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PERSEPOLIS (Ancient city) IRAN
Persepolis (Persepolis, Diod. xvii. 70; Ptol. vi. 4. § 4; Curt. v.
4. 6; Persaipolis, Strab. xv. 729: Eth. Persepolites), the capital of Persis at
the time of the invasion of Alexander, and the seat of the chief palaces of the
kings of Persia. It was situated at the opening of an extensive plain (now called
Mardusht), and near the junction of two streams, the Araxes (Bendamir) and the
Medus (Pulwan). The ruins, which are still very extensive, bear the local name
of the Chel Minar, or Forty Columns. According to Diodorus the city was originally
surrounded by a triple wall of great strength and beauty (xvii. 71). Strabo states
that it was, after Susa, the richest city of the Persians, and that it contained
a palace of great beauty (xv. p. 729), and adds that Alexander burnt this building
to avenge the Greeks for the similar injuries which had been inflicted on them
by the Persians (xv. p. 730). Arrian simply states that Alexander burnt the royal
palace, contrary to the entreaty of Parmenion, who wished him to spare this magnificent
building, but does not mention the name of Persepolis. (Anab. iii. 18.) Curtius,
who probably drew his account from the many extant notices of Alexander's expedition
by different officers who had accompanied him, has fully described the disgraceful
burning of the city and palace at Persepolis by the Greek monarch and his drunken
companions. He adds that, as it was chiefly built of cedar, the fire spread rapidly
far and wide.
Great light has been thrown upon the monuments which still remain
at Persepolis by the researches of Niebuhr and Ker Porter, and still more so by
the interpretation of the cuneiform inscriptions by Colonel Rawlinson and Prof.
Lassen. From the result of their inquiries, it seems doubtful whether any portion
of the present ruins ascend to so high a period as that of the founder of the
Persian monarchy, Cyrus. The principal buildings are doubtless due to Dareius
the son of Hystaspes, and to Xerxes. The palace and city of Cyrus was at Pasargada,
while that of the later monarchs was at Persepolis. (Rawlinson, Journ. of Roy.
As. Soc. vol. x; Lassen, in Ersch and Gruber's Encycl. s.v.; Fergusson, Palaces
of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored, Lond. 1851.) It has been a matter of some
doubt how far Persepolis itself ever was the ancient site of the capital; and
many writers have supposed that it was only the high place of the Persian monarchy
where the great palaces and temples were grouped together. On the whole, it seems
most probable that the rock on which the ruins are now seen was the place where
the palaces and temples were placed, and that the city was extended at its feet
along the circumjacent plain. Subsequent to the time of Alexander, Persepolis
is not mentioned in history except in the second book of the Maccabees, where
it is stated that Antiochus Epiphanes made a fruitless attempt to plunder the
temples. (2 Maccab. ix. 1.) In the later times of the Muhammedan rule, the fortress
of Istakhr, which was about 4 miles from the ruins, seems to have occupied the
place of Persepolis; hence the opinion of some writers, that Istakhr itself was
part of the ancient city. (Niebuhr, ii. p. 121; Chardin, Voyages, viii. p. 245;
Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 576; Ouseley, Travels, ii. p. 222.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Persepolis, Persaipolis; in the Middle Ages, Istakhar; now
Takhti-Jemshid, i. e. "Throne of Jemshid," or Chil-Minar, i. e. "Forty
Pillars"). The Greek name, probably translated from the Persian name which
is not recorded, of the great city which succeeded Pasargada as the capital of
Persis and of the Persian Empire. From the circumstance, however, of the conquest
of the Babylonian Empire taking place about the time when Persepolis attained
this dignity, it appears to have been seldom used as the royal residence. Neither
Herodotus, Xenophon, Ctesias, nor the sacred writers during the Persian period,
mention it at all; though they often speak of Babylon, Susa, and Ecbatana as the
capitals of the Empire. It is only from the Greek writers after the Macedonian
conquest that we learn its rank in the Empire, which appears to have consisted
chiefly in its being one of the two burial places of the Persian kings (the other
being Pasargada), and also a royal treasury; for Alexander found in the palace
immense riches, which were said to have accumulated from the time of Cyrus. Its
foundation is sometimes ascribed to Cyrus the Great, but more generally to his
son Cambyses. It was greatly enlarged and adorned by Darius I. and Xerxes, and
preserved its splendour till after the Macedonian conquest, when it was burned;
Alexander, as the story goes, setting fire to the palace with his own hand at
the end of a revel by the instigation of the courtesan Thais in B.C. 331. It was
not, however, so entirely destroyed as some historians represent. It appears frequently
in subsequent history, both ancient and mediaeval. It is now deserted, but its
ruins are considerable, though too dilapidated to give any good notion of Persian
architecture, and they are rich in cuneiform inscriptions. In the days of its
splendour a great plaza or species of platform was crowned with palaces, halls,
and altars. Here were stored the treasures which Alexander rifled; and here was
kept the copy of the Avesta, written on 12,000 oxhides in letters of gold.
Among the ruins still existing three groups are distinguished
by archaeologists: first, the Forty Pillars proper, with the so-called "Mountain
of Tombs" or "Throne of Jamshid," after a fabulous king who is
said to have founded the city; second, the Naksh-in-Rustam, a collection of tombs;
and third, a building now called "the Haram of Jamshid." The first group
is the most important, being the terrace already mentioned, built of cyclopean
masonry, and extending 1500 feet in one [p. 1206] direction and 800 in another.
It was once surrounded by triple walls of a height varying from about 48 to 100
feet. There are still to be distinguished on the central platform the so-called
"Great Hall of Xerxes," the Palace of Xerxes, and the Palace of Darius.
The stone used for these structures is dark grayish marble cut into enormous square
blocks, and highly polished. The ascent to this platform is by two double flights
of steps nearly 22 feet in width and only 3 1/2 inches high, so that they have
been ascended in modern times on horseback. The portals still exhibit huge figures
of animals, 15 feet high, and not unlike the Assyrian bulls of Nineveh. The cuneiform
inscriptions are ascribed to Xerxes. Persepolis was situated in the heart of Persis,
in the part called Hollow Persis (koile Persis), not far from the border of the
Carmanian Desert, in a beautiful and healthy valley, through which runs the river
Araxes. After Alexander's time the place was of secondary importance. It was plundered
by Antiochus in B.C. 164, and later was the residence of a Persian viceroy.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Persepolis (Old Persian Parsa, modern Takht-e Jamshid): Greek name of one
of the capitals of the ancient Achaemenid empire, founded by the great king Darius
(522-486 BCE), forty-three kilometers downstream from the capital of Cyrus the
Great, Pasargadae.
There are some indications that the site of Persepolis
was already a government's center under Cyrus the Great (559-530) and his son
Cambyses II (530-522), but there are no archaeological traces of this older phase.
However this may be, it seems as if Darius 'invented' Persepolis as the splendid
seat of the government of the Achaemenid empire and as its center for receptions
and festivals. The wealth of Persia was to be visible in every aspect of its construction.
Persepolis was a showcase.
The first building phase may have lasted from 518 to 490. Darius'
men leveled the ground and created a terrace of 450x300 meters, on which stood
a large building and an audience hall. In the treasury, the booty of the conquered
tribes and states and the annual tribute sent by the king's loyal subjects on
the occasion of the New Year's festival, were stored. Many people were employed
to keep the gold and silver shining: from the so-called Fortification tablets,
it is known that in 467 BCE, no less than 1348 people were employed in the treasury.
The square audience hall, which was at the heart of the terrace, is
usually called the apadana. It could contain hundreds, probably thousands, of
subjects at the same time. It was the largest and probably the most beautiful
of the buildings at Persepolis. The seventy-two columns which supported the roof
were twenty-five meters high (thirteen can still be seen).
Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes,
an Achaemenian, built this palace.
During this first building phase, a complex system of water channels
and drainage was cut into the rocky terrace.
The second phase, between 490-480, consists of buildings started by
Darius but completed in the first years of the reign of his son and successor,
Xerxes (486-465). Actually, Persepolis is mostly the work of this king. He tells
us in an inscription:
When my father Darius went away from the throne, I became king on
his throne by the grace of Ahuramazda. After I became king, I finished what had
been done by my father, and I added other works.
The apadana was finished and a small palace was added to the south
of the apadana. It is usually called Darius' palace, although he probably did
not live to see the building finished. The ancient Persian name was Tachara, 'winter
palace'. To the north of the apadana Gate of All Nations (also known as Xerxes'
gate) was built, which was guarded by a pair of large bulls in the west and lamasu's
in the east (a lamasu is a bull with the head of a bearded man). Walls were constructed
on the northern ridge of the terrace fortification. In front of Xerxes' gate was
a monumental double-ramped stairway.
Above these lamasu's, an inscription was written:
A great God is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder sky,
who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Xerxes king, one king
of many, one lord of many.
I am Xerxes, the Great King, King of Kings, King of countries containing many
kinds (of men), King in this great earth far and wide, son of King Darius, an
Achaemenian.
roclaims Xerxes the King: By the favor of Ahuramazda I built this Gateway of All
Nations. I built many other beautiful things in Persia. I built them and my father
built them. All beautiful things we built, we have built by the favor of Ahuramazda.
Proclaims Xerxes the King: May Ahuramazda protect me from harm, and this land,
and whatever was built by me as well as what has been built by may father
In the next decade, 480-470, Xerxes' palace was built between the
treasury and the apadana. The Persian name was Hadis, 'dwelling place'. It was
twice as large as the palace of Darius. Meanwhile, the western part of the treasury
was reconstructed; this part became known as the harem. The women lived in their
own rooms, situated around a spacious courtyard. In these years, the treasury
-probably not big enough to store the booty of Xerxes' successful wars- was enlarged
to the north. Many buildings were built on the southern edge of the platform;
they may have been magasins.
In the fourth phase, the Hall of hundred columns was added. It was
Persepolis' second largest building, measuring 70 x 70 meters. This throne hall
was finished by Xerxes' son Artaxerxes I Makrocheir (465-424). At a certain moment,
its function was changed and it became a store room, probably because the treasury
was again too small to contain everything.
In about 450 BCE, the complex was more or less finished and there
was probably no building activity for almost a century.
King Artaxerxes III Ochus (359-338), who was in a sense the last ruler
of the Achaemenid empire, added a Hall of thirty-two columns, a corridor and his
tomb. The rock-cut tomb has a relief, which shows the king worshiping before a
fire altar; this is inspired by the tombs of Darius the Great and his successors
at Naqs-i-Rustam, which is one hour's walk north of Persepolis. The corridor connected
the Gate of All Nations with the Hall of Hundred Columns; we can imagine how delegations
from the subject countries passed through this corridor to bring their tribute
to their ruler. On both sides of the corridor were store-rooms. Artaxerxes III
Ochus' successors Artaxerxes IV Arses (337-336) and Darius III may have done something
to build a large gate; but this gate was still unfinished when the Macedonian
king Alexander the Great captured Persepolis in the first weeks of 330 BCE. The
buildings of this final building stage are shown in pink on the map. One building
can not be seen on the map: a rock-cut tomb that remained unfinished.
Archaeologists found two cuneiform archives. The oldest and largest
archive are the so-called Persepolis fortification tablets, 25,000 to 30,000 in
number, of which some 2,000 are published and an additional 1,500 were read but
not really published. They were written in Elamite, the language of the Persian
chancellery, and deal with economic transactions up till 493. Payments are done
in kind. The other archive, the Persepolis Treasury Tablets is smaller (139 tablets)
but similar to the first one; it describes payment in silver between 492 and 458.
Moreover, king Xerxes left a 'letter to posterity' in the harem room, a long but
stereotypical text which is known as the Harem inscription. As we
have already seen, Persepolis was taken by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great
in the first weeks of 330. He destroyed the palace in April, because he was not
yet sole ruler of the Persian empire, and it was too dangerous to leave the enormous
treasures behind, where his enemies could recapture them. The Palace of Xerxes
seems to have received a special treatment, because it was damaged more severely
than other buildings; it is likely that the Greek soldiers in Alexander's company
had their revenge for the destruction of Athens
in 480 BCE. When Alexander returned several years later and saw the ruins, he
regretted his act.
Although a new capital for Persis, called Istakhr, was built nearby,
the old capital was a mere ruin for the next two thousand years. The local population
invented legends to explain the existence of the ruins of what was called Tchehelhimar,
'forty columns'.
The first westerner to visit Persepolis was a missionary man from
Portugal, Antoine de Gouvea, who noticed cuneiform inscriptions in 1602. Sixteen
years later, the Spanish ambassador Garcias de Silva y Figueroa saw the ruins;
he must have planned his stay, because he visited the place with an edition of
the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus in his hand.
During the next century, several diplomats interrupted their voyage
to the Persian court to see Persepolis, but they were no scholars. Between 1664
and 1667, however, the French travelers Jean de Thevenot (1633-1667) and Jean
Chardin (1643-1713) did some serious research. In his Voyage au Levant, Thevenot
reached the conclusion that Tchehelhimar could never have been the palace of the
kings of ancient Persia, because it was too small. The columns he saw, were, in
his view, the pedestals of the idols of the Persians. As we have seen, he was
wrong, but other observations were correct.
The fist to make a real contribution to the study of the ruins and
to identify them as the capital of ancient Persia, was a Dutchman, Cornelis de
Bruijn (1652-1727), who visited Persepolis in 1704/1705. He made many beautiful
drawings, which he published in 1714 in Reizen over Moskovie, door Persie en Indie.
His drawings were long considered as the best representations available, until
the first photographers visited the place in the twentieth century.
After a dig in 1878, which was organized by the Persian governor of
the Shiraz region, the first archaeological research was executed by the Oriental
Institute of Chicago: Ernst Herzfeld and F. Schmidt were working in Persepolis
from 1931 to 1939. The project was continued by Andre Godard and Ali Sami of the
Iranian Archaeological Service. More recently, A. Tajvidi has directed excavations
on behalf of the Iranian Archaeological Service. The Italian Institute for the
Middle and Far East is trying to restore some of the ruins of Persepolis.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
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