Behistun Inscription trivia

Behistun Inscription Mini Quiz

Test your knowledge with these top questions!

Question 1

Acting as cuneiform's Rosetta Stone, this rock relief in Iran was ordered by the Persian king defeated at Marathon. Name the monument.

King Darius the Great commissioned this cliffside monument in 522 BCE to legitimize his rule after suppressing major rebellions.

Question 2

The trilingual Behistun Inscription helped decode this ancient wedge-shaped script, first used by the Sumerians. Name the script.

The name of this writing system comes from the Latin word "cuneus," meaning "wedge," which describes the shape of the stylus marks in clay.

Question 3

The Behistun Inscription, a massive Persian rock relief, helped scholars decipher what ancient script?

Before Henry Rawlinson scaled the cliffs in the 1830s to copy the monument, this complex Mesopotamian writing system had been unreadable for millennia.

Question 4

The Behistun Inscription acts as a Persian Rosetta Stone because its text features what crucial element?

The monument repeats the same royal proclamation in three distinct languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.