'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎295] (404/496)

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Siculus,* and with the various appellations it has been subsequently
known by. No one who has ever visited the spot could fail, indeed, to
recognize it after reading the accurate description of that author in his
history of the march of Semiramis from Babylon to Ecbatana. D’Anville,
I believe, was the first to assign a position to it on our maps,')' and Major
Rawlinson has since corroborated, by etymological evidence, almost
every site in the adjacent district, whose nomenclatures had either been
partially corrupted, or entirely lost, in the lapse of ages.
Many travellers of various nations have contemplated, with a wistful
gaze, these elevated petral records of a prior age, from the plain below,
but few have had the energy to ascend for a closer scrutiny. Many
surmises as to the nature and character of the work have at successive
times appeared from the pen of different individuals,^ but the best
representation is by the late Sir Robert Ker Porter, who, as a faithful
artist, gives, with few immaterial exceptions, a very correct delineation
of the sculptured group. His ingenious but conjectural ideas in illus
tration of the design, have, however, of late been overthrown by
unwearied application and research; and the results of this close study,
improved, digested, and matured, by the present visit, will, embodied in
a work, ere long be confided to the discernment of the public, by its
talented author.
* Book II, Chap. I. It is somewhat remarkable that in this notice, as well as
in a subsequent one, (Book XVII. Chap. XI.,) of Bagistan, Diodorus should make
no mention of these inscriptions of Darius, while he dwells with a minuteness of
detail on the local features of the country, its pleasure gardens, fountains, and pa
laces. Arrian, too, in his compiled history of Alexander, passes by this celebrated
spot with a mortifying description of the Nysean pastures only: and Herodotus, so
generally minute in his geographical and historical details, himself a traveller and
recorder of the deeds of most of the monarchs of Media and Persia, has on this
subject maintained a profound silence,—at a time, too, when the work was compa
ratively recent.
t D’Anville, Book II. Chap. 5, calls it Bagistana. Its other appellations were
Baptan, Bisitun, Be-Situn, Bostan, and Bapatan; the first and last, according to
Major Rawlinson. evidently applying to the whole district of Ecbatana. Behistan
is now given, by the latter authority, as its proper orthography.
f The quaint old Tavernier, in Book HI. Chap. 5 of his travels, evidently alludes
to these sculptures. He says—Between Sahanak (Sehaak) and Polisha (Puli—
Shah) you have the only high mountain in all the road to the north. It is steep,
and straight as a wall ; and as high as you can see, you may observe the figures of
men clad like priests, with censors in their hands, and yet, neither can the natives
tell you, nor any person imagine, the meaning of those sculptures. At the foot of
the rock runs a river, over which there is a bridge of stone.” Tavernier travelled
in Persia in 1663, and is probably the first European that notices this interesting
design. Later travellers, in the exuberance of their fancies, have discovered in the
figures a likeness to the twelve Apostles.