50 Fun Facts About Persepolis

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of which Persian dynasty?

The dynasty ruled from about 550 to 330 BC; the real administrative capitals were Susa, Babylon and Ecbatana.

In which modern country is Persepolis?

It lies on the Marvdasht plain in Fars province, ringed by the southern Zagros Mountains.

To what year do the earliest remains of Persepolis date?

Darius I built the terrace and palaces; the site may have been chosen by Cyrus the Great.

Which conqueror's army took Persepolis in 330 BC?

He described it to his Macedonians as 'the most hateful of the cities of Asia' and let them plunder it.

According to Plutarch and Diodorus, which courtesan urged the burning of Persepolis?

An Athenian and mistress of Ptolemy, she supposedly hurled the first torch after the king during a drunken feast.

What did the burning of Persepolis supposedly avenge?

Xerxes had burned the Acropolis about 150 years earlier during the second Persian invasion of Greece.

Which festival do most archaeologists think Persepolis was mainly used to celebrate?

The spring-equinox festival is still Iran's big annual holiday; 10,000 people gathered at the site for it in 2024.

What does the Greek name Persepolis mean?

The Persians themselves called it Parsa, also their word for the region of Persia.

Medieval Persians called the site Takht-e Jamshid, meaning what?

Medieval Persians attributed the ruins to the mythical king Jamshid; another name was Chehel Menar, 'Forty Minarets'.

What did a Sasanian prince's inscription of AD 311 call the site?

Shapur Sakanshah, son of Hormizd II, left the graffito centuries after the fire.

Which king built the terrace and palaces of Persepolis?

The Palace of Susa served as his model; his son Xerxes finished the Apadana and Council Hall.

What was the main building material at Persepolis?

The angled walls of the uneven terrace let defenders cover any part of the outer front like a castle.

How large is the terrace on which Persepolis stands?

It is partly built up and partly cut from Rahmat Mountain, which supports its eastern side.

Which Persian commander ambushed Alexander at the Persian Gates for 31 days?

A captured tribal chief showed the Macedonians a path to outflank him, a reversal of Thermopylae.

How many mutilated Greek artisans reportedly met Alexander on his way to Persepolis?

Diodorus says the Persians had maimed them so they could not escape; Alexander gave them clothing and provisions.

From which building is the fire believed to have started?

The Tachara, Darius's own palace, largely escaped and is the best preserved and oldest structure on the site.

According to the Zoroastrian Book of Arda Wiraz, what was lost in the fire?

Ironically, the fire may have helped preserve the Fortification Archive tablets by collapsing a wall over them.

Which nearby city rose after Persepolis declined and was partly built from its rubble?

It resisted the Muslim invasion fiercely but was eclipsed by Shiraz and faded away by the 10th century.

Who in 1618 first linked the ruins called Chehel Minar with the Persepolis of classical authors?

He was Philip III of Spain's ambassador to Shah Abbas I; Barbaro in 1474 had thought the ruins were Jewish.

How many of the 72 original columns did Pietro Della Valle find standing in 1621?

By the early 20th century only 13 Apadana columns stood; a fallen one was re-erected in the 1970s.

Which institution carried out the first scientific excavations at Persepolis from 1930?

Ernst Herzfeld and Erich Schmidt dug for eight seasons; a colossal bull's head from the site is a Chicago treasure.

What was found in 2011 at Tol-e Ajori, 3 km west of Persepolis?

Its glazed bricks match the Ishtar Gate's, and it probably predates Darius's Persepolis, built between 539 and 518 BC.

What was the Apadana used for?

Darius built it on the west side of the platform; it was the greatest palace at Persepolis.

How many columns supported the Apadana's roof?

Each was 24 metres tall; the hall covered 1,000 square metres.

What was found in the Apadana's foundation deposits?

The DPh inscription describes Darius's empire 'from the Sacae beyond Sogdia to Kush, and from Sind to Lydia'.

Which coins were notably absent from the Apadana hoard, dating it before their introduction?

The eight fresh gold Croeseids show they were newly minted under Achaemenid rule around 515 BC.

What do the Apadana staircase reliefs depict?

The processions of tribute-bearers show even the king 'down to the smallest detail'.

Which king ordered the Gate of All Nations?

The XPa inscription in the gate names it; the square hall was about 25 metres a side with four columns.

By what other name is the Throne Hall known?

Begun by Xerxes and finished by Artaxerxes I, it later served as an imperial museum; two colossal stone bulls flank its portico.

What does Tachara, the name of the founder's private residence, mean in Old Persian?

Xerxes finished it after Darius died in 486 BC; it survived Alexander's fire better than any other building.

How many rock-cut royal tombs stand behind the compound at Persepolis?

The two finished tombs likely belong to Artaxerxes II and III; Darius I and Xerxes lie at nearby Naqsh-e Rostam.

How many royal inscriptions survive at Persepolis?

They relate to Darius the Great, Xerxes, Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III, and their trilingual texts helped crack cuneiform.

What was staged at Persepolis in 1971?

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi hosted foreign delegations in a lavish attempt to promote Iranian history.

Which vocalist gave the first-ever concert at Persepolis in June 2024?

The Armenian Philharmonic followed in 2025 with the site's first international public concert.

What natural threat is eroding the carvings at Persepolis?

Some lichens are about 1,700 years old, and their spread is blamed on industrialisation and acid rain.

Which dam, begun in 2006, raised fears of flooding near Persepolis and Pasargadae?

Engineers insist both sites sit well above the waterline; Pasargadae is thought more at risk.

Which institution holds the largest collection of Persepolis reliefs outside Iran?

A looted soldier relief bought by Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts was returned to Iran in 2018.

Who wrote the autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis?

It depicts her childhood in Iran and youth in Austria during and after the Islamic Revolution.

In how many volumes did L'Association originally publish Persepolis?

They appeared in French between 2000 and 2003; English editions came in two volumes.

In which European city does the young Marjane live during the second part of the graphic novel?

She attends the Lycée Français and, after four difficult years, returns to Tehran.

Which award did the 2007 animated film Persepolis win at Cannes?

It shared the prize with Silent Light; Satrapi became the first woman nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Which actress voices Marjane's mother in the French film Persepolis?

Her real daughter Chiara Mastroianni voices Marjane, and Danielle Darrieux the grandmother.

Persepolis lies on the plain of Marvdasht in which Iranian province?

The site is encircled by the southern Zagros Mountains and sits near the small Pulvar river.

Which palace did Gene Garthwaite say served as Darius I's model for Persepolis?

Darius built both in parallel; the Apadana and Treasury he ordered were finished under Xerxes I.

Which French archaeologist, digging in the early 1930s, believed Cyrus the Great chose the site?

He thought Darius I built the terrace and palaces; Godard became the first director of Iran's archaeological service.

Which two archaeologists led the University of Chicago's eight seasons of excavation from 1930?

Herzfeld believed the city was built for majesty, as an imperial symbol and to celebrate Nowruz.

Who started the Throne Hall, and who completed it by the end of the fifth century BC?

The 70-by-70-metre hall later served as an imperial museum; two colossal stone bulls flank its northern portico.

Which Dutch traveller visited Persepolis in 1704?

Pietro Della Valle had counted only 25 of 72 columns standing in 1621.

Which institution took the head of a Throne Hall colossal stone bull from its 1930s dig?

The Oriental Institute excavated Persepolis from 1930 to 1939; a column base from the same hall is in the British Museum.

Which two French voyagers produced some 350 pioneering illustrations of Persepolis?

Their published work gave Europe some of the earliest detailed visual records of the ruins.