Bisotun

For the ancient inscription near Bisotun, see Behistun Inscription. For the administrative division, see Bisotun District. For the village in Fars province, see Bisotun-e Bon Rud.

Bisotun (Persian: بيستون)^[a] is a city in, and the capital of, Bisotun District of Harsin County, Kermanshah province, Iran.^[4] It also serves as the administrative center for Chamchamal Rural District.^[5]

Bisotun Persian: بيستون
City
Shah Abbasi Caravansarai, Bisotun
Bisotun
Coordinates: 34°23′55″N 47°26′38″E[1]
Country	Iran
Province	Kermanshah
County	Harsin
District	Bisotun
Population  (2016)[2]
• Total	4,942
Time zone	UTC+3:30 (IRST)

Demographics

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 2,075 in 527 households.^[6] The following census in 2011 counted 5,107 people in 1,427 households.^[7] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 4,942 people in 1,495 households.^[2]

Overview

Mount Bi-Sutoun by Eugène Flandin

The town is at the foot of Bisotun Mountain, the flank of which is the location of an important historical site. The imperial road from Ekbatana to Babylon passed at the foot of the mountain. On the rocky slopes king Darius I left the Behistun Inscription. From the Seleucid epoch there is a Herakles statue. Next to it Parthian kings added some reliefs. Late Sasanian rulers prepared a large piece of rock for another victory relief which was never finished because of the subsequent Arab invasion.^{[citation needed]} Later folklore connected this place to the legend of Farhad and Shirin.

A Safavid caravanserai is preserved in Bisotun.

See also

Media related to Bisotun at Wikimedia Commons

Iran portal

Notes

1. Also romanized as Bīsotūn; also known as Bīsītan and Bīsītūn^[3]