Iran

Persepolis

WHS Score 4.37
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Votes 50 Average 4.63
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Votes for Persepolis

2.5

  • Krijn

3.0

  • Dimitrios Polychronopoulos

3.5

  • Jon Opol
  • merveil

4.0

  • Alexander Parsons
  • Mikko
  • MoPython
  • Philipp Leu
  • Richardleesa
  • Tarquinio_Superbo
  • Zoë Sheng

4.5

  • Ammon Watkins
  • Bernard Joseph Esposo Guerrero
  • Jean Lecaillon
  • Juha Sjoeblom
  • Juropa
  • Kevin247
  • Rodinia
  • Yongcheng Liu

5.0

  • Adrian Turtschi
  • Afshin Iranpour
  • Alexander Lehmann
  • alexandrcfif
  • Aspasia
  • BH
  • Carlo Sarion
  • Chalamphol Therakul
  • Dutchnick
  • Eric Lurio
  • ferhatdonmez
  • Fmaiolo@yahoo.com
  • George Gdanski
  • Hanming
  • Harry Mitsidis
  • Ivan Rucek
  • Javier
  • Joyce van Soest
  • Martina Rúčková
  • Michael anak Kenyalang
  • Naim Y
  • Palimpsesto
  • Patrik_globe
  • Richard Stone
  • Solivagant
  • Ssong.x
  • Stanislaw Warwas
  • Tony H.
  • Wieland
  • Wojciech Fedoruk
  • Zizmondka

Persepolis was the ancient ceremonial capital of the second Iranian dynasty, the Achaemenid Empire.

The earliest remains of Persepolis date from around 518 BCE. It was Darius the Great who built the monumental terrace, stairways, and the great palaces in this royal city. They are decorated with sculpted friezes and columns.

Community Perspective: The site is particularly famous for its bas reliefs, which are in superb condition and 'in situ'. "If I could give it 6 stars I would do it", one of the reviewers stated.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Persepolis (ID: 114)
Country
Iran
Status
Inscribed 1979 Site history
History of Persepolis
1979: Inscribed
Inscribed
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • i
  • iii
  • vi
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Dec. 26, 2024 tehrantimes.com — Iran plans new tourist pathway linking Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rostam, and Naqsh-e Rajab
  • Sept. 1, 2024 tehrantimes.com — Moisture threatens rock-hewn tomb of Artaxerxes III in Persepolis
  • March 19, 2024 tehrantimes.com — UNESCO-listed Persepolis to showcase ancient waterways
  • Feb. 22, 2017 financialtribune.com — Italian, Spanish Experts to Help Rid Persepolis of Lichens
  • Dec. 31, 2016 financialtribune.com — Japan to Help Restore Persepolis
  • June 13, 2012 payvand.com — Part of Persepolis sewage system unearthed
  • June 7, 2009 adnkronos.com — Italian archeologists find commoner's neighborhoods in Persepolis
  • May 27, 2007 chnpress.com — Iran in conjunction with UNESCO has called an international cooperation for cleaning up the lichen from body of Persepolis World Heritage Site.
  • April 22, 2007 rferl.org — Around 100 Iranians demonstrated in Tehran today against a dam project that critics say will likely flood the country's grandest archeological sites.Protesters carried banners and symbols from Iran's pre-Islamic Zoroastrian religion and called for the resignation of the top culture and heritage official.
  • March 12, 2007 chnpress.com — Black stains left recently by a film crew on the walls of the palace of Achaemenid Emperor Darius the Great in Persepolis were removed successfully.
  • Nov. 14, 2006 mehrnews.ir — Railroad leading Persepolis to List of World Heritage in Danger

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Archaeological site: Near Eastern
Travel Information
Red Zone Travel Advisory
Red Zone Travel Advisory
Iran fully off-limits
Shiraz Hotspot
Shiraz Hotspot
1hr one way by car
Recent Connections
View all (28) .
Connections of Persepolis
Individual People
  • Odoric of Pordenone

    "He seems to have wandered through Persia and Mesopotamia, visiting Kashan, Yazd, Persepolis, and Baghdad." (wiki)

  • Alexander the Great
    The complex was taken by the army of Alexander the Great in 330 BC, and soon after the wooden parts were completely destroyed by fire (wiki)

    See www.ancient.eu

  • Henry Morton Stanley
    Inscribed his name as Graffiti on Bull Gates "Stanley New York Herald 1870". Still visible!
  • Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
    Location in 1971 for the extravagant celebration of 2500 years of the Persian Empire since Cyrus the Great. "The intent of the celebration was to demonstrate Iran's long history and to showcase its contemporary advancements under Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, the Shah of Iran." Wiki - see

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Giosafat Barbaro
    Barbaro visited the ruins of Persepolis, which he incorrectly thought were of Jewish origin.
Trivia
History
  • Achaemenid Empire
    Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. André Godard, the French archaeologist who excavated Persepolis in the early 1930s, believed that it was Cyrus the Great who chose the site of Persepolis, but that it was Darius I who built the terrace and the palaces. Inscriptions on these buildings support the belief that they were constructed by Darius.

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Eunuchs
  • Located in a Former Capital
    Achaemenid Empire - Cyrus
Architecture
  • Hypostyle
    "As a word, "apadāna" (Old Persian) is used to designate a hypostyle hall," (Wiki) The Apadana Palace at Perspolis is such a structure -

    See en.wikipedia.org

Damaged
World Heritage Process
Religion and Belief
Human Activity
  • Historical Graffiti
    Over the years, many travelers left their mark on the ruins in the form of graffiti, including ... Henry Morton Stanley. The foreign graffiti are concentrated in two particular spots, namely Xerxes’ Gate of All Nations and the Palace of Darius.

    See www.iranicaonline.org

  • Man-made Terraces
    Persepolis is located over a half artificial terrace.
Constructions
Timeline
WHS Hotspots
Science and Technology
  • University of Chicago Oriental Institute
    The OI was in possesion of the "Achaemenid Tablets" from c500BC on loan from Iran since 1937 with the understanding that they would be returned - indeed some had been (They had been discovered by OI archaeologists during excavations at Persepolis in 1933). In 2006 Federal courts ruled that the tablets should be sold and the proceeds used to compensate victims of the Ben Yehuda St bombing of 1997 in Jerusalem which the US claimed had been funded by Iran. A group of vicitms had won a $71 million judgment against Iran in 2003. OI has opposed the seizure - the matter is still unresolved
  • Excavated by American Universities
    University of Chicago
Visiting conditions
18
News
tehrantimes.com 12/26/2024
Iran plans new tourist pathway lin…
tehrantimes.com 09/01/2024
Moisture threatens rock-hewn tomb …
tehrantimes.com 03/19/2024
UNESCO-listed Persepolis to showca…
Recent Visitors
View all (132)
Visitors of Persepolis
Reserved for members.

Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 29/05/21.

Aspasia

Persepolis

Persepolis (Inscribed)

Persepolis by Aspasia

If I could give it 6 stars I would do it. The level of craftsmanship shown in the delegations at Apadana for me is simply mindblowing. I visited Angkor several months after Persepolis and looking at the Khmer details, I felt slightly disappointed (I know that limestone and sandstone are not the same, but still). It takes a good guide (and not a lot of people around) to point out the intricacies of the delegations (ribbons on shoelaces, fingers bent while carrying vessels, various headgears). I am still in awe even now, 2 years after. 

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First published: 17/07/12.

Eric Lurio

Persepolis

Persepolis (Inscribed)

Persepolis by Carlo Sarion

The pre-Islamic heritage of the middle east and central Asia hasn't always been as appreciated by Moslems as it is now, note the notorious destruction of the Giant Buddha's in Bamiya, Afghanistan back in March of 2001, or the sale of the Elgin marbles, and all that ancient Egyptian art in various museums around the world. It was something like that which almost happened in Persepolis back during the dark days of the hostage crisis when the limits of revolution were reached. As to the details of the incident below, I cannot vouch for the details, and I never found out the names of the people involved, all I know is that a second tour guide acknowledged the event took place. (Any more information on the subject would be appreciated.)

According to Islamic lore, in the year 610 of the Christian Era, a certain Abu l-Qasim Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allâh al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was ordered by the Archangel Jabril to read out loud from a book that didn't yet exist. Prior to that, the world was in the "age of ignorance" and what was produced didn't matter all that much.

For the next 1,189 years, most of what was built by the hands of man prior to that was either ignored or destroyed. True, the works of certain Greek and Jewish philosophers were preserved and studied. Euclid and Galen were very useful, after all, but what was left of the great library at Alexandria was burned to the ground (although some …

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First published: 01/05/05.

Solivagant

Persepolis

Persepolis (Inscribed)

Persepolis by Solivagant

One of my lifetime “travel objectives” has been to visit at least 1 archaeological site from every “significant” (Yes I know this is judgemental but you can’t grind too small!) civilization/empire in world history. For all its fame and extent (from the Indus to Egypt) the Persian Empire has remarkably few extant remains. As far as I know, all are within the boundaries of modern Iran and only 2 (Persepolis and Pasargadae) are WHS (3 other significant sites are at Bisitun, Susa/Shoush and Naqsh-I-Rustam - all of which are on Iran’s Tentative List). This lack of “extended remains” is perhaps because the Empire’s “period of greatness” was remarkably short – from the fall of the Babylonians around 539 BCE to the defeat by Alexander in 331 BCE – i.e. only just over 2 centuries and within that time they fitted in Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes and several others! Also because the Empire was run from the heartland with the outlying provinces or “Satrapies” run semi-autonomously.

While I would like to visit the other sites I have at least achieved my ambition for this Empire by visiting Persepolis and can recommend it. However I still have to visit sites for 2 other civilisations from that area :-

a The Elamites - who preceded Babylon, and have a WHS at Tchoga Zambil in Iran

b. The Medes – who in the Bible (Daniel) were always linked with the Persians (“The Medes and the Persians…”) Their “empire” just preceded that of the Persians until …

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