Darius superintending his Inscription at Behistun (litho)

Darius superintending his Inscription at Behistun. Darius Hystaspes, who proudly described himself as "a Persian, the son of a Persian, an Aryan of Aryan stock", was the third of the great Achaemenids (521-485 BC). He had a trilingual cuneiform inscription recording his exploits cut at Behistun in the Zagros Mountains, on the high road between Babylon (Baghdad) and Ecbatana (Hamadan), on the steep face of the rock five hundred feet above the plain. The deciphering of this inscription by Sir Henry Rawlinson in 1835-1845 laid the foundation of the science of Assyriology. Illustration for Hutchinson's History of the Nations (Hutchinson, c.1920). Note: Image has been digitally enhanced to facilitate repro.