Darius reportedly orders the creation of a cuneiform script for the (Old) Persian language.

He records his early struggles in a trilingual inscription (in Old Persian, Babylonian, and Elamite) on a precipitous cliff face at Behistun (beside the ancient highway between Babylon and Ecbatana—modern Hamadan—near Kermanshah in western Iran), near to where he gained a decisive victory in 521.

The text includes an autobiographical account of events leading up to the battle, along with a list of satrapies of the empire.

A bas-relief of Darius, attended by bow and spear warriors, stands above the inscription, his foot placed on the prostrate and supplicating figure of his defeated enemy Gaumata; nine other captive rebel leaders stand behind him.

Above the victor scene hovers the winged god Ahura Mazda, acknowledging the king's salute.