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Wikipedia:Wikiportal/Achaeology/Featured article
'''[[Behistun Inscription]]'''
[[Image:BehistunInscriptionSketch.jpg|thumb|150px|The Behistun Inscription is illustrated by life-sized carved images of King Darius with other figures in attendance.]]
The '''Behistun Inscription''' (also '''Bisitun''' or '''Bisutun''', &#1576;&#1740;&#1587;&#1578;&#1608;&#1606; in [[Persian language|modern Persian]]) is to [[Cuneiform (script)|cuneiform]] what the [[Rosetta Stone]] is to [[Egyptian hieroglyph]]s: the document most crucial in the [[decipherment]] of a previously lost [[writing system|script]]. It is located in the [[Kermanshah Province]] of [[Iran]].

The inscription includes three versions of the same text, written in three different scripts and languages: [[Old Persian language|Old Persian]], [[Elamite language|Elamite]], and [[Babylonian language|Babylonian]].  A British army officer, [[Sir Henry Rawlinson]], had the inscription transcribed in two parts, in [[1835]] and [[1843]]. Rawlinson was able to translate the Old Persian cuneiform text in [[1838]], and the Elamite and Babylonian texts were translated by Rawlinson and others after 1843. Babylonian was a later form of [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]: both are [[Semitic languages]].
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