Persepolis

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This article is about the ancient city. For other uses, see Persepolis
(disambiguation).
Persepolis
???????? Parsa (Old Persian)
??? ????? Takht-e Jamshid (Modern Persian)
Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg
Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.
Persepolis is located in Iran Persepolis
Shown within Iran
Location Marvdasht, Fars Province, Iran[1]
Coordinates 2956'04?N 5253'29?ECoordinates 2956'04?N 5253'29?E
Type Settlement
History
Builder Darius I, Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I
Material Limestone, mud-brick, cedar wood
Founded 6th century BC
Periods Achaemenid Empire
Cultures Persian
Events Nowruz, The 2,500 Year Celebration of the Persian Empire
Site notes
Condition in ruins
Management Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran
Public access open
Architecture
Architectural styles Achaemenid
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name Persepolis
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iii, vi
Designated 1979 (3rd session)
Reference no. 114
State Party Iran
Region Asia-Pacific
Persepolis (Persian ????????) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire
(ca. 550330 BC). It is situated 60 km northeast of the city of Shiraz in Fars
Province, Iran. The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. It
exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture. UNESCO declared the ruins of
Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979.[2]

Contents [hide]
1 Name
2 Geography
3 History
3.1 Destruction
3.2 After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire
4 Archaeological research
5 Ruins and remains
5.1 Gate of All Nations
5.2 The Apadana
5.3 The Throne Hall
5.4 Other palaces and structures
5.5 Tombs
5.6 Ancient texts
6 Modern events
6.1 The controversy of the Sivand Dam
7 Museums (outside of Iran) that display material from Persepolis
8 Aerial views
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
Name[edit]
The English word Persepolis is derived from Greek Perspolis (?e?s?p????), a
compound of Prses (???s??) and plis (p????), meaning the Persian city or the City
of the Persians.

To the ancient Persians, the city was known as Parsa (Old Persian ????????), which
is also the word for Persia[3][4] (more accurately, the region of Persis).

Due to the belief among Late Antiquity Persians that the monuments were built by
Jamshid,[5] an Iranian mythological figure, the site has been known as Takht-e-
Jamshid (Persian ??? ??????? Taxt e Jamid, [?t?xt?ed??m'?i?d], literally Throne
of Jamshid) since the time of the Sasanian period (224651 AD).

Another modern Persian name for the site was Chel Menar (??? ????), also
transliterated as Chehel Menar and Chilminar, which means having many columns.

Geography[edit]
Persepolis is near the small river Pulvar, which flows into the Kur River.

Ruins of the Palace of Artaxerxes I, Persepolis. As is typical of Achaemenid

cities, Persepolis was built on a (partially) artificial platform.
The site includes a 125,000 square meter terrace, partly artificially constructed
and partly cut out of a mountain, with its east side leaning on Rahmet Mountain.
The other three sides are formed by retaining walls, which vary in height with the
slope of the ground. Rising from 513 metres (1643 feet) on the west side was a
double stair. From there, it gently slopes to the top. To create the level terrace,
depressions were filled with soil and heavy rocks, which were joined together with
metal clips.

History[edit]
Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest remains of Persepolis date back to
515 BC. Andr Godard, the French archaeologist who excavated Persepolis in the
early 1930s, believed that it was Cyrus the Great who chose the site of Persepolis,
but that it was Darius I who built the terrace and the palaces.

Since, to judge from the inscriptions, the buildings of Persepolis commenced with
Darius I, it was probably under this king, with whom the scepter passed to a new
branch of the royal house, that Persepolis became the capital of Persia proper. As
the residence of the rulers of the empire, however, a remote place in a difficult
alpine region was far from convenient. The country's true capitals were Susa,
Babylon and Ecbatana. This accounts for the fact that the Greeks were not
acquainted with the city until Alexander the Great took and plundered it.

Aerial architectural plan of Persepolis.

Darius I's constructions at Persepolis was carried out parallel to those of the
Palace of Susa.[6] According to Gene R. Garthwaite, the Susa Palace served as
Darius' model for Persepolis.[7] Darius I ordered the construction of the Apadana
and the Council Hall (Tripylon or the Triple Gate), as well as the main imperial
Treasury and its surroundings. These were completed during the reign of his son,
Xerxes I. Further construction of the buildings on the terrace continued until the
downfall of the Achaemenid Empire.[8]
Around 519 BC, construction of a broad stairway was begun. The stairway was
initially planned to be the main entrance to the terrace 20 metres (66 feet) above
the ground. The dual stairway, known as the Persepolitan Stairway, was built
symmetrically on the western side of the Great Wall. The 111 steps measured 6.9
metres (23 feet) wide, with treads of 31 centimetres (12 inches) and rises of 10
centimetres (3.9 inches). Originally, the steps were believed to have been
constructed to allow for nobles and royalty to ascend by horseback. New theories,
however, suggest that the shallow risers allowed visiting dignitaries to maintain a
regal appearance while ascending. The top of the stairways led to a small yard in
the north-eastern side of the terrace, opposite the Gate of All Nations.

Grey limestone was the main building material used at Persepolis. After natural
rock had been leveled and the depressions filled in, the terrace was prepared.
Major tunnels for sewage were dug underground through the rock. A large elevated
water storage tank was carved at the eastern foot of the mountain. Professor
Olmstead suggested the cistern was constructed at the same time that construction
of the towers began.

The uneven plan of the terrace, including the foundation, acted like a castle,
whose angled walls enabled its defenders to target any section of the external
front. Diodorus Siculus writes that Persepolis had three walls with ramparts, which
all had towers to provide a protected space for the defense personnel. The first
wall was 7 metres (23 feet) tall, the second, 14 metres (46 feet) and the third
wall, which covered all four sides, was 27 metres (89 feet) in height, though no
presence of the wall exists in modern times.

Destruction[edit]
After invading Achaemenid Persia in 330 BC, Alexander the Great sent the main force
of his army to Persepolis by the Royal Road. He stormed the Persian Gates, a pass
through modern-day Zagros Mountains. There Ariobarzanes of Persis successfully
ambushed Alexander the Great's army, inflicting heavy casualties. After being held
off for 30 days, Alexander the Great outflanked and destroyed the defenders.
Ariobarzanes himself was killed either during the battle or during the retreat to
Persepolis. Some sources indicate that the Persians were betrayed by a captured
tribal chief who showed the Macedonians an alternate path that allowed them to
outflank Ariobarzanes in a reversal of Thermopylae. After several months, Alexander
allowed his troops to loot Persepolis.

Alexander the Great ordering Persepolis to be set on fire, Italian plate, 1534 (it
may be a depiction of the burning of Rome by Nero)
Around that time, a fire burned the palaces or the palace. Scholars agree that this
event, described in historic sources, occurred at the ruins that have been now re-
identified as Persepolis. From Stolze's investigations, it appears that at least
one of these, the castle built by Xerxes I, bears evident traces of having been
destroyed by fire. The locality described by Diodorus Siculus after Cleitarchus
corresponds in important particulars with the historic Persepolis, for example, in
being supported by the mountain on the east.

It is believed that the fire which destroyed Persepolis started from Hadish Palace,
which was the living quarters of Xerxes I, and spread to the rest of the city.[9]
It is not clear if the fire was an accident or a deliberate act of revenge for the
burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the second Persian invasion of Greece.
Many historians argue that while Alexander's army celebrated with a symposium, they
decided to take revenge against the Persians.[10] In that case, it would be a
combination of the two.[clarification needed]

The Book of Arda Wiraz, a Zoroastrian work composed in the 3rd or 4th century,
describes Persepolis' archives as containing all the Avesta and Zend, written upon
prepared cow-skins, and with gold ink, that were destroyed. Indeed, in his
Chronology of the Ancient Nations, the native Iranian writer Biruni indicates
unavailability of certain native Iranian historiographical sources in post-
Achaemenid era, especially during the Parthian Empire. He adds, [Alexander] burned
the whole of Persepolis as revenge to the Persians, because it seems the Persian
King Xerxes had burnt the Greek City of Athens around 150 years ago. People say
that, even at the present time, the traces of fire are visible in some places.[10]
[11]

Paradoxically, the event that caused the destruction of these texts may have
resulted in the preservation of the Persepolis Administrative Archives, which might
otherwise have been lost over time to natural and man-made events.[12] According to
archaeological evidence, the partial burning of Persepolis did not affect what are
now referred to as the Persepolis Fortification Archive tablets, but rather may
have caused the eventual collapse of the upper part of the northern fortification
wall that preserved the tablets until their recovery by the Oriental Institute's
archaeologists.[13]

A general view of Persepolis.

After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire[edit]

Ruins of the Western side of the compound at Persepolis.

In 316 BC, Persepolis was still the capital of Persia as a province of the great
Macedonian Empire (see Diod. xix, 21 seq., 46; probably after Hieronymus of Cardia,
who was living about 326). The city must have gradually declined in the course of
time. The lower city at the foot of imperial city might have survived for a longer
time;[14] but the ruins of the Achaemenids remained as a witness to its ancient
glory. It is probable that the principal town of the country, or at least of the
district, was always in this neighborhood.

About 200 BC, the city of Estakhr, five kilometers north of Persepolis, was the
seat of the local governors. From there, the foundations of the second great
Persian Empire were laid, and there Estakhr acquired special importance as the
center of priestly wisdom and orthodoxy. The Sasanian kings have covered the face
of the rocks in this neighborhood, and in part even the Achaemenid ruins, with
their sculptures and inscriptions. They must themselves have been built largely
there, although never on the same scale of magnificence as their ancient
predecessors. The Romans knew as little about Estakhr as the Greeks had known about
Persepolis, despite the fact that the Sasanians maintained relations for four
hundred years, friendly or hostile, with the empire.

At the time of the Muslim invasion of Persia, Estakhr offered a desperate

resistance. It was still a place of considerable importance in the first century of
Islam, although its greatness was speedily eclipsed by the new metropolis of
Shiraz. In the 10th century, Estakhr dwindled to insignificance, as seen from the
descriptions of Estakhri, a native (c. 950), and of Al-Muqaddasi (c. 985). During
the following centuries, Estakhr gradually declined, until it ceased to exist as a
city.