When great empires crumble

The ruins of Persepolis, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world,
attract nearly a million tourists every year

— the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great, 5th century BC

— Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias

FROM my days as a student, I remember reading — more or less mindlessly, I think — that one of the inspirations behind Mauryan architecture was the architecture of Persepolis. No one told us then what or where Persepolis was; we certainly did not see any images. It was just a statement, which we committed to memory and possibly even reproduced in our history answer books. As we grew up, we got to know a little more, but just a little. Persepolis — the city of the Perse, meaning the Persians, in Greek — was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, the glory in its own times of the magnificent Achaemenian empire of Iran. This was about the extent of it. It was, however, an article I was reading the other day about ‘Persepolis in western imagination’ that persuaded me to turn to the subject. And with that returned the excitement of travelling towards the past. It is a remarkable story.

Apparently, the Achaemenid kings of Iran built what many regard as the largest empire in ancient history. It almost sounds unbelievable but by the 5th century BC, they ruled over territories roughly encompassing today’s Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Macedonia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, many parts of Greece, and Arabia.

One of their greatest rulers, Cyrus I, was a passionate builder but it was his successor, Darius I, who wanted to create an environment that was quintessentially Persian. As a visionary establishing a great and highly regulated system of governance, and as one commanding the resources of a flourishing, trade-rich and militarily strong kingdom, he revolutionised the economy, moved his capital from Pasargadae to Persepolis, and built a city that had no parallel in the world of his times. The largest, most intricate and luxurious palace of the world was home to him, with its great terraces and courtyards and columned halls. The finest of craftsmen were pressed into service, many brought in from the far-lying corners of his empire.

In an inscription bearing upon the construction of one of his palaces, which has survived, Darius recorded the fact. These, more or less, are his words: "The cedar timber was got from Lebanon, the yaka timber was brought from Gandara and from Carmania; the gold was brought from Sardis and from Bactria`85the precious stone lapis lazuli and carnelian`85was brought from Sogdiana; the turquoise from Chorasmia, the silver and ebony from Egypt, the ornamentation from Ionia, the ivory from Ethiopia and from Sindh and from Arachosia; the stone-cutters, who wrought the stone, those were Ionians and Sardians; the goldsmiths were Medes and Egyptians; the men who wrought the wood, those were Sardians and Egyptians; the men, who wrought the baked brick, those were Babylonians`85."

All this begins to sound a bit like a lesson in geography, I fear. But the grandeur of the city, "its stately solitude, the pride of ages", was not going to last forever. All those magnificent pillars, those finely carved sculptures recording victories and submissions and divine blessings, stood for some time, but were destined to crumble one day. Like all empires perhaps, the Achaemenian was constantly at war, torn by strife, riven by rivalries. The bitter Greco-Persian wars, which stretched from reign to reign — great battles like Marathon and Thermopylae figuring in them — sowed seeds of permanent discord between the two peoples, the sack of Athens by the Persians in 480 BC leaving a scar — ‘like a wound eternally touched up and iodised but never healed’, as the poet said — that the Greeks could never forget. Or forgive.

Their moment came a century-and-a-half later when the all-conquering Alexander moved eastwards. In January 330 BC, at the head of his Macedonian forces, he reached Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid empire, then ruled by Darius III, namesake of the great king who had built it. For him, as Alexander told his troops, Persepolis was "his worst enemy among the cities of Asia", and once he wrested it from his opponents, he gave it over to his soldiers to plunder.

As the Greek historian, Diodorus wrote two centuries later: "It was the wealthiest city under the sun and the private houses had been filled for a long time with riches of`A0every kind. The Macedonians rushed into it, killing the men and plundering the houses, which were numerous and full of furniture and precious objects of every kind. Here much silver was carried off and no little gold, and many expensive dresses, embroidered with purple or with gold, fell as prizes to the victors." But more was to follow.

As the historian records: "Alexander held games to celebrate his victories; he offered magnificent sacrifices to the Gods and entertained his friends lavishly. One day, when the companions were feasting, and intoxication was growing as the drinking went on, a violent madness took hold of these drunken men. One of the women present, a courtesan — hetaira in Greek terms — Thais by name, declared that it would be Alexander’s greatest achievement in Asia to set fire to the royal palace`85" And then he adds: "Women’s hands were to destroy in an instant what had been the pride of the Persians".

Alexander, according to the legend, was to rue this act of cultural vandalism and returned to try and reconcile differences between the Greeks and the Persians. But Persepolis was now only a memory. Today, the great ruins of the city are a Unesco World Heritage site, and attract nearly a million tourists every year, but people come to see what once was. Here now, "the lone and level sands stretch far away", as Shelley said about another ruin.

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