Landmark Asia
Persepolis
Persepolis is a very old palace city in Iran. Kings of Persia built it on a giant stone platform. Its tall stone doorways still stand today.
Persepolis was a royal city of the Persian kings. King Darius I began it around 518 BCE on a huge terrace at the foot of a mountain in southwestern Iran. Its palaces had very tall, slender columns and walls carved with long parades of people bringing gifts. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Founded by Darius I about 518 BCE and enlarged by Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I, Persepolis rose on a half-natural, half-artificial terrace of about 13 hectares as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Its slender 20 m columns, double-bull capitals and processional reliefs make it, in UNESCO's words, among the world's greatest archaeological sites; Alexander burned the palace of Xerxes in 330 BCE.
Photo: Mshayati, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Persepolis
Persepolis is in Iran, in the southwest of the country.
Long ago, the kings of Persia built palaces here. They built them on a giant flat platform of stone, next to a mountain. Today you can see tall stone doorways and columns.
Persepolis lies in the Fars region of southwestern Iran, about 50 kilometers northeast of the city of Shiraz. Its ancient Persian name was Parsa. It was a royal city of the Achaemenid Empire, a huge Persian empire of 2,500 years ago.
The palaces stand on an enormous terrace, partly natural rock and partly built up, set against a mountain called Kuh-e Rahmat, the Mountain of Mercy. The kings used Persepolis mostly for grand ceremonies and receptions. UNESCO made it a World Heritage Site in 1979.
Persepolis lies near the meeting of the Pulvar (Sivand) and Kor rivers in Fars, about 50 km northeast of Shiraz, at the foot of Kuh-e Rahmat ("Mountain of Mercy"). UNESCO, which inscribed it in 1979, calls it the gem of Achaemenid ensembles in architecture, urban planning, construction technology and art.
It was the seat of government of the Achaemenid Empire but, UNESCO notes, was designed above all as a showplace for the receptions and festivals of the kings. Britannica adds that, built in a remote mountainous region, it was visited by the court mainly in spring, while the empire was run from Susa, Babylon and Ecbatana; this is why the Greeks knew little of it until Alexander's invasion.
- Where
- About 50 km northeast of Shiraz, Fars, Iran
- Founded
- about 518 BCE, by Darius I
- Terrace
- about 13 hectares
- UNESCO World Heritage
- since 1979
Kings, palaces and a fire
A king named Darius started building Persepolis long, long ago.
His son and his grandson added more palaces. Later, a famous leader named Alexander came. A fire burned one of the palaces, and slowly the city became ruins.
King Darius I began building the great terrace around 518 BCE and made Persepolis the capital of Persia's homeland. His son Xerxes I and his grandson Artaxerxes I added more palaces and halls.
In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great captured Persepolis and burned the palace of Xerxes. The city stayed a regional capital for a while, then slowly declined, and its ruins stood quietly for centuries. In 1931 Iran listed it as a national monument, and in 1979 it became a World Heritage Site.
Inscriptions show that construction began under Darius I (reigned 522 to 486 BCE), who made Persepolis the capital of Persia proper in place of Pasargadae, burial place of Cyrus II. Xerxes I (486 to 465 BCE) and Artaxerxes I (465 to 424 BCE) continued the work; inscriptions of Darius I, Xerxes I and Artaxerxes III identify which king built which building.
In 330 BCE, during the reign of Darius III, Alexander plundered the city and burned the palace of Xerxes. In 316 BCE Persepolis was still the capital of the province of Persis in the Macedonian empire, but it declined under the Seleucids, while nearby Istakhr became the local center. Iran registered the ensemble as national monument no. 20 on September 15, 1931; today it is managed by the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.
Stone, cut with great care
Builders cut huge blocks of gray stone from the mountain.
They cut the stones so well that they fit together without any glue. The roofs were made of wood, so the columns could be very thin and tall.
The buildings were made of dark gray stone from the mountain next door, sometimes polished until it shone like marble. Builders cut huge blocks so precisely that they could stack them without mortar, the cement that usually holds stones together. Many are still in place.
The architects made the roofs light, using wooden beams, so they needed only a few very slender columns to hold them up. The columns were about 20 meters tall but only 1.6 meters wide. Clay tablets from Persepolis show that people working for the state received fixed payments in food.
Britannica describes colossal buildings of dark gray stone from the adjacent mountain, often polished to a marble-like surface, cut with great precision into large blocks and laid without mortar. By lightening the roofs and using wooden lintels, UNESCO explains, the architects could span open halls with a minimum of astonishingly slender columns: about 1.60 m in diameter for a height of about 20 m.
The Persepolis Fortification Tablets, over 2,100 Elamite texts published by Richard Hallock, record the movement and spending of food in the Persepolis region in the fifteen years before 493 BCE. According to the University of Chicago's Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, they show that everyone in the state economy was paid on a fixed scale, in effect a salary expressed in commodities, with travelers carrying sealed documents that set their rations.
Stairways, gateways and great halls
Visitors climbed a giant double stairway to reach the palaces.
The tops of the columns had two stone bulls, back to back. On the walls, carved people walk in long lines, carrying gifts for the king.
A wide double stairway with 111 short steps leads up onto the terrace. Visitors passed through a great gateway and into enormous halls. One of them, the Apadana, was an audience hall, where the king received visitors, and 13 of its tall columns still stand. Another, the Throne Hall, was called the Hall of a Hundred Columns.
The tops of many columns were carved with two kneeling bulls, back to back, holding up the roof beams. The stairways are covered in carvings: 23 groups of people from all over the empire, separated by cypress trees, bring gifts to the king.
A retaining wall 4 to 12 m high bounds three sides of the terrace; on the west, a double stair of two flights of 111 short steps leads up. UNESCO lists the ensemble's elements: monumental gateways in an Assyrian manner with gigantic sculpted bulls, the Apadana audience hall, where 13 columns still stand, the Throne Hall or "Hundred-Column Hall", reception rooms and annexes, and walls covered by sculpted friezes at several levels.
The typical capital set the forequarters of two kneeling bulls back to back on double volutes, their heads directly under the crossing beams. On the Apadana stairway, 23 delegations from distant parts of the empire, separated by cypress trees and led by a Persian or a Mede, bring offerings at the spring festival. In 1933, gold and silver plates recording the empire's boundaries in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian cuneiform were found in the Apadana's foundations.
- Columns
- about 20 m tall, 1.6 m wide
- Columns still standing in the Apadana
- 13
- Main stair
- double stair of 111 short steps
- Terrace wall
- 4 to 12 m high
Persepolis today
Today, Persepolis is a place where people come to see the old stones.
Experts take care of it, so the carvings and doorways last a long time.
Today Persepolis is protected by Iranian law and by UNESCO. Archaeologists and restorers look after it using traditional methods and materials, and there are no modern rebuilt copies: every monument you see there is original.
UNESCO says the biggest challenge is keeping the area around the site protected, as the nearby town of Marvdasht grows and new villages and industries come closer.
UNESCO judges the ruins authentic in location, materials and design: restoration has used traditional technology and materials, the general plan is unchanged, and there are no modern reconstructions. The property is owned by the Government of Iran and protected under the National Heritage Protection Law (1930, updated 1998) and a 1980 law against clandestine digging.
The main threats UNESCO identifies are pressures on the site's borders from agriculture, industry and construction: the growth of Marvdasht, new village developments and polluting industries, all described as increasing. Nearby are royal tombs cut into the rock, behind the terrace and in a cliff about 13 km away.
Amazing facts
-
The tops of Persepolis's columns had two stone bulls.
Many columns at Persepolis were topped with two kneeling bulls, back to back, with the roof beams resting between their heads.
The typical capital set the forequarters of two kneeling bulls back to back on double volutes, their heads directly under the intersecting ceiling beams.
-
Builders stacked the stones without any glue.
The huge stone blocks were cut so precisely that builders laid them without mortar, and many are still in place.
Dark gray stone from the adjacent mountain, often polished to a marble-like finish, was cut into large blocks laid without mortar.
-
Gold and silver plates were hidden under one of the halls.
In 1933, gold and silver plates were found in the foundations of the Apadana. They describe the borders of the Persian empire in three languages.
Two sets of gold and silver foundation plates, found in 1933, record the empire's boundaries in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian cuneiform.
-
Clay tablets show workers were paid with food.
More than 2,100 clay tablets from Persepolis have been published. They show how food was handed out to people working for the state.
Hallock's edition of over 2,100 Elamite Fortification Texts forms what ISAC calls the largest coherent body of material on Persian administration.
Words to know
- empire
- a group of many lands and peoples ruled by one ruler or government
- terrace
- a large, flat raised platform of earth or stone
- column
- a tall, round pillar that holds up a roof
- capital
- the carved top of a column (and also a city where a government is based)
- relief
- a carving where figures stand out from a flat stone surface
- mortar
- a paste that hardens to hold stones or bricks together
Discovery challenge
-
Which country is Persepolis in?
In which country are the ruins of Persepolis?
In which country does Persepolis lie, northeast of Shiraz?
- Iran
- Greece
- Egypt
Show the answer
Iran
Iran! It is in the southwest of the country.
Persepolis is in the Fars region of southwestern Iran.
Iran: Persepolis is about 50 km northeast of Shiraz, in Fars.
-
Which king started building Persepolis?
Which king began building Persepolis around 518 BCE?
Which Achaemenid king founded the terrace of Persepolis in about 518 BCE?
- Alexander the Great
- Cyrus the Great
- Darius I
Show the answer
Darius I
King Darius I started it.
Darius I began the terrace around 518 BCE; his son and grandson added more.
Darius I (522 to 486 BCE), who made Persepolis the capital of Persia proper in place of Cyrus's Pasargadae.
-
What animals were carved on top of many columns?
What was carved on the tops of many columns at Persepolis?
What did the typical Persepolis capital show?
- Two kneeling bulls
- Two eagles
- Two lions
Show the answer
Two kneeling bulls
Two bulls, back to back!
Two kneeling bulls, back to back, with the roof beams resting between their heads.
The forequarters of two kneeling bulls placed back to back on double volutes.
-
How many steps are on the big stairway?
How many short steps are on the great double stairway?
How many steps make up the west double stair onto the terrace?
- 11
- 111
- 1,111
Show the answer
111
111 steps! That is a lot of climbing.
The double stairway has 111 short stone steps up onto the terrace.
Two flights of 111 short stone steps on the west side.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Persepolis in Iran and explain that it was a ceremonial capital of the Persian kings.
- Describe how its builders used precisely cut stone, light roofs and slender columns.
- Explain what clay tablets and carved reliefs tell historians about life in an ancient empire.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- The carvings show people from many lands bringing gifts to the king. What do you think the king wanted visitors to feel?
- Clay tablets work like old receipts. What could a historian learn from your family's receipts in 2,500 years?
- Why do you think UNESCO says there should be no modern rebuilt copies at Persepolis?
Try at home or in class
- Cut and stack sugar cubes or blocks into a wall without glue, then try making a doorway with a lintel across the top.
- Press marks into a flat piece of clay or play dough to make a 'receipt' recording food you gave to a friend.
Key vocabulary: empire, terrace, column, capital, relief, mortar
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Persepolis (World Heritage List 114) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Persepolis , Encyclopaedia Britannica (R. Norman Sharp; updated Sep. 4, 2026)
- Persepolis: History , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Persepolis Fortification Tablets (Oriental Institute Publications 92) , Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.