Persepolis
Persepolis is known as Parsa in old Persian (in local Farsi is called Takht-e Jamshid means the throne of Jamshid) was built as ceremonial capital of the Persia Empire by Darius I, dating back to 515 BC. Persepolis is the Greek name for Parsa. The archaeological ruins of Persepolis are of great importance in terms of architecture, design, forms, location, and materials which gives us a lot of information about the culture of Ancient Iran. Persepolis is enlisted in UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
History of Persepolis
Persepolis is one the ancient cities of Iran destinations which has been the ceremonial capital of Persia Empire for a long
time during Achaemenes dynasty. According to archaeological evidences, Persepolis dates back to 515 BC. It contains of several palaces and gates in 125,000 m2. One of the greatest events was celebrated on the 1st day of Iranian New Year so many groups of all subordinated countries took part in this celebration representing their country in order to offer and present their gifts to the King. The inscriptions on the stone walls of Persepolis describes the culture and history of Achaemenes but much of the inscriptions have been destroyed by Alexander Macedon.
Topography of Persepolis
This city is located in 57 Km far from Shiraz in northwest and 10 Km in the north of Marvdasht in Fars province. Persepolis has expanded at the foot of Rahmat Mountain from east and on Marvdasht plain from north, west and south.
Attractions of Persepolis
Persepolis is the name of an ancient city in Fars province of Iran destinations and includes many palaces, gardens, and gates constructed in the Achaemenid era. Persepolis was one of the few ancient civilizations with a long history and a rich culture in the Iran plateau. As there are many reliefs, epigraphs, and inscriptions on the walls of the palaces describing and demonstrating Achaemenid culture and Persian civilization. There are many so precious and valuable attractions in Persepolis which has been damaged or destroyed during the wars and attacks of Alien. It is a must to visit Persepolis on your adventure in Iran. During the first excavation in the 1800s, many fragments were revealed which the most are on demonstration in London Museum. Here, we tried to define the most important parts of Persepolis to have a better imagination of that.
The Gate of All Nations is a small palace for entering the delegations of all subordinated nations. This palace contains a hall of 612.5 m2 with brick walls, 3 big doorways, and 4 long pillars with a length of 16.5 m. This building has been established by Darius the Great and developed by his son, Khashayar Shah.
Tachar Palace known as “Darius Palace” is one of the earliest buildings was established in Persepolis. It has been made of fine polished grey stones so that you can watch your picture on that. It is called “Mirror Hall” or “Mirror House” for this reason. It contains a central hall with 12 pillars and small rooms in the corners and 2 square-shaped rooms in the north with 4 pillars and a porch with 8 pillars in the south connecting to the corner rooms. There are double-sided stairs in the south of the structure decorated with lithographs demonstrating persons carrying lamb, food, or dishes while wearing Persian and Medes clothes alternatively. On top of the southern door, both sides, there is an inscription in trilingual (Elamite, Old Persian, and Babylonian) which says: “Darius The Great king, king of the kings, king of the countries, son of Hystaspes, from the Achaemenid seed who built this Tachar”.
Apadana Palace is the greatest and the most fantastic palace in the northwest of Persepolis of Iran destinations. It was used for official audiences. Apadana Palace has been constructed on a platform about 3 meters higher than the floor of the yard. It has a big hall in a square shape (60.5×60.5 m) which is connected to the dining room and security room from the south and to rectangular porches from the north, west, and east. It contains 6 rows of 6 round columns with 19.5 meters high decorating with reliefs of flowers on top and designed capitals by a two-heads cow. In each corner of the main hall, there is a brick tower in a square shape. In front of the tower’s door, there were 2 statues of Persian mastiffs made of black stone the remains of two statues are being kept in the National Museum in Tehran.
Sadsotun Palace (100 Columns) is the second-largest palace in Persepolis located in the east of Apadana containing 10 rows of 10 columns. Sadsotoun was established by Khashayarsha in 470 BC and completed by Ardeshir I in 450 BC. The main part of the palace is a square-shaped hall in 68.5x 68.5 m. There are four events which have been curved on the walls of the main hall: one is the scene of meeting the king with the public; another one is the scene of servants who are carrying the throne; the third is the scene of king killing a lion and the last one is a champion who is killing a monster.
There is a long street from Khashayarsha gate to north gate of this palace which it probably was used for immortal soldiers’ parade so it is called “Armies”. Two columns of 100 were intact which they were sent to Chicago in 1930s.
Sehdar Palace also known as “the Council Palace” is located in the center of the Royal palace of Persepolis. As you learn from its name, the palace is accessed by 3 gates to other palaces; hence it is also called the central palace or the three Gates. There is no inscription in this palace but a stone slab in 70×70 m with a small carved circle; precisely in the middle of the hall. The researchers believe that this slab and this palace was acting as a chronograph. But Herzfeld the German archaeologist and Iranologist believes that this palace is a holy shrine as it is higher than other places and a splendid palace like Persepolis should have a shrine. According to archaeological evidences, the ancient Iranian performed the rites and rituals on the highlands. The next researches denied this assumption. As they found there were stairs with inscriptions of soldiers and servants carrying the dishes and foods on the south side of the palace.
Hadish Palace is the special palace of Khashayarsha of Achaemenid dynasty located in Persepolis. It was supposed Khashayarsha has built it but during the archaeological excavations, Alireza Shapour, the explorer found the name of Darius King on the gap between the stones in 1979 which proved the construction of Hadish Palace was started in Darius King time. one of the strange things about this palace is a covered ditch inside the palace and it will be uncovered in a specific point of the palace and its function was as a conditioner so that the wind blew through it into the main hall and caused the circulation of the weather inside.
The Royal Treasury or Treasury Palace is a large building with thick walls in the east of Queen’s palace in Persepolis. It consisted of several guard rooms and large halls to keep safe the royal treasury. There are two large reliefs among the excavations shows the scene of audience meeting with the king which the intact example is on demonstration in Iran National Museum in Tehran. Thousands of small tablets were discovered here with hand written in Elamite script about the workers and the amount of their wages. Surprisingly these tablets were made of raw bricks and were baked in the fire lit by Alexander and turned to clay bricks. So they kept safe over the time. It confirms that there was no slavery system at that time and everyone received fair wages and had benefits.
The unfinished Gate, as you learn from its name, was never completed. This gate has been located opposite of Sadsotun Palace and Ardeshir III started the construction and continued till Darius III. It consisted of a room with 4 pillars and 2 doors. Apparently the guests entered through the stairs from the gate of All Nations and reached to this gate via Armies street and they could enter to Sadsotun palace. It is supposed they were going to decorate both doors with winged cows but they hadn’t chance to complete it. The unfinished Gate was an interior gate and had no passage to outside of Persepolis.
There are some other palaces rather than the above mentioned ones which not excavated or not much remained of them. They are called H, D, G by Eric Friedrich Schmidt who was one of the diggers of Persepolis and the first diggers conducting scientific excavations in Iran. There are not much about these palaces except some walls with inscriptions and columns.