Persepolis means “city of Persians.” The architecture was to be indicative of its supremacy; therefore, buildings such as the Imperial Treasury, Apadana Palace, and others were constructed.
Persepolis was once the richest city on earth – the glittering capital of the Achaemenid Empire. At the heart of the city lay the royal palace – a wonder of gold and silver, ivory, and precious stones. From there, Xerxes planned his war against Greece – and the treasure of a vast empire piled up in the store-rooms. In 330 BCE, Persepolis was captured by Alexander the Great. Before he left the city, he ordered the palace burned to the ground – whether through drunken malice or sober calculation, it is impossible to be sure. When Alexander the Great arrived at Persepolis it was the jewel of Persia and, when he left, it was a ruin whose spot would be known for generations only as `the place of the forty columns’ for the remaining palace columns left standing in the sand.The palace is still marked by Alexander’s fire: three feet of ash covered the floor in some places when it was first excavated – and many of the columns are still visibly scarred by those flames which burned over two thousand years ago.
