PERSEPOLIS, an ancient city of Persia, situated some 4o m. N.E. of Shiraz, not far from where the small river Pulwar flows into the Kur (Cyrus). The site is marked by a large terrace with its east side leaning on Kuh-i-Rahmet ("the Mount of Grace"). The other three sides are formed by a retaining wall, varying in height with the slope of the ground from 14 to 41 ft.; on the west side a magnificent double stair, of very easy steps, leads to the top. On this terrace are the ruins of a number of colossal buildings, all constructed of dark-grey marble from the adjacent mountain. The stones were laid without mortar, and many of them are still in situ. Especially striking are the huge pillars, of which a number still stand erect. These ruins, for which the name "Sad-Sutun" ("the zoo columns"), can be traced back to the 4th century, are now known as Takht-i-Jamshid ("the throne of Jamshid"). That they represent the Persepolis captured and partly destroyed by Alexander the Great has been beyond dis pute at least since the time of Pietro della Valle.
Behind Takht-i-Jamshid are three sepulchres hewn out of the rock in the hillside, the façades, one of which is incomplete, being richly ornamented with reliefs. About 8 m. N.N.E., on the oppo site side of the Pulwar, rises a perpendicular wall of rock, in which four similar tombs are cut, at a considerable height from the bottom of the valley. The modern Persians call this place Naksh-i-Rustum ("the picture of Rustam") from the Sassanian reliefs beneath the opening, which they take to be a representa tion of the mythical hero Rustam. That the occupants of these seven tombs were kings might be inferred from the sculptures, and one of those at Naksh-i-Rustam is expressly declared in its inscription to be the tomb of Darius Hystaspis, concerning whom Ctesias relates that his grave was in the face of a rock, and could only be reached by means of an apparatus of ropes. Ctesias men tions further, with regard to a number of Persian kings, either that their remains were brought "to the Persians," or that they died there. Now we know that Cyrus was buried at Pasargadae (q.v.) and if there is any truth in the statement that the body of Cambyses was brought home "to the Persians" his burying place must be sought somewhere beside that of his father. In
order to identify the graves of Persepolis we must bear in mind that Ctesias assumes that it was the custom for a king to pre pare his own tomb during his lifetime. Hence the kings buried at Naksh-i-Rustum are probably, besides Darius, Xerxes I., Artaxerxes I. and Darius II. Xerxes II., who reigned for a very short time, could scarcely have obtained so splendid a monu ment, and still less could the usurper Sogdianus (Secydianus). The two completed graves behind Takht-i-Jamshid would then belong to Artaxerxes II. and Artaxerxes III. The unfinished one is perhaps that of Arses, who reigned at the longest two years, or, if not his, then that of Darius III. (Codomannus), who is one of those whose bodies are said to have been brought "to the Persians" (see Arian iii. 22, 1). Another small group of ruins in the same style is found at the village of Takht-i-Ta'us, on the Pulwar.
Since Cyrus was buried in Pasargadae, which moreover is men tioned in Ctesias as his own city, and since, to judge from the inscriptions, the buildings of Persepolis commenced with Darius I., it was probably under this king, with whom the sceptre passed to a new branch of the royal house, that Persepolis became the capital (see PERSIA: Ancient History) of Persia proper. As a residence, however, for the rulers of the empire, a remote place in a difficult alpine region was far from convenient, and the real capitals were Susa, Babylon and Ecbatana. This accounts for the fact that the Greeks were not acquainted with the city until it was taken and plundered by Alexander the Great. Ctesias must certainly have known of it, and it is probable that he may have named it simply Hipactc, after the people, as is undoubtedly done by certain writers of a somewhat later date. Sir H. Rawlin son and J. Oppert were right in assuming that the words and Piirsa, "in this Persia," which occur in an inscription on the gate way built by Xerxes (D. 1. 14), signify "in this city of Parsa," and consequently prove that the name of the city is identical with the name of the country. The form Persepolis (with a play on riputs, destruction) appears first in Cleitarchus, one of the earliest annalists of the exploits of Alexander.