Multi-Textual Technology: Monumental Inscription
Case Studies: The Behistun Inscription and the Rosetta Stone
The Behistun inscription (Figures 1,2) is carved into a mountain, 1700 feet high, in modern Iran. It has been visible to travelers since c. 520 BCE when Darius, king of the Persians, defeated his enemies and commemorated his victories in this extraordinary inscription. The monument, engraved at a height of 300 feet, is comprised of four major elements: 1) a relief sculpture of Darius subduing rebellious subjects 2) a cuneiform text in Old Persian relating the narrative conquest 3) an inscribed text in Babylonian relaying the same story as 2; the same text inscribed in Elamite (the official language of the empire).
The Rosetta Stone (Figure 3) was discovered by Napoleon’s army in 1799. It dates from 196 BCE and was made in Egypt, though it now resides in the British Museum. It is a slab of black granite measuring 45" x 28.5” x 11”, upon which is inscribed a trilingual text of a decree founding a cult of the new king, Ptolemy V. The three versions of the text are written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, demotic Egyptian, and ancient Greek.
-Elaine Treharne
-Elaine Treharne
Bibliography
- https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Behistun_Inscription.html
- Andrews, Carol. The Rosetta Stone. London: British Museum Press 1981.
- Parkinson, Richard. Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone and Decipherment. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1999. (Chapter 1)
- http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/t/the_rosetta_stone.aspx
- Veronis, J. Parallel Text Processing: alignment and use of translations corpora. Dordrecht: Kluwer 2000. (Chapter 1)
Research Questions
1. Given the placement of the Behistun inscription, does legibility seem to be a primary concern? What are the implications of your answer?
2. List five major differences between the two sets of texts (Behistun and Rosetta).
1. Rosetta stone is a moveable object
2. The Behistun text is 300 feet in the air
3. The inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by a council of priests, the Behistun text is a story of a conqueror or King.
4. Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian on Behistun, Hieroglyphic (suitable for a priestly decree), demotic (the native script used for daily purposes), and Greek (the language of the administration) on Rosetta Stone.
5. 196 B.C. for Rosetta Stone, 522 B.C. for the Behistun
3. From a linguistic perspective, what is so significant about both of these sets of texts (Behistun and Rosetta)?
4. What prompted the creation of these texts, and what impetus might have been behind the specific choice of media?
- I don’t think legibility was that important because of the distance to the ground, but clearly Darius knew that someone, someday would be reading the text and would want to know the reason for this sculpture.
2. List five major differences between the two sets of texts (Behistun and Rosetta).
1. Rosetta stone is a moveable object
2. The Behistun text is 300 feet in the air
3. The inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by a council of priests, the Behistun text is a story of a conqueror or King.
4. Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian on Behistun, Hieroglyphic (suitable for a priestly decree), demotic (the native script used for daily purposes), and Greek (the language of the administration) on Rosetta Stone.
5. 196 B.C. for Rosetta Stone, 522 B.C. for the Behistun
3. From a linguistic perspective, what is so significant about both of these sets of texts (Behistun and Rosetta)?
- It is significant that they both have multiple languages inscribed on them, which helps us to translate and understand other languages.
4. What prompted the creation of these texts, and what impetus might have been behind the specific choice of media?
- The Behistun inscription begins with a brief autobiography of Darius, including his ancestry and lineage. Later in the inscription, Darius provides a lengthy sequence of events following the deaths of Cyrus the Great and Cambyses II in which he fought nineteen battles in a period of one year (ending in December of 521 BC) to put down multiple rebellions throughout the Persian Empire.
- The Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by a council of priests. It is one of a series that affirm the royal cult of the 13-year-old Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation.