These photos of Persepolis are a follow-up to the previous posting Trip to Iran - Shiraz. The photos were taken during the visit in November, 2014.

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire from 550 - 330 BC.  Darius 1 began building the 125,000 square metre terrace, with tunnels for sewage, upon which the palaces and Great Halls were built. Persepolis was finally completed by Xerxes the Great and it became the symbol of the Empire. In 480 BC Xerxes lead a Persian army into Greece that sacked and burnt another symbol city, the Acropolis of Athens. And 150 years later in 330 BC Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and set fire to Persepolis although reported in a drunken ravel with his troops. Athens was rebuilt after 480 BC by the Greeks and the Romans but Persepolis remained a ruin and with time much of it became covered with sand.

Enroute to Persepolis from Shiraz we travelled to Naqsh-e Rustam, the site of the tombs of the Achaemenid kings of Persia. Four tombs were carved out of the rock face at a considerable height above the ground. They are believed to be those of Darius 1 the Great (c. 522-486 BC),  Xerxes I (c. 486-465 BC),  Artaxerxes I (c. 465-424 BC), and Darius II (c. 423-404 BC).  The tombs were looted following the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great.