The high relief
On the cliff.
PersianDutchNetwork — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mahdimanavimvi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ensie & Matthias from San Diego, California, USA — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Mahdimanavimvi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · User: Sima Farshid — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Bisotun Inscription is a royal inscription and large rock relief on a limestone cliff of Mount Bisotun in western Iran. From below you see a carved panel high on the rock, with standing figures, surrounded by long columns of cuneiform text. It was made for the Achaemenid king Darius I between 522 BC and his death in 486 BC, and tells his lineage and how he came to the throne. It is the longest known trilingual cuneiform inscription, in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian, which made it vital to the decipherment of cuneiform. It is about 15 m high and 25 m wide, some 100 m up the cliff above an ancient road linking Babylon and Ecbatana. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You walk the site at the foot of the mountain and view the inscription from below; other carvings and remains from several periods lie around it. It is about 35 km in a straight line east of Kermanshah. Bring binoculars, as the inscription is high up. The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Iran and warns that British nationals risk detention, so check official guidance before making any plans. We could not confirm the current state of this site.
On the cliff.
In three languages.
And its remains.
Mount Bisotun, east of Kermanshah, Kermanshah province
No, from below; bring binoculars.
It helped decipher cuneiform.