Behistun Palace
Encyclopedia
Behistun palace - mentioned as Khosrau II's palace by Kermanshah's people - is located in Bisotun City, 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) from Kermanshah
Kermanshah
Kermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims...

, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. It rests in front of Behistun inscription, between Behistun mountain and Behistun lake.

Just before the invasion of Iran by Arabs (about 1400 years ago) and in order to hide the palace and the treasury inside it from them, the palace was covered with soil and sand. It is believed that Farhad - Shirin’s lover whom she was married to Khosroparviz (Khosrau II) – in some stories he dug the Behistun mountain in order to reach to her love and in other stories was forced to dig the mountain by Khosroparviz (Khosrau II). There is a legend the palace that actually exists here is linked with the palace of taghe-bostan on the other side of the mountain. There is a pathway inside the mountain. Since The actual existence of the palace is put into silent this story remains a myth. Actually the only people that actually know about its existence are Kermanshah people and not all of them. There is actually a palace between the inscription and the lake, but nowadays its covered with sand. Now the question may arise that it’s just a story. I’m giving the facts and reasons for it:

1-Behistun was between Ecbatana and Tisfoon, Tisfoon known as the capital of Sasanids during the Sasanids density .BBehistun Located just 20 kilometers from Kermanshah Which Kermanshah is known as the summers capital of Sasanid's.It is known that the " silk road" passes through these cities. Wouldn't it pass through behistun located between these two cities?.

2-A nice place to stay with fresh air and a beautiful lake (even these days). Wouldn’t kings and people like to stay in this place for a night? There were no planes or cars in those days so wouldn't it be like they have to rest for a day?.

3-In a legend by the book "shahname of ferdowsi" Shirin, khosrau the second's wife was in the palace, so why did farhad(shirin's lover) dig this mountain?.in an article "The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi: An Icon to National Identity" by Dr Laina Farhat-Holzmanand it saids : Farhad seeks out the king and tells him he is in love with Queen Shirin. Khosrow Parviz is very taken by the youth's sincerity, but is not about to relinquish his wife. To put him off, he assigns him a seemingly impossible task: to carve his way through a distant mountain, which Farhad agrees to do. The artist sets forth, and spurred on by his love, nearly completes the work in just a few years.This mountain is believed to be bisotun and the cave is from bisotun palace to taghe bostan palace.This legend is an actual story in our peoples belief and culture, it’s not a legend.

4-Besides the palace surrounding it is a city. So we actually have a palace and city put into silence. This is a common thing in persia's history in the center is the palace and the surrounding is the city. An example of this culture would be the ancient Susa capital of Elamites.

5-In a website dated 4 or 5 years ago it said the explorations of the palace was held by an archaeologist group and about 300 monuments were found. Shirins golden statue with wings was observed. However the site doesn't seem to exist anymore.
6-every ancient resort, city, place in Iran had a palace since this policy was followed by every king of Persia. Saljoughian has a resort in behistun which remains now, So wouldn't the great Sasanids have a palace?.

7-As an evidence to how this palace could be related to Khosrau the second; Khosro parviz the ambitious and great king of Iran which has a palace in taghe-bostan (Kermanshah) that contains pictures of him while hunting. you may ask where the hunting took place. Actually about a kilometre from taghe-bostan there is a rectangular shape place ,which is formed of 3 to meters height of hills. Inside the rectangular place there was all kinds of animals like deer, wild boars,....the hills actually prevented the animals from escaping and providing khosroparviz a manoeuvre ability to ride his horse (shabdiz)on top of the hill and hunt wild animals with his bow. The taghe-bostan inscription contains pictures of him hunting.

If you are still doubtful I’ll tell you more facts. actually I've seen some walls being in a safe condition that was actually covered with sand during months after the exploration. So if UNESCO wants to investigate there are evidences.

See also

  • Behistun inscription
    Behistun Inscription
    The Behistun Inscription The Behistun Inscription The Behistun Inscription (also Bistun or Bisutun, Modern Persian: بیستون The Behistun Inscription (also Bistun or Bisutun, Modern Persian: بیستون...

  • Khosrau II
    Khosrau II
    250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...

  • Darius I of Persia
    Darius I of Persia
    Darius I , also known as Darius the Great, was the third king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire...

  • Taq-e Bostan
    Taq-e Bostan
    Taqwasân or Taq-e Bostan or Taq-i-Bustan is a series of large rock relief from the era of Sassanid Empire of Persia, the Iranian dynasty which ruled western Asia from 226 to 650 AD. This example of Sassanid art is located 5 km from the city center of Kermanshah in western Iran...

     (Rock reliefs of various Sassanid kings)
  • Shirin
    Shirin
    Shirin was a wife of the Sassanid Persian Shahanshah , Khosrau II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrau's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrau to Syria where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice...

  • Full translation of the Behistun Inscription
    Full translation of the Behistun Inscription
    The following translation of the Behistun Inscription was made by L.W. King and R.C. Thompson Where names are quoted in a Greekified or Biblical form, the Persian original sometimes follows in square brackets....

  • Achaemenid empire
  • Pasargadae
    Pasargadae
    Pasargadae , the capital of Cyrus the Great and also his last resting place, was a city in ancient Persia, and is today an archaeological site and one of Iran's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.-History:...

     (Tomb of Pasargadae Cyrus the Great
    Cyrus the Great
    Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...

    )
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK