122 KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN 



mediately below is situated the squalid village of 

 Bisitun or Behistun, and so sheer and to such a height 

 does the rock cliff rise above it, that it is almost with 

 a shock that one looks out on waking in the morning 

 to see so stupendous a mass seemingly overhanging one. 

 The inscriptions, which were first deciphered by Sir 

 H. Bawlinson, and record the achievements of Darius's 

 reign, are at a height of about 300 feet from the 

 ground. I climbed up to within about 30 yards, but 

 beyond this found it impossible to proceed without aid. 

 Above the inscriptions, which occupy a space of 150 

 feet in length by 100 feet in height, is a sculptured 

 panel of fourteen figures. On the left are tAvo figures 

 standing, then one seated, shown by his superior size 

 to be Darius himself, and then nine figures standing, 

 chained to one another. These latter represent the 

 impostors who led the different revolts in Susiana, 

 Babylon, Media, Sagartia, and Margiana. The last 

 figure, distinguished from the rest, who are bareheaded, 

 by a high cap, is the leader of a Scythian revolt con- 

 quered by Darius, while the sculptures were in progress 

 of construction. Underneath the foot of Darius is the 

 prostrate figure of Pseudo-Smerdis, the Magian usurper, 

 and hovering over all is a representation of the god 

 Auramazda. In Ker Porter's description of Bisitun I 

 find the following : " Should the discoveries of time 

 prove my conjecture to be right, this bas-relief must be 

 nearly two hundred years older than any which are 

 ascribed to Cyrus at Persepolis or Parsargadse." But 

 the discoveries of time have failed him, for his con- 

 jecture was that the central figure was Shalmanezer, 

 and the rest the captive tribes of Israel ! And the 

 elaborate reasoning which he gives in support of his 

 theory falls to the ground in the light of ascertained 

 fact. 



