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The Behistun inscription
Relief at Behistun. Photo Ab Langereis. The Behistun relief
 Behistun or Bisotun: town in Iran, site of several ancient monuments, including a famous inscription by the Persian king Darius I the Great (522- 486 BCE), the great organizer of the Achaemenid empire.

On these pages, you can find drawings, a translitteration and an adapted version of the King/Thompson translation of the inscription.
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Column 2, lines 71-78
  1. šâyathiya \ pasâva \ hauv \ Fravartiš \ hadâ \ kamnaibiš \ asabâraibiš \ amutha \ Ra
  2. gâ \ nâmâ \ dahyâuš \ Mâdaiy \ avaparâ \ ašiyava \ pasâva \ adam \ kâram \ f
  3. râišayam \ nipadiy \ Fravartiš \ âgarbîta \ anayatâ \ abiy \ mâm \ ada
  4. mšaiy \ utâ \ nâham \ utâ \ gaušâ \ utâ \ hazânam \ frâjanam \ utâša
  5. iy \ I cašam \ avajam \ duvarayâmaiy \ basta \ adâriya \ haruvašim \ k
  6. âra \ avaina \ pasâvašim \ Hagmatânaiy \ uzmayâpatiy \ akunavam
  7. \ utâ \ martiyâ \ tyaišaiy \ fratamâ \ anušiyâ \ âhatâ \ avaiy \ Ha
  8. gmatânaiy \ atar \ didâm \ frâhajam \ thâtiy \ Dârayavauš \ xš
  (32) King Darius says: Thereupon that Phraortes fled thence with a few horseman to a district in Media called Rhagae. Then I sent an army in pursuit. Phraortes was taken and brought unto me. I cut off his nose, his ears, and his tongue, and I put out one eye, and he was kept in fetters at my palace entrance, and all the people beheld him. Then did I crucify him in Ecbatana; and the men who were his foremost followers, those at Ecbatana within the fortress, I flayed and hung out their hides, stuffed with straw.
to Column 2, lines 79-88
 
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