Page:The sculptures and inscription of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistûn in Persia.djvu/23

 Rh planted on the body of the Pseudo-Smerdis, Gaumâta the Magian, who lies on his back and has his hands raised in entreaty to Darius (see Plate I, Frontispiece). The king has his right hand lifted to Auramazda, who appears amid rays of light and lightnings, and in his left hand he grasps a bow. In front of him stand nine rebel leaders, roped together by their necks and having their hands bound behind their backs (see Plate III). The last figure of the series, who wears a high, pointed cap, was added to the group at a later period; it represents Skunkha, the Scythian. Below the sculptured panel are five columns of cuneiform text in the old Persian language, which record the suppression of the revolts. To the left of the Persian inscription are three columns of cuneiform text, written in the Susian character and language, and containing a translation of the first four columns of the Persian text. On two faces of an overhanging rock, above the Susian version, and to the left of the sculptures, is a single column of cuneiform text, written in the Babylonian character and language, containing a translation of the first four columns of the Persian text (see Plate IV). To the right of the sculpture were four columns of supplementary cuneiform texts, which probably referred in part to the events described in the fifth column of the Persian text; this portion of the Rock is so much weathered that only a few words of the first column, which was in Susian, are now legible.

The earliest reference to the Rock of Behistûn we find in the History of Diodorus Siculus, who flourished in the first century of our era, and who states that the sculptures on the Rock were the work of Semiramis, who caused them to be made on her march from Babylon to Ecbatana [sic] According to this writer the great queen pitched her camp by the springs at the foot of the Rock, and planted a garden there. His description of the sculptures is not accurate, for he states that the figure of Darius is that of the queen, and the twelve figures around the king he makes to be one hundred lance-bearers standing round about her. He says that the inscriptions are written in "Syriac