Page:Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions.djvu/134

Rh that length, relating to the events of the more recent rebellion. To the left, below the large Babylonian inscription, are three columns in Susian. It is calculated that the whole contains nearly a thousand lines of cuneiform writing, of which no less than 416 are in Persian. It is said to comprise ten times as many words as all the rest of the shorter texts put together.

The French traveller Otter seems to have been the first to call attention to Behistun, about the year 1734, and it is also noticed in the travels of Olivier. Kinneir passed it in 1810, and he describes 'a group of figures in the form of a procession sufficiently perfect to show that they are of the same age and character as those of Persepolis. In 1818, Porter at length succeeded in getting sufficiently near to sketch the figures. He confirms Kinneir's conjecture as to their resemblance to those at Persepolis; and he recognises the winged figure as 'the foating intelligence in his circle and car of sunbeams, so often remarked on the sculptures of Naksh-i- Rustam and Persepolis.' He remarked that there was a cuneiform inscription above the head of each figure and below 'eight deep and closely written columns in the same character.' Notwithstanding the facility Porter had already acquired in copying inscriptions at Persepolis, he was at too great a distance from these to make the attempt. He calculated it would require a month to complete the task, and adds that 'at no time can it ever be attempted without great personal risk.'

The extremely inaccessible position of the inscriptions long baffled the zeal of explorers. M. Flandin, as we