* Astronomy

European Iranologists have recognised the stone inscriptions and bas-reliefs on the cliff overlooking Bisotoun, Kermanshah, as the largest of its kind in the world.

The historical inscriptions, which are 45 meters high and about 200 meters wide, were recently registered on the list of global cultural heritage by the UN cultural body UNESCO.
There are different stories about the incentives for creating such an extensive work on a rock face over looking a main ancient highway given that it is unprecedented anywhere in the world.
Different views prevail about the origin of the inscriptions.
Some foreign Iranologists, including Professor Ernest Hertzfeld link Bisotoun stone inscriptions to the Achaemenid King Darius by suggesting that the monarch wanted to have his legacy inscribed on Bisotoun cliff for posterity.
Moreover, another Iranologist, William Jackson, believed that king Darius, after completing his other inscriptions, ordered an empty area in the cliff to be considered for his other works.
Still other archaeological evidence show that the inscriptions date back to the Sassanid era.
However, the only thing that is certain about the stone inscriptions is its antiquity.
Local people believe that the mammoth task of creating the inscriptions was entrusted to an Iranian sculptor, Farhad.
They believe that Farhad did the work because of his love for Shirin, the queen of the Sassanid king Khosrow Parviz.

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