Persepolis (tachte dżamszid)

Early Muslim geographers describe the ruins but attribute them to the legendary world-
king Jamšid, whom they identify with the Biblical Solomon, hence the appellation
Masjed Solaymān.

By the late 6th century BCE, the Persian had founded their city, Pārsa, and Persian kings
had started monumental constructions there. In about 518 BCE, Darius the Great chose a
promontory of the “Royal Hill” at the foot of a mountain to the east of the plain to serve
as the site for a new palace complex forming the citadel of the city of Pārsa. The name of
this mountains, Kuh-e Mehr (since the 13th century “translated” as Kuh-e Rahmat
“Mount Mercy”), indicates that the Persian held the site sacred, and associated it with
Mithra (Mehr).
A terrace platform was prepared on the promontory and four groups of constructions
were built on it: ceremonial palaces, residential quarters, a treasury, and a chain of
fortification. The structures were built by Darius I the Great and his successors, Xerxes
and Artaxerxes I, and maintained until 330 BCE, when they were looted and burnt by
Alexander of Macedon.
The aims of Darius, and hence the function of Persepolis, are debated. Many scholars
maintain that it was built as the site for celebrating Nowruz. Others deny that there is any
evidence for celebrating Nowruz in the Achaemenid period.
The Greeks knew very little of this city, and a few who had heard about it called it Persai.
after the fall of the Achaemenids, the Iranians no longer remembered the name “Pārsa,”
and came to call the site Sad Sotun (Hundred-columned) and Čehel Menār (Forty-
columned), and Iranian traditional history came to attribute the monuments to Jamšid,
organizer of the social estates, and subjugator of the dēves, who build for him
magnificent palaces of stone and bore him while enthroned from one palace to another. It
was believed that, upon the building of the palace, he established the greatest Iranian
festival, Nowruz.
Canals were also cut into the slope of the “Royal Hill,” some to bring drinking water
from a spring located several miles northwest of Persepolis, others to prevent flooding of
the site by leading the rainwater into a deep moat.

Diodorus described the city of Pārsa and its acropolis as they appeared to Alexander.
“Persepolis was the metropolis of the Persian kingdom. It was the richest city under the
sun and the private houses had been furnished with every sort of wealth over the years.
The Citadel is a noteworthy one, and is surrounded by a triple wall. Each of the sides
contain a gate with bronze doors besides each of which stand bronze bulls; these were
intended to catch the eye of the beholder, but the gates were for security.”
The gate to the site was from the south, through a staircase. To the right of this entrance a
huge rectangular block bears four cuneiform inscriptions in the name of Darius the Great.
Two in Old Persian, one in Elamite, and the fourth in Babylonian. These texts were
clearly meant to inform visitors about the nature of Persepolis, the people who
contributed to its buildings, and Darius’ beliefs and ideals. They are thus essential for the
correct interpretation of the site. In the first Darius emphasizes that he owed his power to
“Ahura Mazdā, who (is) the greatest of the divine beings,” and proudly proclaims: “This
(is) the country Pārsa which Ahura Mazdā gave me, which, being beautiful, possessing
good horses, possessing good men, by the grace of Ahura Mazdā and of me Darius the
king, does not fear any [enemy].” He ends with the invocation: “Let Ahura Mazdā protect
this country from the Lie, from an evil host, from famine”. In the second Darius
enumerates twenty-five countries which were subject to him, and in the Elamite text he
speaks of the building of Persepolis. In the Babylonian text Darius acknowledges that
“the work which was done here” was done by artisans of different nations subject to him.

“Gate of All Lands.” – The “Gate of All Lands” was a four-columned square hall. The
capitals of the columns shaped as two addorsed kneeling bulls. Two enormous winged-
bulls support the side pillars. Such “guardian bulls” are well known from Assyrian art,
but while the Assyrian prototypes had five legs, here the bulls are naturalistically four-
legged. A trilingual inscription (in Elamite, Old Persian and Babylonian): in it Xerxes
praises Ahura Mazdā, introduces himself, and adds: “By the grace of Ahura Mazdā, this
“Gate of All Lands” I made”. The southern doorway opened into the forecourt of the
Apadāna.

The Apadāna or the Audience Palace of Darius: most imposing palace of Persepolis. It
consisted of a main square hall (60 x 60 m) with thirty-six columns, three porticos, four
four-story corner towers, and a series of storage and guardrooms on the south.
Its vast roof rested on large heavy cedar beams. Darius placed four stone boxes inside its
four corner-walls, each containing a pairs of gold and silver plaques inscribed with a
trilingual “foundation inscription”, in which Darius introduces himself and gives the
extent of his empire “from the Scythians who are beyond Sogdiana, from there to
Ethiopia; from India, from there to Sardis.
The most splendid parts of Persepolis are the double-reversed stairways of the Apadāna.
Their sculptured representations are: guards, staff-bearers, and dignitaries. The Immortals
(the elite of the Achaemenid army) of the middle and lower registers are followed by two
lines of dignitaries, each consisting of thirty-two figures alternately clad in the “Persian”
and “Median” costumes. All wear earrings, torques, and armlets. They hold in one hand a
bud or flower (either lotus or pomegranate) or carry objects identifiable as apple, quinces,
or colored eggs. Most proceed with a relaxed and casual air, as if attending the party of a
friend. One has placed his hand on the bow-case of his friend, another is touching the
shoulder of his companion, and many are holding hands. These representations are
among the rarest and most pleasant depictions of court ceremonies of the ancient world.
The corresponding wing represented twenty-three gift-bearing delegations each in its own
national dress.
The center depicts a winged-disk flanked by two seated sphinxes and hovering above a
blank space on either side of which stand four Persian and Median guards, while on the
triangular areas formed by the inclines of the flights are shown a row of cypress trees, a
lion goring a bull, and a row of palm date trees. In Iranian tradition the cypress tree
represents auspiciousness (the cypress that was traditionally believed to have been
planted by Zoroaster) and the palm tree affluence and good life. The motif of the lion-
goring-the-bull appears repeatedly at Persepolis with “almost the character of a coat of
arm”.

“Treasury Reliefs” - enthroned figure thus shows Xerxes.

The magnificent palace and its sculptured friezes originally glowed with color.

The Palace of Darius – The oldest palace of Persepolis is the charming structure known
as the Tachara, built on a platform. This palace served as the model for the facade shown
of the tomb of Darius the Great at Naqš-e Rostam.
It was completed after his death by his son and successor Xerxes I, who called the house
a Taçara, winter palace.
Tačara measures 40 x 30 m. It consisted of a main hall with twelve columns (double-
headed bull capitals), two smaller columned rooms on the north, a columned portico on
the south, and several chambers and guard-rooms on either side.
The Tačara is a museum of calligraphy of many Achaemenid as well as non-Achaemenid
inscriptions from various periods.

The Palace of Xerxes

The harem of Xerxes.To the west of the Treasury. A thick wall surrounded the whole
complex and access to it was essentially through a small entrance located in the
southwestern corner, makes the identification of the structure as the harem of Xerxes.

Central Palace – small but lavishly ornamented structure.

The jambs of this doorway are sculptured with the representation of a king seated under
the royal baldachin, his crown prince standing behind him, both on a monumental throne
which is being carried into the hall upon the raised arms and hands of twenty-eight
persons, symbolizing subject nations of the empire.

The Treasury. On the southeastern corner of the Terrace.

Alexander approached Persepolis in 330 BCE, its treasurer hastened to submit the citadel
in the hope of saving the city and its acropolis. But Alexander plundered Pārsa and
slaughtered its people, then pillaged the citadel. The Treasury’s “vaults were packed full
of silver and gold. The total was found to be one hundred and twenty thousand talents.
Afterwards Alexander burned “the enormous palaces, famed throughout the whole
civilized world”. Alexander’s true reason for the barbarism must have been the
conviction that as long as the “mother-city” of the dynasty he was determined to uproot
remained intact, the Persians would not accept him and would continue to fight for the
recovery of “the Persian city”.

The Hundred Column Hall – This second largest palace of Persepolis is located to the
north of the Treasury and east of the Apadāna.
The four jambs of the southern doorways are sculptured with an identical scene. The
winged-human symbol of Royal Glory hovers above a royal baldachimem decorated with
rows of passant lions and bulls flanking two Winged-circles. Beneath the baldachins is
Artaxerxes I seated on a chair, his flywhisk bearer standing behind him, and both on a
monumental throne borne into the hall by fourteen throne-bearers.
The two completed graves behind Takhti Jamshid would then belong to Artaxerxes II and
Artaxerxes III.

Naqsze Rostam i Naqsze Radżab

The Persian name “Pictures of Rostam” refers to the Sasanian reliefs on the cliff,
believed to represent the deeds of Rostam. Nazwe tę nadali irańczycy po tym jak
przypisali tamtejsze reliefy Rostamowi.
Achaemenid Period. The most important architectural remains are the tower called Kaba-
ye Zardošt and four royal tombs.

Kabe-ye Zartosht - There is an analogous, though much more decayed, structure, called
Zendān-e Soleymān, in Pasargadae.
Three exterior sides bear the famous inscription of Shapur I. The Res gestae divi Saporis
was added in Greek on the south wall, in Sasanian Pahlawi on the east, and in Parthian on
the west, while the north wall with the entrance has remained empty. Beneath the Parsik
version the high priest Kirdīr had his own inscription. Evidently, in Sasanian times the
Kaba-ye Zardošt served, in addition to other functions, as memorial.

The oldest tomb has inscriptions that assign it to Darius I. The other three can only
tentatively be attributed to Xerxes, Artaxerxes I and Darius II.

The rock tomb is characterized by the contrast between a cruciform composition in relief
on the exterior wall and a very simple interior of chambers. The center of the relief
ensemble is a facade that represents the front of a palace with four engaged columns. On
this architectural component rests a throne bench. that is supported by 30 representatives
of the empire’s peoples. The throne bench in turn serves as the platform of a religious
scene with king, fire altar, and divine symbols.
Since the late 19th, early 20th century, the winged ensign with a human figure, emerging
from a circle, has been understood as a representation of Ahura Mazdā.

In each tomb chamber, a trough-like cavity was hewn into the solid rock to hold a
probably wooden sarcophagus. These cists were sealed with monolithic lids after the
deposition of the corpses, but nothing has remained of the original interments.

Seven oversized rock reliefs at Naqsh-e Rustam depict monarchs of the Sassanid period.
The investiture relief of Ardashir I (3w) – The founder of the Sassanid Empire is seen
being handed the ring of kingship by Ahura Mazda. In the inscription, which also bears
the oldest attested use of the term 'Iran'.

Book of Deeds of Ardashir Son of Papak is a short Middle Persian prose tale. The story
narrates the story of Ardashir I, the founder of the Sassanid dynasty.
The story starts with the favorite maid of the Parthian king Ardavan, who fell in love with
Ardashir and informed him of a prophecy that had been announced to the sovereign by
the chief astrologer. The maid escaped Ardavand's domain and together with Ardashir,
they escape on two horses stolen from the stables of Ardavan. During this pursuit,
Ardavan questions passers-by, who tell them that had seen the couple on the run followed
by a large ram. The king interrogates his Dastur about the meaning of this scene, and the
sage answers that the ram represents the royal xwarrah, which had not yet joined with
Ardashir. In the Persian mythology, once a king possesses the divine xwarrah, he is
invincible. During the second day of pursuit, Ardavan is told that the ram sat on the back
of Ardashir I’s horse. He is then advised by the Dastur to stop his pursuit since Ardashir I
now possesses the xwarrah. The story follows with the description of Ardashir's triumph
over Ardavan. Then follows his campaign against a group of nomads and then his victory
against Haftobād (a giant worm). He defeats Haftobād by pouring molten copper down
the creature's throat.

The last part of the story relates: Ardashir’s wife, the daughter of Ardawān, instigated by
her brothers, makes an attempt on the king’s life. The plot fails and Ardashīr sentences
her to death, but Zoroastrian priest, without the knowledge of Ardashir, spares her life so
that she may give birth to Shapur. Shapur is raised in the house of the Mowbed. Years
later the Mowbed tells Ardashir that he saved Shapur and consequently is rewarded by
Ardashir I.

The Parthian Empire had consisted of a loose federation of vassal kingdoms under the
suzerainty of the Arsacid monarchs. In contrast, Ardashir I established a relatively strong
central government by which to rule his dominions.
Ardashir I maintained his familial base in Fars, erecting such structures as the Ghal'eh
Dokhtar and the Palace of Ardashir. Despite these impressive structures, he established
his government at the old Arsacid capital of Ctesiphon on the Tigris River.

The triumph of Shapur I (3w):

This is the most famous of the Sassanid rock reliefs, and depicts Shapur's victory over
three Roman emperors, Gordian III, Valerian and Philip the Arab. A more elaborate
version of this rock relief is at Bishapur.

The "grandee" relief of Bahram II (3w):

On each side of the king, who is depicted with an oversized sword, figures face the king.
On the left stand five figures, perhaps members of the king's family (three having
diadems, suggesting they were royalty). On the right stand three courtiers, one of which
may be Kartir.
Bahram II – while Persia was in civil war, the Roman Emperor invaded Mesopotamia.
Bahram II was not able to offer any resistance as his troops were occupied fighting
against his brother Hormazd in Sakastan. Mesopotamia was ravaged and the city of
Ctesiphon was occupied by the Roman troops. However, following Carus's death, the
Romans retreated, Bahram retook Mesopotamia.
Diocletian resumed hostilities with Persia, and marched into Persian territory in aid of the
Armenian prince Tiridates who was in rebellion against Persia. Tiridates declared himself
independent. He defeated two Persian armies in the open field, even crossed the border
and gained signal victories on admitted Persian ground.

The investiture of Narseh (3/4 w):

In this relief, the king is depicted as receiving the ring of kingship from a female figure
that is frequently assumed to be Anahita.

Nerses - invaded Armenia. Tiridates fled his kingdom. The Roman Emperor Diocletian
dispatched his son-in-law Galerius with a large army to Tiridates's aid.
Galerius invaded Mesopotamia. Three battles were fought subsequently, the first two of
which were indecisive. In the third Galerius suffered a complete defeat and was forced to
retreat. Ale zebrał nową armię i supported by the Armenians, surprised Narses forcing
him to flee in haste. His wife, prisoners, his sisters and a number of his children were
captured apart from his prodigious military chest. Eastern Mesopotamia was recovered by
the Romans and Tiridates was reinstated as the monarch of Armenia.

Naqsh-e Rajab is the site of four limestone rockface inscriptions and reliefs that date to
the early Sassanid era: 1. investiture inscription of Ardeshir I. 2. investiture inscription of
Shapur I. 3. relief, known as 'Shapur's Parade' celebrates the king's military victory in 244
over the Roman emperor Valerian and Philip the Arab.