Mount Bisotoun (or Behistun and Bisotun) is a mountain of the
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوههای زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgr ...
range, located in
Kermanshah Province of western
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It is located west of
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
.
Cultural history
It is well known for the famous
Behistun Inscription and
rock relief
A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction with, ...
in which the great
Achaemenian King,
Darius the Great, had the narrative of his exploits carved around 500 BC.
Legends
A legend began around Mount Bisotoun, as written about by the Persian poet
Nezami about a man named
Farhad, who was a lover of
Shirin
Shirin ( fa, شیرین; died 628) was a Christian wife of the Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') Khosrow II (). In the revolution after the death of Khosrow's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. ...
. The legend states that, exiled for his transgression, Farhad was given the task of cutting away the mountain; if he succeeded, he would be given permission to marry Shirin. After many years and the removal of half the mountain, he did find water, but was informed by
Khosrow that Shirin had died. He went mad, threw his axe down the hill, kissed the ground and died. It is told in the book of
Khosrow and Shirin
Khosrow and Shirin ( fa, خسرو و شیرین) is the title of a famous tragic romance by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), who also wrote Layla and Majnun. It tells a highly elaborated fictional version of the story of the love ...
that his axe was made out of a pomegranate tree, and, where he threw the axe, a pomegranate tree grew with fruit that would cure the ill. Shirin was not dead, according to the story, and mourned upon hearing the news.
Gallery
Image:Farhad Tarash 2010.jpg, Farhad Tarash at the base of Mount Behistun
Image:Farhad tarash.jpg, Farhad Tarash at the base of Mount Behistun
Image:Godarz.jpg, Goudarz
Image:Bistoon_Kermanshah.jpg, Hercules Statue
Image:Darius_I_the_Great's_inscription.jpg, Darius I the Great's inscription
Darius may refer to:
Persian royalty
;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire
* Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC)
* Darius II (423 to 404 BC)
* Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC)
;Crown princes
* Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, ma ...
Zagros Mountains
Behistun
Archaeological sites in Iran
Inscribed rocks
Mountains of Iran
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