Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the 1930s, it now houses the museum and administrative offices. The museum contains a
stone foundation tablet and a range of artefacts discovered during excavations: alabaster
vessels, cedar wood, lances and arrow tips. Note the highly polished walls; almost every
wall in Persepolis was finished in this expensive, labour-intensive fashion.
Treasury & Tombs
The southeastern corner of the site is dominated by Darius'
Treasury
, one of the earliest
structures at Persepolis. Archaeologists have found stone tablets in Elamite and Akkadian
detailing the wages of thousands of workers. When Alexander looted the Treasury it's re-
ported he needed 3000 camels to cart off the contents. The foundations of walls and the
bases of 250 columns are all that remain. On the hill above the Treasury are the rock-
hewn tombs of
Artaxerxes II
and
Artaxerxes III
. It's worth sitting on the hill for a while
to get a feel for the enormous scale of Persepolis.
RUINS, TOMB
Palace of 100 Columns
With an extravagant hall measuring almost 70m square and supported by 100 stone
columns, the
Palace of 100 Columns
was the second-largest building at Persepolis, built
during the reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes I. Some scholars believe it was used to receive
the military elite upon whom the empire's security rested. An impressive array of broken
columns remains, and reliefs on the doorjambs at the back (south) of the building show a
king, soldiers and representatives of 28 subject nations. Little remains of the
Hall of 32
Columns
in front of it, built at the end of the Achaemenid period. The arrival of Alexan-
der and his armies stopped work on a larger version of the Gate of All Nations, in the
wide courtyard in front of the Palace of 100 Columns, where the
Unfinished Gate
now is.
PALACE
Tours
Just about every hotel in Shiraz organises tours to Persepolis, and prices are usually based
on the rates set by the local cultural heritage and tourism office; before signing up, check
if you'll have an accredited guide who speaks your language (more expensive) rather than
just a driver. For a list of recommended tour guides,
Click here
.
To get to Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab, a driver-guide usually
charges US$45 for a half-day tour. A full-day tour to those three sights plus Pasargadae
will cost US$75. These prices are based on groups of one to three people being transpor-
ted in a sedan.
Pars Tours (
Click here
) operates a daily half-day tour with guide for US$25 per person.
