Talk:Behistun Inscription
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Western scolars
- "In 1598 the inscription came to the attention of Western Europe when it was seen by Robert Sherley, an Englishman on a diplomatic mission to Persia in the service of Austria."
I'd like to change the above (showing my disregard for passive voice), but I don't know what to change it to. "In 1598 the inscription came to the attention of Western Europe when Robert Sherley, an Englishman on a diplomatic mission to Persia in the service of Austria, saw it" sounds odd--incomplete somehow--did he write back about it? return with news of it? Sorry to quibble; it's just that the rest of it is so well-written & interesting that this sentence sticks out like a sore thumb (to me, anyway). --Koyaanis Qatsi
How about: "Western European scholars did not become aware of the inscription until 1598, when it was observed byRobert Sherley, an Englishman on an [[:Austria}Austrian|Austria}Austrian]] diplomatic mission to Persia." Just a go - it's a tough sentence. - MMGB
- Well, I had to go with the passive voice because I'm really not sure myself. I could only find one source about Sherley ("It's an cuneiform inscription...and don't call me Sherley"), and it was distressingly vague. It wasn't Sherley himself who brought it to European attention, just someone with him, and I don't know how he (or she) got the word back to Europe. That makes the form you have (ending in "saw it") -- what I had at first too -- put the verb so far away from the action that it needs to watch it on TV. Devil and the deep blue sea....-- Paul Drye
Lol. Ok then. --Koyaanis Qatsi
How about: "It was not until 1958, when the Englishman Robert Sherley saw it during a diplomatic mission to Persia, that the inscription came to the attention of western scholars."
M. Northstar
Excellent - I have changed accordingly. -- ALoan (Talk) 02:22, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Image
Very nice, Paul, et al. This calls in the best kinda way for a picture - surely there's one in public domain! --MichaelTinkler
- At least a couple of which I'm aware. Do we have a way to upload them? --Paul Drye
I've never tried to put up an image, but I think JHK emailed a family tree to Larry? I looked and didn't see any nice ones online, so I hope you've found a better one! --MichaelTinkler
Misspelling or sound drift?
The way the name of the legendary hero and Shirin's lover is spelled and pronounced in modern Persian is Farhad, with the "r" *before* the "h". Does your source spell the name differently, or is this a misspelling? (I know it must be hard to keep track of the spelling of a word in a foreign language.)
Great article otherwise, although your link to the CWR university doesn't seem to be going anywhere useful.
Mentioned by Tacitus?
The article claims that the inscription is mentioned by Tacitus, but no non-wiki source I can find mentions this. Can anyone cite me a reference? Thanks, --68.78.70.215 04:05, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC) (Iustinus)
- Muke Tever pointed me to this entry (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064&query=label%3D%232857) on perseus, which mentions a theory equating Tacitus' Sambulus with Behistun. I'm not sure I buy that, but that is certainly what the article is refering to. -Iustinus
Spelling variations
I did some online checking (yes, I know, inherently culturally biased) and the most common spellings are Behistun (1880 hits), Bisitun (119), Bisutun (70), Bisotun (16), and Bistun (13). There were zero hits for "Bisistun inscription." I've adjusted the article to include the two most common spelling variations other than Behistun. SWAdair | Talk 08:01, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Akkadian/Babylonian
Babylonian is the name given to the descendant of Akkadian which was used in this inscription; whether you consider it a separate language or a dialect of Akkadian is POV, but "Babylonian" is in any event correct. - Mustafaa 15:52, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Request for references
Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Wikipedia:Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles cite their sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Fact and Reference Check Project has more information. Thank you, and please leave me a message (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=User_talk:Taxman&action=edit§ion=new) when you have added a few references to the article. - Taxman 20:00, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)
