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Lot Essay
Persepolis - the city founded by Darius I 'King of Kings' in 515 B.C. was at the heart of the Achaemenid Empire. Continued by his son Xerxes, the city rose on terraces supporting great columned halls, some of the more elaborate columns with double bull or griffin capitals. Entry was through the 'Gate of all Nations', flanked by two pairs of colossal human-headed winged bulls. Access to the Apadana (audience hall) was by way of a mirror-imaging twin staircase decorated with reliefs of ascending Persian and Median nobles and guards, and along the base twenty-three tribute-bearing delegates including Ionians, Lydians, Indians, even a unique representation of a Kushite carrying an elephant tusk, some accompanied by horses, donkeys and a double-humped Bactrian camel. Other scenes include lions attacking bulls.
Under the Achaemenid rulers, the empire was administered efficiently by satraps (provincial governors); Aramaic was the lingua franca from the Indus to the Balkans, a language still spoken in the time of Christ. Though the Persians were Zoroastrians, worshipping their creator god Ahuramazda, they respected the religions and customs of their vassals. Details are given of Persian court life in the Biblical Books of Daniel and Esther.
For two hundred years, in spite of plots and assassinations, the Achaemenid Empire flourished until the defeat at the Battle of Issus by Alexander the Great and his Macedonian troops in 333 B.C. An admirer of Persia, Alexander encouraged his men to intermarry with Persian women. However, following the final defeat of Darius III's army at Gaugamela and the subsequent murder of Darius by Bessus, Alexander's army marched on Persepolis, torching the city in an act of wanton vandalism and her treasures were carried away. It was not until the 17th and 18th Century that this imposing and romantic city was rediscovered, her art and architecture revealing the grandeur of the greatest empire of its day.
Under the Achaemenid rulers, the empire was administered efficiently by satraps (provincial governors); Aramaic was the lingua franca from the Indus to the Balkans, a language still spoken in the time of Christ. Though the Persians were Zoroastrians, worshipping their creator god Ahuramazda, they respected the religions and customs of their vassals. Details are given of Persian court life in the Biblical Books of Daniel and Esther.
For two hundred years, in spite of plots and assassinations, the Achaemenid Empire flourished until the defeat at the Battle of Issus by Alexander the Great and his Macedonian troops in 333 B.C. An admirer of Persia, Alexander encouraged his men to intermarry with Persian women. However, following the final defeat of Darius III's army at Gaugamela and the subsequent murder of Darius by Bessus, Alexander's army marched on Persepolis, torching the city in an act of wanton vandalism and her treasures were carried away. It was not until the 17th and 18th Century that this imposing and romantic city was rediscovered, her art and architecture revealing the grandeur of the greatest empire of its day.