via archive.org Site in Iran

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by durhamnature : Old photo from "Sculptures and Inscriptions..." via archive.org Site in Iran

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by durhamnature : Nearby monolith, from "Sculptures and Inscriptions..." via archive.org Site in Iran

Bisitun
Bisitun submitted by durhamnature

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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Re: Bisitun by DrewParsons on Monday, 28 April 2014
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Coordinates updated after a visit to the site in April 2014. The main carvings were partially surrounded by scaffolding for restoration work in April 2014 but you could see the reliefs from across the large pond near the base of the cliff. Take binoculars to make the carvings out!!
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Re: Bisitun by DrewParsons on Wednesday, 19 May 2010
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News item resourced by coldrum:

Parthian Bistun Will Be Excavated

Archaeologists will be teaming up with the Kermanshah University of Science and Technology to carry out an archaeological research on the World Heritage Site of Bistun to unearth a settlement date back to the third Iranian dynasty, the Arsacids (Parthians – 248 BCE-224 CE), reported the Persian service of ISNA on Wednesday.

"Last [Iranian] year under the directorship of archaeologist Mehdi Rhabar we focused our research on the Sasanian dynastic palace, and the outcome will be published in due course. In the process we have carried out a survey and opened a number of trenches on the nearby slope, which have been proven to be Parthian and will be our research objective for the next year [Iranian year]", said David Daneshian, the director of Bistun Archaeological Research Centre.

With regard to the discovery of the Parthian site, Daneshian explained: "The slope is mostly situated within the boundary of Bistun's World registered heritage site, near the [historical] hillside and the Achaemenid inscription, which is confirmed to be a settlement dating back to Arsacid dynasty. A current survey as well as the previous research and recovered artefacts points out to the importance of the settlement during the Arsacids dynastic period in this part of the country."

The ancient site of Bistun has suffered extensively since 1979 and the rise of the clerical regime to power in Iran. Bistun like hundreds of other major pre-Islamic Iranian heritage sites has been faced with devastating treatment, as the result of totalitarian-theocratic regime’s hostility towards Iran’s pre-Islamic past.

The regime for over three decades has not only ignored the plundering and vandalism of the site, but has also caused extensive damages to the site, from cutting into the archaeological site for laying cables, constructing an industrial town, chemical factories, and road construction.

Back in 2006 the regime cut the site’s budget to force the Bistun’s staff and security in order to force them to leave the site and to be left unprotected. The courageous staff recognised the regime’s plot and worked for nearly a year without receiving any wages, to make sure no harm would come to this invaluable site. At the end, the Islamic Republic was forced to reinstate the budget.

The ancient site was registered on the World Heritage Site in July 2006.



Historical background:

Bistun, also Bisotun is located in western Iran, 30 kilometres northeast of Kermanshah on the foothill of a mountain by the same name, along the ancient trade route linking the Iranian high plateau with Mesopotamia. The ancient site features remains from the prehistoric times to the first Iranian dynasty, the Medians (728-550 BCE), and their heirs, the Achaemenid (550-330 BCE), Parthian (278 BCE-224 CE) Sasanian (224-651 CE) dynasties and Ilkhanid period.

The principal monument of this archaeological site is the bas-relief and cuneiform-inscription ordered by Darius the Great, when he rose to the throne in 521 BCE.

The bas-relief portrays the great king holding a bow, as a sign of sovereignty, and treading on the chest of a figure who lies on his back before him. According to legend, the figure represents Gaumata, an imposter to the throne whose assassination led to Darius’s rise to power. Below and around the bas-reliefs, there are ca. 1,200 lines of inscriptions telling the story of the battles Darius waged in 521-520 BCE against the governors who attempted to take apart the Empire founded by Cyrus the Great.

The inscription is written in three languages. The oldest is an Elamite text referring to legends describing the King of Kings and the rebellions. This is followed by a Babylonian version of similar legends. The last phase of the inscription is particularly important, as it is here that Darius introduced

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Re: Bisitun by DrewParsons on Wednesday, 19 May 2010
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I hitch hiked right past this site in the middle of the night in October 1963 without realising it was there!! It is back on my "must visit" list now!!
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