The city of Persepolis

In ancient times the great Persian Kings have build an incredible city named Persepolis – that nowadays lies in Iran – which till now wasn’t clear why it was built. Through archeological findings scientists have now found out what the reason was. It is now clear that the Persian Kings were building a ceremonial palace for ‘the prince who yet has to come’. Scholars have studied the findings and came to the conclusion that the Kings were building Persepolis for The Prince of Persia (and his Princess) who was prophesied by prophet Zoroast. After these findings it is almost impossible, even for skeptics, to deny the truthfulness of the legend (and Pyar & Mohabbat). 

Persepolis

When the Achaemenidians (de Persian Kings) chose this place, somewhere before 520 BC, they were searching for a place far away from their daily life. They hadn’t any concerns about if this place was comfortable or livable – there wasn’t even an easy way for the water supply. Persepolis was built more then 450 km from Susa, the governmental capital of the Persian Empire. Persepolis wasn’t actually a real city nor was it a strategic battlefront. It was a gigantic “living” monument. A striking demonstration of the supreme rise of the Persians that was meant to last forever. It was more some kind of a temple.
The remote setting of Persepolis was a guaranty for the exclusivity of rituals that were kept in the Citadel. It took 60 years to build this incredible city – some archaeologists say that it took more then 100 years – and to build it the Kings has used talent, capability, material and inspiration form al over the Empire. It was (is) the symbol of unity and power.
Although the incredibility of Persepolis was known from early years that the Greeks (Alexander) has burned it and turned it into ruins, archaeologists have started a scientific excavations on the leftovers of Persepolis in begin of the year 30.
Of course, before that time many trawlers have admired the remains of the palace. In 1619 a European visitor had seen 20 pillars standing, that once was the support/bearer of the most incredible building of Persepolis: the great building which now by archaeologists is named the Apadana.
In 1841 were just 13 of the pillars of apadana standing and which are standing till now.
After that Persia was conquered by the Islamites in the 7th century AD, generation after generation they have, driven by religious motivated aversion to drawings and images of human figures, damaged the reliefs that were covering the walls of the buildings, so that they could remove the faces of the images and drawings: till they realized what Persepolis actually was. But also other factors were responsible for the damages. Already in 1818 a visitor wrote about what he had seen on the gate of Persepolis: “ I’m sorry to have to say that I’ve seen a number of initiatives, and names and dates of other visitors of this place, by which not so few damages have been done to the beautiful surfaces of the stones.” This kind of vandalism, which even got worse by the impact of the weather and wind, had already, with exception of some spots, removed al the original paintings that were covering the walls.

The first systematic excavations in Persepolis started in 1931, and it was led by the Eastern Institute of the university of Chicago, but the first archaeologist who lead the project, Ernst Herzfeld, was connected to the university of Berlin. He had several times independently studied the remains of the city but now with support of the big American team and their money he found ‘treasures’ that were hidden for more then 20 centuries. There, workers found three holes, in three corners of Persepolis, and in one of them two stone boxes of 45 cm2  in square and 15 cm high. In each of them was a golden and a silver plaquette. All four of these valuable documents had identical message that was inscribed in three languages – old Persian, Elamitic and Babylonic – that “the Great King Darius, King of Kings” directed to future generations: “This is the Kingdom that I rule over, from the Scythen who live beyond Sogdiana, from there to Kusj; from India, from there to Sardis, that has been a gift to me given by the great God Ahoera Mazda.”
During the second period of the excavations more exciting discoveries were done. Probably the most exiting of the visible remains was the enormous relief that was made on an 80 meter long wall. Unfortunately the relief was badly damaged by nature and men. Parts of it were missing, figures were unrecognizably damaged and because of centuries of erosion details had become faint. Because of this, there was more then usual interest among the team when they found on the eastside of Apadana an exact copy of the relief in reflection. It seams that the kings wanted to be sure that their message was reaching us. The discovery was amazing, not only was it a detailed report of the best arts of the Achaemenidians, but also about their offspring, their class and the physical form of 23 old ancient people.
Herzberg had even more success. In a building that archaeologists call the throne hall, he found a rapport which said in Babylonian: “Artaxerxes the King speaks. For this temple (house) King Xerxes, my father, laid the foundation. (…) I, Artaxerxes the King, build and finished (it).” The history of the building of Persepolis became slowly, piece-by-piece clear. After three years leading the research expedition of Persepolis, Herzberg resigned. He was replaced by an experienced archaeologist from the University of Chicago, Erich Schmidt. His rapport of his personal investigation about Persepolis was made in three extensive parts. Schmidt registered exactly where he had found every piece of stone reliefs, every arrow point or nail.
The most important find by Schmidt was seven limestone reliefs with important texts. One of them was (for example) about Xerxes’s embargo of all pre-Zoroastrian religions. But Schmidt also excavated a complex with many of halls, which were later identified as the treasure chamber. There weren’t many treasures found there – Alexander had plundered it – but from archaeological and historical point of view some very important discoveries had been done: some personal items that belonged to the Kings, weapons, and (most importantly) 753 ancient tablets/scripts, with Elamitic text, and a couple of big reliefs, which showed the King wile he was surrounded by his followers.
The discovery of the Elamitic tablets caused a lot of excitement among the scholars. One of Schmidt’s collages from Chicago, a philosopher named George Cameron, immediately began with the difficult job of the translating them. It cost him several years to reveal the secret of the treasure chamber. The tablets were extremely important for revealing the history (and the reason) of building of Persepolis.
It then became clear (because of the tablets and inscriptions that were found in Persepolis) that somewhere around 520 BC Darius the Great gave the order to build Persepolis. His workers did the proportional work for the terrace, they built the monumental stairway that led to the terrace, the gate and several treasure chambers. But (more importantly) they build a palace and began with the apadana. His son Xerxes finished after him the apadana and the huge entrance, with bulls guarding the Gate of All Nations/lands. Xerxes also gave the order to build a second palace, which Herzberg initially thought to be a harem, and began with the main hall. Xerxes successor, Artaxerxes I, finished building it: halfway of the 5th century BC he stopped building it. A century was past when Artaxerxes III restarted the building work – 25 years later Alexander burned all of Persepolis to the ground.

[The Kings weren’t in a hurry to build Persepolis]
The motifs and reasons of the Kings who build Persepolis cams to life in the many hundred meters dug out stone tablets, which were found all over (the remaining) of Persepolis. Through studying these finds, scholars – independent from our counsel – have concluded that Persepolis was meant for ceremonial use, for when the ‘new age/years’. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions remaining about the exact reasons why Persepolis was built, which even we (the counsel) can’t answer. One thing is clear, that Persepolis was a ceremonial place meant (as a gift?) for the Prince of Persia (Mohabbat) – and his Princess (Pyar) – as prophesied by prophet Zoroast.
In 1952 it became clear that Herzberg had made a mistake about the purpose of the building that he thought to be a harem – of course, Herzberg was a scientist/archaeologist and didn’t know anything about the legend of Prince of Persia, Pyar & Mohabbat. If he did, he would have known that Mohabbat wasn’t interested in any other women then Pyar, which meant that he would never wanted a harem. In 1952 a discovery was made of ruins just beside the main building, lower than the plain. These remains were identified through the inscriptions on it, as the palace of Xerxes. This also proved that the main palace that was in the center of Persepolis wasn’t meant for the Kings who ruled in that time.
By observation of the other buildings some archaeologists (who weren’t even a member of the counsel, and so aren’t familiar with Pyar & Mohabbat) believed that the main hall, which was thought to be the crowning/throne hall, isn’t a crowning hall (or such thing) at all, but some kind of museum or a temple for glory of the Persian Empire. One of these archaeologists say that the main hall (which is a building in centre of Persepolis, next to the palace of the Prince) was meant as a hall of honour for a Prince who yet had to be born. A theory that is based on reliefs and tablets, which show the Persian Kings honouring a Prince.

In spite of these uncertainties, there is enough proof to help the modern interested one make an image of the city of Persepolis when it was alive. The story of the city is recorded in several scripts which (are so detailed) that not only the nationalities of the workers are mentioned, but also the name of the Persian government services. Also the writings of the classic writers help to make a good image of the life of the (Acheamenidian) Kings. The Greek Xenophon has never seen Persepolis, but he was in the Persian military for years and wrote in detail about the 20 years that he served under Artaxerxes I, as doctor and The Bible (book) Esther tells about living as royals in the city of Susa.
By gathering of information from all these sources, and, where they are different, by choosing those that are the most plausible, it is possible to make an image of the Achaemenidian city of Persepolis as it once truly was.”

Book: The Persians
Publisher: Time life International