Persepolis, an ancient capital of the kings of theAchaemenian dynasty ofIran (Persia), located about 30 miles (50 km) northeast ofShīrāz in theFars region of southwestern Iran. The site lies near theconfluence of the Pulvār (Sīvand) and Kor rivers. In 1979 the ruins were designated aUNESCOWorld Heritage site.

The site

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The site is marked by a large terrace with its east side abutting the Kūh-e Raḥmat (“Mount of Mercy”). The other three sides are formed by aretaining wall, varying in height with the slope of the ground from 13 to 41 feet (4 to 12 metres); on the west side a magnificent double stair in two flights of 111 short stone steps leads to the top. On the terrace are the ruins of a number of colossal buildings, all constructed of a dark gray stone (often polished to a marble-like surface) from theadjacent mountain. The stone was cut with the utmost precision into blocks of great size, which were laid without mortar; many of them are still in place. Especially striking are the huge columns, 13 of which still stand in the audience hall ofDarius I (the Great; reigned 522–486bce), known as theapadana, the name given to a similar hall built by Darius atSusa. There are two more columns still standing in the entrance hall of the Gate of Xerxes, and a third has been assembled there from its broken pieces.

In 1933 two sets of gold and silver plates recording in the three forms ofcuneiform—AncientPersian,Elamite, andBabylonian—the boundaries of thePersian empire were discovered in the foundations of Darius’s hall of audience. A number of inscriptions, cut in stone, of Darius I,Xerxes I, andArtaxerxes III indicate to which monarch the various buildings wereattributed. The oldest of these on the south retaining wall gives Darius’s famous prayer for his people: “God protect this country from foe, famine, and falsehood.” There are numerous reliefs of Persian, Median, and Elamite officials, and 23 scenes separated by cypress trees depict representatives from the remote parts of the empire who, led by a Persian or aMede, made appropriate offerings to the king at the national festival of thevernal equinox.

Behind Persepolis are three sepulchres hewn out of the mountainside; the facades, one of which is incomplete, are richly ornamented with reliefs. About 8 miles (13 km) north by northeast, on the opposite side of the Pulvār 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 calledNaqsh-e Rostam (“Picture of Rostam”), from theSasanian carvings below the tombs, which were thought to represent the mythical hero Rostam. That the occupants of these seven tombs were Achaemenian kings might beinferred 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 ofHystaspes, whose grave, according to the Greek historianCtesias, 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 are probably those of Xerxes I,Artaxerxes I, andDarius II (Ochus). The two completed graves behind Persepolis probably belong toArtaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III. The unfinished one might be that ofArses, who reigned at the longest two years, but is more likely that ofDarius III, last of the Achaemenian line, who was overthrown byAlexander the Great.

At the foot of Naqsh-e Rostam, situated in the direction of the cliff face, rests a square building known asKaʿbeh-ye Zardusht (“Kaaba of Zoroaster,” a reference to the cubicKaaba in Mecca). The building, which is roughly 40 feet (12 metres) high and 24 feet (7 metres) square, probably was constructed in the first half of the 6th centurybce, although it has numerous inscriptions from later periods. Though the building is of great linguistic interest, its original purpose is not clear. It may have been a tomb for Achaemenian royalty or some sort of altar, perhaps to the goddessAnahiti.

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