Darius the Great: Behistun Inscription

The Behistun (or Bisitun) inscription is a significant trilingual text inscribed on the cliff face of Mount Behistun in northwestern Iran early in the reign of Darius I (r. 521–486 BCE) of Persia. Darius came to the throne under somewhat suspicious circumstances, as his ancestry was suspect (though he claimed royal descent by way of marriage to a daughter of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire). He defended his legitimacy in the Behistun Inscription, where he claimed that a usurper (Gautama, or Pseudo-Smerdis) attempted to seize the throne after the death of Cambyses, the son of the founder, Cyrus. The Greek historian Herodotus (ca. 484–425 BCE) described a Delphic oracle that appointed Darius as king, and the Persian nobility supported him. Darius was the true administrative founder of the Persian Empire, as he established the satrapies (provinces). According to Greek sources, he also codified Persian laws, supervised numerous public work projects throughout the empire, established imperial coinage, introduced imperial forms of taxation, and engaged in numerous building projects at Susa and Persepolis.