Persepolis is an ancient Persian city (northeast of Shiraz, Iran), one of the capitals of the Achaemenid state. It was founded by Darius I the Great (reigned 522-486 BC). The main buildings were erected under Darius I and Xerxes I. Captured by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. e., was destroyed by fire.
History
For 36 years, the "king of kings" Darius I from the Achaemenid dynasty ruled Persia. In the 500s BC. e. his power reached its climax. Around 515 BC e. at the behest of Darius, on the Merv-Dasht plateau, at the foot of Mount Kuh-i Rakhmat ("Mountain of Mercy"), a new capital of the country was laid - Parsa, or, as the Greeks called it, Persepolis - "the city of the Persians", designed to symbolize the power and splendor of the huge the Achaemenid powers. By the name of this city, first the Greeks, and then the whole world, began to call Iran Persia - until in 1936 the Iranian government asked all countries to call the country Iran.
The city was built for over 50 years. From all parts of the great empire - Babylonia, Asia Minor, Egypt and Media - the best masons, brick-makers, sculptors, and carvers were brought to Persepolis. As a result, Persepolis overshadowed everything that was created in the old days in other Eastern countries with its scope and luxury.
Description of Persepolis
The buildings of the capital of the Persians occupied an area of 135 thousand square meters. m. On three sides, the city was surrounded by a powerful double fortress wall (on the fourth side there was an impregnable mountain rock), behind which were the residence of the king, many ceremonial and utility rooms, barracks of the guard of the "immortals", stables. All these buildings were erected on a giant artificial terrace measuring 500x300 m, lined with huge blocks, which rises 13 meters above the surrounding plain.
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The walls of the capital were 4.5–5.5 m thick and 11.5 to 15 m high. One could climb to Persepolis by a wide grand staircase of 2 flights of 111 steps, built of massive stone blocks of white limestone. In the southwestern corner of the terrace there was another entrance - a service one, through which animals, food, etc. were delivered.
Apadana
The central building of Persepolis is its legendary "apadana". This was the name of the original creation of Persian architects: a multi-column ceremonial hall with a whole forest of light, slender columns, which were crowned with heavy capitals in the form of bull figures. Apadana in the capital, which is often called one of the most magnificent buildings of the ancient world, began to be built in 492 BC. e. under Darius I, and completed in 481 BC. e. already under the new king, Xerxes I. The entrance to apadana led through the magnificent "Gates of all countries", also called the "propylaea of Xerxes." This structure is adorned with figures of bulls and fantastic creatures, above whose heads inscriptions in the ancient Persian, Elamite and Babylonian languages informed about the kings-builders of Persepolis - Darius and Xerxes.
Apadana, its thick walls were built of raw brick, was a square hall measuring 60x60 m (3600 sq. M). It could simultaneously accommodate 10 thousand people. On three sides, the apadana was surrounded by 12 columns (6 in 2 rows) porticoes, at the corners were massive 4-corner towers with stairs leading to the roof. The ceiling of the hall and porticoes was supported by 72 thin and graceful stone columns more than 20 m high (in other buildings of the city the columns were wooden, up to 7-11 m high). Until now, only 13 have survived from this "forest of columns".
The floor of the apadana is raised by 4 m, so you can climb to the moth hall by two wide staircases, which were decorated with numerous reliefs. Other palaces of Persepolis are also decorated with reliefs. Among these images - Darius I on the throne, behind whom are his son and heir Xerxes and the magic priests; scene of the solemn reception by Darius of the satrap Media; scenes of the king's struggle with winged griffins. At one time these reliefs had inserts of bronze and paste and were painted with bright colors.
Apadana was also decorated with the legendary majolica frieze depicting the royal bodyguards, now located in the Louvre. The Greeks called these guardsmen of Darius "immortal", since there were always exactly 10,000 of them. On other reliefs, in several tiers, a procession of 33 conquered peoples is depicted, each of which is led by a satrap - the head of the province, who was appointed from among the noble Persians. If these reliefs were stretched in one line, they would occupy 400 m in length. This is a real ethnographic museum with images of all the characteristic features of clothing and facial features of different tribes and peoples.
Palaces of Darius and Xerxes
Apadana was connected by special corridors with the personal palaces of Darius and Xerxes (in the inscription of Darius his palace is called "tachara", and in the inscriptions of Xerxes there is the name "hadish"). The palace of Darius I, square in plan, consists of a central hall and numerous separate rooms, connected by open courtyards and gates. Like the palaces of Assyria, the residence of the Persian rulers was decorated with huge reliefs. At the entrance to the palace there were winged bulls of even more impressive dimensions than in Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad).
The eastern part of the residence is occupied by the Xerxes palace. In its architecture, it resembles the palace of Darius, and the images of servants carrying food decorating its walls do not differ much from those depicted on the facade of Darius's palace. Under Xerxes, a harem building was also built in Persepolis, in which the women of the royal family lived.
Column hall
466 BC e. - in Persepolis, the Throne Room was erected (it is also called the Hall of Columns), which is considered one of the most perfect buildings in the capital of the Persians. It is the largest building after Apadana in Persepolis, its size is 70x70 m. The ceiling of the hall is supported by 100 columns 20 m high. This building may have been built by Darius, although an inscription in Akkadian, found there, dates its construction to the time of his grandson's reign Darius Artaxerxes I. This hall housed the palace "museum", where the most valuable royal treasures were exhibited. Royal receptions and feasts were also held here. There is an assumption that it was here that the gifts presented to the king were put in a solemn atmosphere.
Despite the unprecedented luxury and truly royal grandeur, this entire huge ensemble came to life only once a year: in the spring, on the day when the Iranian New Year, Navruz, was celebrated, which coincided with the vernal equinox. At other times the king was in two other capitals - Susa or Pasargadae. The more magnificent and solemn were the ceremonies held in Persepolis, when on March 21 this temple-city was visited by the king himself, accompanied by an extensive retinue and 10,000 "immortals", all the nobles of the huge empire, tribal leaders, military leaders and nobles, deputations from numerous peoples gathered, members of the Achaemenid empire, each with gifts symbolizing the wealth of their countries.
Reconstruction of Persepolis.
Fire
Alexander the Great, conquering Persepolis in 330 BC e., burned down the capital of the defeated king. This happened during one of the feasts, "when he, - as Diodorus of Siculus wrote, - was no longer in control." According to legend, during this feast, the Athenian harlot Thais in a frenzy grabbed a torch from the altar and threw it between the wooden columns of the palace, and the drunken general and his retinue followed her example.
The stories of ancient authors are confirmed by archaeological excavations: among the ruins of the apadana, the throne room and the royal treasury, traces of fire are clearly visible, and the floor of the Throne Hall is covered with almost a meter thick ash. These are the ashes from the cedar beams that once supported the ceiling.
In the Middle Ages, the remnants of the Persepolis palace were somehow still supported and they even served for some time as a residence for local emirs, but then they came to final desolation. Only in 1931-1934. Ernst Herzfeld, on behalf of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, carried out the first real survey of the palace ruins. Thanks to this survey, effective measures were taken to protect the remains of the palace from further destruction. Today Persepolis is one of the most well-studied ancient cities.