DOCUMENTATION 
OF THE 
DOCUMENTATIONS OF THE KING OF THE KINGS 
M. Zolfaghari, A. Malian 
AmirKabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran 
zolfagar@@aut.ac.ir; malian(@ut.ac.ir 
Commission V, WG V/4 
KEY WORDS: Cultural Heritage, Archiving, Measurement, Reconstruction, Visualization 
ABSTRACT: 
Documentations made by Dariush I, King of the Kings, the great emperor of Persia (500 BC) are the largest inscriptions in the world 
including 1200 lines of about 2 meters length. These inscriptions written in Old Persian, that were simultaneously translated into 
Elamite and Babylonian, narrate the victories of Dariush over the rebellious rulers of the kingdom. This magnificent monument is 
carved on the stone wall of the holy mount of Bisotun in the western part of Iran. The monument was made at a height of about 80 
meters above the road which made it almost impossible for anybody to get access to it. There has been a tendency since 450 years 
ago to decode these texts and record the relieves. In 1834, Rawlinson, hanging himself form the top of the mount, attempted to make 
a hand-recording and decoding of the entire monument which lasted 20 years. He could finally decode the old Persian language for 
the first time. Following this work, Thompson and Cameron tried to perform some restoration and correction works by means of 
photography and moulding. The new stage of this documentation process is the photogrammetric technique. For a long time, the 
photogrammetric documentation of this valuable and unique monument was investigated and desired by the authorities of the Iranian 
Organization of Cultural Heritage, but the dangerous situation of this monument that made the geodetic and photogrammetric 
operation very difficult, was a major reason for Iranian and foreign companies to not accept the photogrammetric documentation of 
this monument. This paper gives a scientific report on how this great job of * Documentation “ was done within an academic project. 
All relieves, more than 120000 elements of the inscriptions and the surrounding objects and area were photogrammetrically 
documented and recorded with a precision of about | mm. 
INTRODUCTION 
When Cyrus was killed, the vast empire plunged in chaos from 
which Dariush emerged, who was really capable to restore 
Achaemenid empire. Dariush expanded the realm of the Persian 
empire form India to Egypt. In 522 B.C., he erected his fabulous 
ritual palace, Persepolis, where the Achaemenids and all ritual 
At first B.C. millenary a group of Aryans living in northern 
lands emigrated and settled down on the plateau of Iran and at 
qm century B.C. they founded the Persian dynasty, called 
Achaemenes, from Hakhamanesh the name of the founder of the e ACH aee J 
äynasty (Eekerhard, 1890), In 550 PC. Cyrus the Greer, People gathered together and set in festivity (Figure 2). For such 
a vast empire and necessary fast communication, Dariush built 
some 2500 km Royal Road in a short time (Hermann, 1977). 
established the Persian empire and set the chariot of the history 
of the Orient in motion and very soon he expanded the kingdom 
to Media, Lydia, Babylon and to the lands far from Persian 
territory (Figure 1); the first empire and perfect government 
made up of incongruous elements (Hegel, 1978). Cyrus ruled 
over the hearts much more than the lands, the unique emperor 
whose human rights decree made Persia name eternal. 
  
Arabian 
  
Figure 1. The Persian Empire Figure 2. Persepolis 
  
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
       
    
  
  
  
   
   
     
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