Once a resplendent city, now a deserted ruin—Persepolis rests at the base of Kuh-e Rahmat (“Mountain of Mercy”) in southwest Iran.
Persepolis was a major center of the Persian empire. The city was originally constructed by Darius I—with additions by his son Xerxes I and grandson Artaxerxes I and later by Artaxerxes III. The four ruled from 521 to 424 and from 358 to 338 B.C.E. as part of the Achaemenid Persian dynasty. Although Persepolis is not mentioned by name in the Bible, it does appear in 2 Maccabees. The account tells of how Antiochus Epiphanes enters Persepolis to gain control of the city but is defeated and forced to retreat (2 Maccabees 9:2). Additionally, Xerxes I—one of the builders of Persepolis—appears in the Biblical Book of Esther, where he is called King Ahasuerus.
From 1931 to 1939, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago organized an excavation at Persepolis. Led by archaeologists Ernst Herzfeld and Erich Schmidt, the expedition took roughly 3,700 photographs of Persepolis and its surrounding area—including stunning aerial shots. Although aerial photography is now part of standard archaeological procedure, it was a technological advancement for the 1930s. The expedition used a Waco cabin biplane to fly over the site and take these shots. From above, the excavators were able to see things they could not on ground level—such as the outlines of buildings. Schmidt encapsulated015 the importance of this new technique, saying, “In 13 hours flying over the environs of Persepolis we succeeded in mapping more than 400 ancient sites … a task of years if carried out on the ground.”
Some of the expedition’s photographs are on display in a new exhibit at the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago—Persepolis: Images of an Empire, curated by Dr. Kiersten Neumann, Curator and Research Associate at the Oriental Institute. Running through September 11, 2016, the exhibit provides a unique look inside Persepolis and its palace complexes. The photographs capture some of the defining characteristics of Achaemenid Persian architecture: reliefs of people from the far reaches of the Persian empire; huge, towering columns often topped with an animal head; large audience halls; and monumental staircases.
The exhibit also features new satellite imagery that shows how the site has changed over the past 80 years.
A final section explores the role and purpose of Persepolis. This great city was constructed when there was already a capital—Susa—in the Persian empire. It begs the question: What was Persepolis, and why was it built? Although no one has been able definitively to solve this mystery, we can say that Persepolis was at the heart of a highly developed central province of the empire; that it was involved in many of the social, economic and political functions of state; and that the city was planned for important political and administrative, as well as ceremonial, activities.—M.S.
Once a resplendent city, now a deserted ruin—Persepolis rests at the base of Kuh-e Rahmat (“Mountain of Mercy”) in southwest Iran.
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