At its height the
Persian Empire
stretched from Greece and Libya in the west to the Indus River
in present-day Pakistan in the east. The many nations under the
empire's rule enjoyed considerable autonomy in return for
supplying the empire's wealth. Each year, at
Noe-Rooz (the
national festival of the vernal equinox) representatives from
these nations brought tribute to the king. The Persian kings
used Persepolis primarily as a residence and for ceremonies such
as the New Year's celebration. The actual business of government
was carried out mainly at Susa and Ecbatana.
Persepolis
consists of the remains of several monumental buildings on a
vast artificial stone terrace about 450 by 300 m (1,480 by 1,000
ft). A double staircase, wide and shallow enough for horses to
climb, led from the plains below to the top of the terrace. At
the head of the staircase, visitors passed through the Gate of
Xerxes, a gatehouse guarded by enormous carved stone bulls.
Behind Persepolis are
three sepulchres hewn out of the mountainside; the facades, of
which one is incomplete, are richly ornamented with reliefs.
About 8 miles (13 km) north by north-east, on the opposite side
of the Pulvar River, rises a perpendicular wall of rock in which
four similar tombs are cut at a considerable height from the
bottom of the valley. This place is called Naqsh-e Rostam (the
Picture of Rostam), from the
Sassanian
carvings below the tombs, which were thought to represent the
mythical hero Rostam. That the occupants of these seven tombs
were Achaemenian kings might be inferred from the sculptures,
and one of those at Naqsh-e Rostam is expressly declared in its
inscriptions to be the tomb of Darius I, son of Hystaspes, whose
grave, according to the Greek historian Ctesias, was in a cliff
face that could be reached only by means of an apparatus of
ropes. The three other tombs at Naqsh-e Rostam, besides that of
Darius I, are probably those of Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I, and
Darius II. The two completed graves behind Persepolis probably
belong to Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III. The unfinished one
might be that of Arses, who reigned at the longest two years,
but is more likely that of Darius III, last of the Achaemenian
line, who was overthrown by
Alexander.
The largest building at
Persepolis, the Apadana (audience hall), stood to the right of
the gatehouse. Archaeologists estimate that it could accommodate
10,000 people. Massive stone columns supported the Apadana's
roof; 36 were interior columns and another 36 supported verandas
on three sides of the building. Thirteen of these 72 columns
remain standing today.
Remnants of the Apadana,
Persepolis Stone doorways and 13 of the 72 massive stone columns
that originally supported the Apadana, or audience hall, at
Persepolis are still standing today. Each column was 20m (66ft)
tall and was topped by an elaborate capital. The double-headed
animals at the top of the capitals once supported wooden roof
beams.
Monumental staircases
decorated with elaborate sculpture in relief led to the Apadana,
which stood on an elevated platform. The relief sculpture
depicts the ceremonial procession that took place when
representatives from the conquered nations brought gifts to the
king. The procession is led by Persians and Medes, the peoples
whom Cyrus the Great united to found the Persian Empire. After
them come delegates bearing gifts: The Elamites bring lions, the
Babylonians a Brahma bull, the Lydians bolts of cloth, and so
forth. Because the east staircase lay buried beneath ashes and
rubble for centuries, its delicately carved relief sculptures
remain in excellent condition today.
Next to the Apadana was
the Throne Hall, the second largest building at Persepolis,
where the king received nobles, dignitaries, and envoys bearing
tribute. An enormous throne room, 70 by 70m (230 by 230ft),
occupied the central portion of the Throne Hall. It is also
known as the 'Hall of a Hundred Columns' after the 100 columns
that supported its roof. These columns were made of wood, and
only their stone bases survive today. Eight stone doorways led
into the throne room. Carvings on the sides of the doorway
depict the king on his throne and the king in combat with
demons. The Throne Room was begun by Xerxes and completed by
Artaxerxes I.
The Treasury stood next
to the Throne Hall. This enormous building served as an armoury
and a storehouse for the tribute brought to the king on New
Year's from the subject nations. It also held booty taken from
the nations conquered by the Persian Empire.
Beyond the Apadana lay
the Palaces of Darius and Xerxes. The Palace of Darius, the
Tachara was reached by stone stairways decorated with
carvings of servants carrying animals and food for serving at
the king's table. Carved reliefs also decorated the stone jambs
of doorways. The subjects depicted on these jambs include the
king fighting lions, servants bringing towels and ointments to
the king, and attendants shielding the king with umbrellas and
flywhisks. A number of the stone doorways are still standing.
The Palace of Xerxes, The Hadish, was nearly twice the
size of the Palace of Darius and had similar carved reliefs on
stairways and doorframes. Living quarters for the king and
separate quarters for the women and the servants stood next to
the palaces.
Persepolis
was destroyed slightly less than two centuries after it was
begun. Alexander of Macedonia plundered Persepolis and then set
fire to it in 330 BC. According to Greek biographer Plutarch, he
needed 20,000 mules and 5,000 camels to carry away the treasure
looted from Persepolis. In 316 BC Persepolis was still the
capital of Persis as a province of the Macedonian empire. The
city gradually declined in the Seleucid period and after, its
ruins attesting its ancient glory. In the 3rd century
AD the nearby city of Istakhr became the centre of the Sassanian
empire. The site is marked by a large terrace with its east side
leaning on the Kuh-e Rahmat (Mount of Mercy). Persepolis was
eventually abandoned, and it lay buried beneath ashes and rubble
until its rediscovery in 1620. Although many people visited
Persepolis in the next centuries, excavation of the ruins did
not begin until 1931, under the direction of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago. The outbreak of World
War II in 1939 halted this work. The Iranian Archaeological
Service continued the excavation and restoration of Persepolis
after the war.
