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Behistun

[bey-hi-stoon]
noun
  1. a ruined town in W Iran: site of a cliff that bears on its face a cuneiform inscription in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian that provided a key for the decipherment of cuneiform in other languages.
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Also Bisitun, Bisutun.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for behistun

Historical Examples

  • Till the cylinder is published we must keep to the inscription of Behistun and Herodotus.

    The History of Antiquity

    Max Duncker

  • Western Asia is monumentally eloquent of her name, and even the Behistun inscriptions of Darius have been placed to her credit.

  • Morris, who had Rawlinson's copy of the second transcription of the Behistun text to work upon, deciphered nearly all of it.

  • The decipherment of the third of the three languages found at Persepolis and Behistun followed quickly on the success with Susian.

  • This sculpture in the valley of the Choaspes on the rock-wall of Bagistan (Behistun) is in existence.

British Dictionary definitions for behistun

Behistun

Bisitun or Bisutun

noun
  1. a village in W Iran by the ancient road from Ecbatana to Babylon. On a nearby cliff is an inscription by Darius in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian describing his enthronement
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012