Mount Bisotoun (or Behistun and Bisotun) is a mountain of the Zagros Mountains range, located in Kermanshah Province, western Iran. It is located 525 kilometers (326 mi) west of Tehran.

Mount Behistun
Highest point
Coordinates34°23′23″N 47°25′38″E / 34.389813°N 47.427263°E / 34.389813; 47.427263 (Mount Behistun, Kermanshah, Iran)
Naming
Native nameبیستون (Persian)
Geography
Mount Behistun is located in Iran
Mount Behistun
Mount Behistun
Parent rangeZagros Mountains
Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great

Cultural history

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Mount Bisotoun, aka Bīsitūn (referring to the mountain and the nearby village), is a mountain with a rock precipice in the Zagros Mountains in Kermanshah, Iran. Darius I inscribed the flat rock face in three languages c. 500 BC, known as the Behistun Inscription.[1]

Legends

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Shirin on horseback visiting Farhad on Mount Bisotun, who is shown carving out the mountain. Created in 19th-century Qajar Iran

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.

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References

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  1. ^ "Bīsitūn". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 26, 2024.