Peucestas ( Ancient Greek : Πευκέστας , Peukéstas ; lived 4th century BC) was a native of the town of Mieza , in Macedonia , and a distinguished officer in the service of Alexander the Great . His name is first mentioned as one of those appointed to command a trireme on the Hydaspes . Prior to this he must have distinguished himself for his personal valour and prowess, as he was the person selected by Alexander to carry before him in battle the sacred shield, which he had taken down from the temple of Athena at Troy . In this capacity he was in close attendance upon the king's person in the assault on the capital city of the Malavas (325 BC); and all authors agreed in attributing the chief share in saving the life of Alexander upon that occasion to Peucestas, while they differed as to almost all the other circumstances and persons concerned.
68-400: For his services on this occasion he was rewarded by the king with almost every distinction which it was in his power to confer. On the arrival of Alexander at Persepolis , he bestowed upon Peucestas the important satrapy of Persis , but, previous to this, he had already raised him to the rank of somatophylax (the king's bodyguard), an honour rendered the more conspicuous in this instance by
136-604: A "city" in the usual sense. The exploration of Persepolis from the early 17th century led to the modern rediscovery of cuneiform writing and, from detailed studies of the trilingual Achaemenid royal inscriptions found on the ruins, the initial decipherment of cuneiform in the early 19th century. Persepolis is derived from the Greek Περσέπολις , Persepolis , a compound of Pérsēs ( Πέρσης ) and pólis ( πόλις , together meaning "the Persian city" or "the city of
204-433: A case of revenge. The fire may also have had the political purpose of destroying an iconic symbol of the Persian monarchy that might have become a focus for Persian resistance. Several much later Greek and Roman accounts (including Arrian , Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius Rufus ) describe that the burning was the idea of Thaïs , mistress of Alexander's general Ptolemy I Soter , and possibly of Alexander himself. She
272-407: A database of words and their translations. Later attempts utilized common phrases , which resulted in better grammatical structure and the capture of idioms, but with many words left in the original language. For translating synthetic languages , a morphosyntactic analyzer and synthesizer are required. The best systems today use a combination of the above technologies and apply algorithms to correct
340-452: A desperate resistance. It was still a place of considerable importance in the first century of Islam , although its greatness was speedily eclipsed by the new metropolis of Shiraz . In the 10th century, Estakhr dwindled to insignificance. During the following centuries, Estakhr gradually declined, until it ceased to exist as a city. Odoric of Pordenone may have passed through Persepolis on his way to China in 1320, although he mentioned only
408-473: A great deal of difference between a literal translation of a poetic work and a prose translation. A literal translation of poetry may be in prose rather than verse but also be error-free. Charles Singleton's 1975 translation of the Divine Comedy is regarded as a prose translation. The term literal translation implies that it is probably full of errors, since the translator has made no effort to (or
476-408: A great, ruined city called "Comerum". In 1474, Giosafat Barbaro visited the ruins of Persepolis, which he incorrectly thought were of Jewish origin. Hakluyt's Voyages included a general account of the ruins of Persepolis attributed to an English merchant who visited Iran in 1568. António de Gouveia from Portugal wrote about cuneiform inscriptions following his visit in 1602. His report on
544-456: A literal translation in preparing his translation of Dante 's Inferno (1994), as he does not know Italian. Similarly, Richard Pevear worked from literal translations provided by his wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, in their translations of several Russian novels. Literal translation can also denote a translation that represents the precise meaning of the original text but does not attempt to convey its style, beauty, or poetry. There is, however,
612-523: A mountain, with its east side leaning on Rahmat Mountain . Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. André Godard , the French archaeologist who excavated Persepolis in the early 1930s, believed that it was Cyrus the Great who chose the site of Persepolis, but that it was Darius I who built the terrace and the palaces. Inscriptions on these buildings support
680-548: A sa voiture et sa voiture, ses serviettes et ses serviettes, sa bibliothèque et les siennes. " That does not make sense because it does not distinguish between "his" car and "hers". Often, first-generation immigrants create something of a literal translation in how they speak their parents' native language. This results in a mix of the two languages that is something of a pidgin . Many such mixes have specific names, e.g., Spanglish or Denglisch . For example, American children of German immigrants are heard using "rockingstool" from
748-516: A scale of royal magnificence, while Eumenes virtually directed all the operations of the war. But the disaster in the final action at the Battle of Gabiene near Gadamarta (316 BC) which led to the capture of the baggage, and the surrender of Eumenes by the Argyraspids , appears to have been due to the misconduct and insubordination of Peucestas, who, according to one account, was himself one of
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#1732784034493816-404: A serious problem for machine translation . The term "literal translation" often appeared in the titles of 19th-century English translations of the classical Bible and other texts. Word-for-word translations ("cribs", "ponies", or "trots") are sometimes prepared for writers who are translating a work written in a language they do not know. For example, Robert Pinsky is reported to have used
884-401: A very short time, could scarcely have obtained so splendid a monument, and still less could the usurper Sogdianus . The two completed graves behind the compound at Persepolis would then belong to Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III . The unfinished tomb, a kilometer away from the city, is debated to who it belongs. There are a total of 11 existing inscriptions at Persepolis, related to Darius
952-456: Is a translation of a text done by translating each word separately without looking at how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence. In translation theory , another term for literal translation is metaphrase (as opposed to paraphrase for an analogous translation). It is to be distinguished from an interpretation (done, for example, by an interpreter ). Literal translation leads to mistranslation of idioms , which can be
1020-456: Is considered a Persophile . In the spring of 323 BC, Peucestas joined the king at Babylon , with an army of 20,000 Persian troops; and is mentioned as one of those in attendance upon him during his last illness. It does not appear that he took any leading part in the discussions that ensued upon the death of Alexander, but in the division of the provinces that followed, he obtained the renewal of his government of Persis, which he also retained in
1088-477: Is oriented southward. The Hadish Palace of Xerxes is one of palaces at Persepolis. It's located on the east of the Palace of H (Artaxerxes I). The palace occupies the highest level of terrace and stands on the living rock. The inscriptions of the palace attest that the building was built by order of Xerxes. It covers an area of 2550 square meters (40*55 meters). A double staircase on the west leads to courtyard of
1156-537: Is said to have suggested it during a very drunken celebration, according to some accounts to revenge the destruction of Greek sanctuaries (she was from Athens), and either she or Alexander himself set the fire going. The Book of Arda Wiraz , a Zoroastrian work composed in the 3rd or 4th century, describes Persepolis' archives as containing "all the Avesta and Zend , written upon prepared cow-skins, and with gold ink", which were destroyed. Indeed, in his Chronology of
1224-632: Is unable to) convey correct idioms or shades of meaning, for example, but it can also be a useful way of seeing how words are used to convey meaning in the source language. A literal English translation of the German phrase " Ich habe Hunger " would be "I have hunger" in English, but this is clearly not a phrase that would generally be used in English, even though its meaning might be clear. Literal translations in which individual components within words or compounds are translated to create new lexical items in
1292-589: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago . They conducted excavations for eight seasons, beginning in 1930, and included other nearby sites. Herzfeld believed that the reasons behind the construction of Persepolis were the need for a majestic atmosphere, a symbol for the empire, and to celebrate special events, especially the Nowruz . For historical reasons, Persepolis was built where
1360-535: The "natural" sound of the translation. In the end, though, professional translation firms that employ machine translation use it as a tool to create a rough translation that is then tweaked by a human, professional translator. Douglas Hofstadter gave an example of a failure of machine translation: the English sentence "In their house, everything comes in pairs. There's his car and her car, his towels and her towels, and his library and hers." might be translated into French as " Dans leur maison, tout vient en paires. Il y
1428-469: The 4th century BC, following his invasion of Iran in 330 BC, Alexander the Great allowed his troops to loot Persepolis. This palace was one of the few structures that escaped destruction in the burning of the complex by Alexander's army, and because of that, Tachara is the most intact building of Persepolis today. It is also the oldest structure at Persepolis. Tachara stands back to back to the Apadana , and
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#17327840344931496-414: The 72 original columns were still standing, due to either vandalism or natural processes. The Dutch traveler Cornelis de Bruijn visited Persepolis in 1704. The fruitful region was covered with villages until its frightful devastation in the 18th century; and even now it is, comparatively speaking, well cultivated. The Castle of Estakhr played a conspicuous part as a strong fortress, several times, during
1564-555: The Achaemenid dynasty was founded, although it was not the center of the empire at that time. Excavations of plaque fragments hint at a scene with a contest between Herakles and Apollo , dubbed A Greek painting at Persepolis . Persepolitan architecture is noted for its use of the Persian column , which was probably based on earlier wooden columns. The buildings at Persepolis include three general groupings: military quarters,
1632-721: The Ancient Nations , the native Iranian writer Biruni indicates unavailability of certain native Iranian historiographical sources in the post-Achaemenid era, especially during the Parthian Empire . He adds: "[Alexander] burned the whole of Persepolis as revenge to the Persians, because it seems the Persian King Xerxes had burnt the Greek City of Athens around 150 years ago. People say that, even at
1700-563: The Encyclopædia Britannica, the Greek historian Ctesias mentioned that Darius I's grave was in a cliff face that could be reached with an apparatus of ropes. Around 519 BC, construction of a broad stairway was begun. Grey limestone was the main building material used at Persepolis. The uneven plan of the terrace, including the foundation, acted like a castle, whose angled walls enabled its defenders to target any section of
1768-435: The German word Schaukelstuhl instead of "rocking chair". Literal translation of idioms is a source of translators' jokes. One such joke, often told about machine translation , translates "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (an allusion to Mark 14:38 ) into Russian and then back into English, getting "The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten". This is not an actual machine-translation error, but rather
1836-517: The Great , Xerxes , Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III . The relevant passages from ancient scholars on the subject are set out below: Persepolis was the capital of the Persian kingdom. Alexander described it to the Macedonians as the most hateful of the cities of Asia, and gave it over to his soldiers to plunder, all but the palaces. (2) It was the richest city under the sun, and the private houses had been furnished with every sort of wealth over
1904-725: The Muslim period. It was the middlemost and the highest of the three steep crags which rise from the valley of the Kur , at some distance to the west or northwest of the necropolis of Naqsh-e Rustam . The French voyagers Eugène Flandin and Pascal Coste are among the first to provide not only a literary review of the structure of Persepolis, but also to create some of the best and earliest visual depictions of its structure. In their publications in Paris, in 1881 and 1882, titled Voyages en Perse de MM. Eugene Flanin peintre et Pascal Coste architecte ,
1972-449: The Persians wanted to take advantage of their skills in the city but handicapped them so they could not easily escape. Alexander and his staff were disturbed by the story and provided the artisans with clothing and provisions before continuing on to Persepolis. Diodorus does not cite this as a reason for the destruction of Persepolis, but it is possible Alexander started to see the city in a negative light after this encounter. Upon reaching
2040-401: The Persians were betrayed by a captured tribal chief who showed the Macedonians an alternate path that allowed them to outflank Ariobarzanes in a reversal of Thermopylae . After several months, Alexander allowed his troops to loot Persepolis. Around that time, a fire burned "the palaces" or "the palace". It is believed that the fire which destroyed Persepolis started from Hadish Palace, which
2108-602: The Persians"). To the ancient Persians, the city was known as Pārsa ( Old Persian : 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which is also the word for the region of Persia . An inscription left in 311 AD by Sasanian Prince Shapur Sakanshah , the son of Hormizd II , refers to the site as Sad-stūn , meaning "Hundred Pillars". Because medieval Persians attributed the site to Jamshid , a king from Iranian mythology , it has been referred to as Takht-e-Jamshid ( Persian : تخت جمشید , Taxt e Jamšīd ; [ˌtæxtedʒæmˈʃiːd] ), literally meaning "Throne of Jamshid". Another name given to
Peucestas - Misplaced Pages Continue
2176-600: The Susa Palace served as Darius' model for Persepolis. Darius I ordered the construction of the Apadana and the Council Hall ( Tripylon or the "Triple Gate"), as well as the main imperial Treasury and its surroundings. These were completed during the reign of his son, Xerxes I . Further construction of the buildings on the terrace continued until the downfall of the Achaemenid Empire . According to
2244-574: The Tachara chateau and another staircase on the northeast connects to courtyard of the Council Hall. The Council Hall, the Tryplion Hall, the Palaces of D, G, H, storerooms, stables and quarters, the unfinished gateway and a few miscellaneous structures at Persepolis are located near the south-east corner of the terrace, at the foot of the mountain. It is commonly accepted that Cyrus the Great
2312-544: The authors provided some 350 ground breaking illustrations of Persepolis. French influence and interest in Persia's archaeological findings continued after the accession of Reza Shah , when André Godard became the first director of the archeological service of Iran. In the 1800s, a variety of amateur digging occurred at the site, in some cases on a large scale. The first scientific excavations at Persepolis were carried out by Ernst Herzfeld and Erich Schmidt representing
2380-536: The belief that they were constructed by Darius. With Darius I, the sceptre passed to a new branch of the royal house. The country's true capitals were Susa , Babylon and Ecbatana . This may be why the Greeks were not acquainted with the city until Alexander the Great took and plundered it. Darius I's construction of Persepolis was carried out parallel to that of the Palace of Susa . According to Gene R. Garthwaite,
2448-471: The buildings were never finished. Behind the compound at Persepolis, there are three sepulchers hewn out of the rock in the hillside. The Gate of All Nations , referring to subjects of the empire, consisted of a grand hall that was a square of approximately 25 m (82 ft) in length, with four columns and its entrance on the Western Wall. Darius I built the greatest palace at Persepolis on
2516-622: The chief advisers of the treaty. His conduct throughout these campaigns shows that he lacked both the ability to command for himself, and the moderation to follow the superior judgment of others. His vain and ambitious character seems to have been appreciated at its just value by Antigonus, who, while he deprived him of his satrapy, and led him away a virtual prisoner, elated him with false hopes and specious promises, which were never fulfilled. Peucestas seems to have become an Antigonid officer, treating with cities like Theangela on their behalf. He maintained his prominence during Demetrius's reign as
2584-472: The city, Alexander stormed the Persian Gates , a pass through Zagros Mountains . There Ariobarzanes of Persis successfully ambushed Alexander the Great's army, inflicting heavy casualties. After being held off for 30 days, Alexander the Great outflanked and destroyed the defenders. Ariobarzanes himself was killed either during the battle or during the retreat to Persepolis. Some sources indicate that
2652-549: The course of time. The lower city at the foot of the imperial city might have survived for a longer time; but the ruins of the Achaemenids remained as a witness to its ancient glory. The nearby Estakhr gained prominence as a separate city very shortly after the decline of Persepolis. It appears that much of Persepolis' rubble was used for the building of Istakhr. At the time of the Muslim invasion of Persia , Estakhr offered
2720-452: The drinking was far advanced, as they began to be drunken, a madness took possession of the minds of the intoxicated guests. (2) At this point, one of the women present, Thais by name and Attic by origin, said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and permitted women's hands in a minute to extinguish
2788-464: The empire, housed a palace complex and citadel designed to serve as the focal point for governance and ceremonial activities. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture. The complex was taken by the army of Alexander the Great in 330 BC, and soon after, its wooden parts were completely destroyed by fire, likely deliberately. The function of Persepolis remains unclear. It was not one of
Peucestas - Misplaced Pages Continue
2856-416: The eventual collapse of the upper part of the northern fortification wall, preserving the tablets until their recovery by the Oriental Institute 's archaeologists. In 316 BC, Persepolis was still the capital of Persia as a province of the great Macedonian Empire (see Diodorus Siculus xix, 21 seq., 46; probably after Hieronymus of Cardia , who was living about 326). The city must have gradually declined in
2924-479: The external front. After invading Achaemenid Persia in 330 BC, Alexander the Great sent the main force of his army to Persepolis by the Royal Road . Diodorus Siculus writes that on his way to the city, Alexander and his army were met by 800 Greek artisans who had been captured by the Persians. Most were elderly and suffered some form of mutilation, such as a missing hand or foot. They explained to Alexander
2992-442: The famed accomplishments of the Persians. (3) This was said to men who were still young and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out to form up and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance for the destruction of the Greek temples . (4) Others took up the cry and said that this was a deed worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed
3060-829: The foundation of the Apadana Palace. Next to the Apadana, second largest building of the Terrace and the final edifices, is the Throne Hall or the Imperial Army's Hall of Honor (also called the Hundred-Columns Palace ). This 70 m × 70 m (750 sq ft × 750 sq ft) hall was started by Xerxes I and completed by his son Artaxerxes I by the end of the fifth century BC. Its eight stone doorways are decorated on
3128-540: The great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia , to Kush , and from Sind ( Old Persian : 𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺 , romanized: Hidauv , locative of Hiduš , i.e. " Indus valley ") to Lydia ( Old Persian : Spardâ ) – [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house! The reliefs on
3196-603: The king of Macedon . [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William , ed. (1870). "Peucestas". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . Satrap at Partition of Babylon; possibly Nicanor of Stageira Satrap at Partition of Babylon Persepolis Persepolis ( / p ər ˈ s ɛ p ə l ɪ s / ; Old Persian : 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 , romanized: Pārsa ; New Persian : تخت جمشید , romanized : Takht-e Jamshīd , lit. 'Throne of Jamshid ')
3264-402: The largest cities in ancient Iran, let alone the rest of the empire, but appears to have been a grand ceremonial complex that was only occupied seasonally; the complex was raised high on a walled platform, with five "palaces" or halls of varying size, and grand entrances. It is still not entirely clear where the king's private quarters actually were. Until recently, most archaeologists held that it
3332-456: The number of those select officers being augmented on purpose to make room for his admission. At Susa , also, Peucestas was the first of those rewarded with crowns of gold for their past exploits. After this he proceeded to take possession of his government, where he conciliated the favour of the Persians subject to his rule, as well as that of Alexander himself, by adopting the Persian dress and customs, in exchange for those of Macedonia; whence he
3400-448: The others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration. It was most remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport. Literal translation Literal translation , direct translation , or word-for-word translation
3468-625: The present time, the traces of fire are visible in some places." On the upside, the fire that destroyed those texts may have preserved the Persepolis Administrative Archives by preventing them from being lost over time to natural and man-made events. According to archaeological evidence, the partial burning of Persepolis did not damage what are now referred to as the Persepolis Fortification Archive tablets, but rather may have caused
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#17327840344933536-526: The ruins of Persepolis was published as part of his Relaçam in 1611. In 1618, García de Silva Figueroa , King Philip III of Spain 's ambassador to the court of Abbas I , the Safavid monarch, was the first Western traveler to link the site known in Iran as "Chehel Minar" as the site known from Classical authors as Persepolis. Pietro Della Valle visited Persepolis in 1621, and noticed that only 25 of
3604-513: The satrapies east of the Tigris river; and was with difficulty induced to waive his pretensions to the supreme direction of the war. Eumenes, however, by his dexterous management, soothed the irritation of Peucestas, and retained him firmly in his alliance throughout the two campaigns that followed. The satrap was contented to gratify his pride by feasting the whole of the armies assembled in Persis on
3672-418: The second partition at Triparadisus , 321 BC. All his attention seems to have been directed to strengthening himself in this position and extending his power and influence as far as possible. In this he so far succeeded, that when he was at length compelled to take an active part in the war between Antigonus and Eumenes (317 BC), he obtained by common consent the chief command of all the forces furnished by
3740-528: The site in the medieval period was Čehel Menâr ( Persian : چهل منار , "Forty Minarets "), transcribed as Chilminara in De Silva Figueroa and as Chilminar in early English sources. Persepolis is near the small river Pulvar, which flows into the Kur River . The site includes a 125,000 m (1,350,000 sq ft) terrace, partly artificially constructed and partly cut out of
3808-593: The south and north with reliefs of throne scenes and on the east and west with scenes depicting the king in combat with monsters. Two colossal stone bulls flank the northern portico. The head of one of the bulls now resides in the Oriental Institute in Chicago and a column base from one of the columns in the British Museum . At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes I, the Throne Hall was used mainly for receptions for military commanders and representatives of all
3876-542: The staircases allow one to observe the people from across the empire in their traditional dress, and even the king himself, "down to the smallest detail". The Apadana hoard is a hoard of coins that were discovered under the stone boxes containing the foundation tablets of the Apadana Palace in Persepolis. The coins were discovered in excavations in 1933 by Erich Schmidt , in two deposits, each deposit under
3944-484: The subject nations of the empire. Later, the Throne Hall served as an imperial museum. Tachara , was the exclusive palace of Darius the Great at Persepolis. Only a small portion of the palace was finished under his rule, it was completed after the death of Darius in 486 BC, by his son and successor, Xerxes , who called it a Taçara, which means "winter palace" in Old Persian. It was then used by Artaxerxes I . In
4012-534: The target language (a process also known as "loan translation") are called calques , e.g., beer garden from German Biergarten . The literal translation of the Italian sentence, " So che questo non va bene " ("I know that this is not good"), produces "(I) know that this not (it) goes well", which has English words and Italian grammar . Early machine translations (as of 1962 at least) were notorious for this type of translation, as they simply employed
4080-1142: The treasury, and the reception halls and occasional houses for the King. Noted structures include the Great Stairway, the Gate of All Nations , the Apadana , the Hall of a Hundred Columns, the Tripylon Hall and the Tachara , the Hadish Palace, the Palace of Artaxerxes III , the Imperial Treasury, the Royal Stables, and the Chariot House. Ruins of a number of colossal buildings exist on the terrace. All are constructed of dark-grey marble. Fifteen of their pillars stand intact. Three more pillars have been re-erected since 1970. Several of
4148-546: The two deposition boxes that were found. The deposition of this hoard is dated to c. 515 BC . The coins consisted in eight gold lightweight Croeseids , a tetradrachm of Abdera , a stater of Aegina and three double- sigloi from Cyprus . The Croeseids were found in very fresh condition, confirming that they had been recently minted under Achaemenid rule. The deposit did not have any Darics and Sigloi , which also suggests strongly that these coins typical of Achaemenid coinage only started to be minted later, after
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#17327840344934216-577: The western side of platform. This palace was called the Apadana . The King of Kings used it for official audiences. Foundation tablets of gold and silver were found in two deposition boxes in the foundations of the Palace. They contained an inscription by Darius in Old Persian cuneiform , which describes the extent of his Empire in broad geographical terms, and is known as the DPh inscription: Darius
4284-401: The word along to form a victory procession [epinikion komon] in honor of Dionysius. (5) Promptly, many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the komos to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thais the courtesan leading the whole performance. (6) She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As
4352-411: The years. The Macedonians raced into it, slaughtering all the men whom they met and plundering the residences; many of the houses belonged to the common people and were abundantly supplied with furniture and wearing apparel of every kind... 72 (1) Alexander held games in honor of his victories. He performed costly sacrifices to the gods and entertained his friends bountifully. While they were feasting and
4420-589: Was buried in the Tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae , which is mentioned by Ctesias as his own city. If it is true that the body of Cambyses II was brought home "to the Persians," his burying place must be somewhere beside that of his father. Ctesias assumes that it was the custom for a king to prepare his own tomb during his lifetime. Hence, the kings buried at Naghsh-e Rostam are probably Darius I , Xerxes I , Artaxerxes I and Darius II . Xerxes II , who reigned for
4488-507: Was primarily used for celebrating Nowruz , the Persian New Year, held at the spring equinox , which is still an important annual festivity in Iran. The Iranian nobility and the tributary parts of the empire came to present gifts to the king, as represented in the stairway reliefs. It is also unclear what permanent structures there were outside the palace complex; it may be better to think of Persepolis as only one complex rather than
4556-403: Was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire ( c. 550–330 BC ). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht , encircled by the southern Zagros mountains , Fars province of Iran . It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. The city, acting as a major center for
4624-513: Was the living quarters of Xerxes I , and spread to the rest of the city. It is not clear if the fire was an accident or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the second Persian invasion of Greece . Many historians argue that, while Alexander's army celebrated with a symposium , they decided to take revenge against the Persians. If that is so, then the destruction of Persepolis could be both an accident and
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