History assignment

“Great cities of Mesopotamia”

Name: Aminesh Nayan Gogoi

UID: SM0120004

Subject: History (minor)

Faculty: Abhijit Bharali

National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam

The objective of this paper is to put a light on the great cities of

Mesopotamia.
Introduction:

Mesopotamia—mainly modern day Iraq and Kuwait—in particular is often

referred to as the cradle of civilization because some of the most influential
early city-states and empires first emerged there—although it’s not the only
place! Its modern name comes from the Greek for middle mesos and river
potamos and literally means a “country between two rivers.” Those two
rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates. Not only was Mesopotamia one of the
first places to develop agriculture, it was also at the crossroads of the
Egyptian and the Indus Valley civilizations. This made it a melting pot of
languages and cultures that stimulated a lasting impact on writing,
technology, language, trade, religion, and law.

Associated with Mesopotamia are ancient cultures like the Sumerians,

Assyrians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. Learning about this time period
can be a little confusing because these cultures interacted with and ruled
over each other over the course of several thousand years. These terms
can also be associated with city-states, languages, religions, or empires—
depending on the time and context we are looking at.

Now, we are to discuss about the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia in

detail, the cites include:

Uruk, Akkad, Babylon, Assur, Nimrud, Ninevah, Persepolis

URUK:

Uruk was one of the most important cities (at one time, the most important)
in ancient Mesopotamia. According to the Sumerian King List, it was
founded by King Enmerkar sometime around 4500 BCE.  Located in the
southern region of Sumer (modern day Warka, Iraq), Uruk was known in
the Aramaic language as Erech which, it is believed, gave rise to the
modern name for the country of Iraq (though another likely derivation is Al-
Iraq, the Arabic name for the region of Babylonia). The city of Uruk is most
famous for its great king Gilgamesh and the epic tale of his quest for
immortality but also for a number of `firsts’ in the development
of civilization which occurred there.

Many aspects of Uruk show its special status in southern Mesopotamia. Its
size greatly surpasses that of contemporary cities: around 3200 it is
estimated to have been about 100 hectares in size while in the region to its
north the largest city measured only 5 hectares, and in the south the only
other city, covered only 10-15 hectares. A clear migration, not only to the
City of Uruk itself but also to its surrounding countryside, at the expense of
the region to the north, is visible. And Uruk continued to grow: around 2800
its walls encircled an area of 494 hectares and occupation outside the walls
was likely.1

The Ubaid Period (c. 5000-4100 BCE) when the so-called Ubaid people
first inhabited the region of Sumer is followed by the Uruk Period (4100-
2900 BCE) during which time cities began to develop across Mesopotamia
and Uruk became the most influential. The Uruk Period is divided into 8
phases from the oldest, through its prominence, and into its decline based
upon the levels of the ruins excavated and the history which the artifacts
found there reveal. The city was most influential between 4100-c.3000 BCE
when Uruk was the largest urban center and the hub of trade and
administration.

In precisely what manner Uruk ruled the region, why and how it became the
first city in the world, and in what manner it exercised its authority is not
fully known. The historian Gwendolyn Leick writes:

The Uruk phenomenon is still much debated, as to what extent Uruk

exercised political control over the large area covered by the Uruk artifacts,
whether this relied on the use of force, and which institutions were in
charge. Too little of the site has been excavated to provide any firm
answers to these questions. However, it is clear that, at this time,
the urbanization process was set in motion, concentrated at Uruk itself.
(183-184).
1
Hans J. Nissen, The Early History of the Ancient Near East, 9000-2000 Be (Chicago and London, 1988),
72.
The city of Ur had a more advantageous placement for trade, further south
toward the Persian Gulf, it would seem to make sense that city, rather than
Uruk, would have wielded more influence.

The city was divided into two sections, the Eanna District and the older Anu
District, named for, and dedicated to, the goddess Inanna and her grand-
father-god Anu, respectively. The famous Mask of Warka (also known as
`The Lady of Uruk’) a sculpted marble female face found at Uruk, is
considered a likeness of Inanna and was most likely part of a larger work
from one of the temples in her district.

Since temples were considered the literal dwelling place of deities on earth,
and since Inanna is regularly depicted as a goddess who very much
preferred things her own way, perhaps the walled district was simply to
provide her with some privacy. Kramer also notes that, even though Inanna
continued to be a popular deity throughout Mesopotamia (eventually
merging into Ishtar) goddesses declined in power and prestige at the same
time, and at the same rate, as women’s rights deteriorated. This being the
case, perhaps the Eanna district was walled off to restrict access to a male
priestly class. As with much concerning Uruk’s history, however, this theory
remains largely speculation.2

Even though the city lost the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during
the Uruk Period, it continued to play an important position down through the
Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE). The Third Dynasty of Ur governed in such a
way as to give birth to a Sumerian Renaissance and Uruk benefited from
this as much as the rest of the region. With the fall of the city of Ur in 1750
BCE and the invasion of Sumer by Elamites, along with the incursions of
the Amorites, Uruk went into decline along with the rest of Sumer.

AKKAD:

No one knows where the city of Akkad was located, how it rose to

prominence, or how, precisely, it fell; yet once it was the seat of the
Akkadian Empire which ruled over a vast expanse of the region of
2
Mark, Joshua J. "Akkad." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 28, 2011.
https://www.ancient.eu/akkad/.
ancient Mesopotamia. It is known that Akkad (also given as Agade) was a
city located along the western bank of the Euphrates River possibly
between the cities of Sippar and Kish (or, perhaps,
between Mari and Babylon or, even, elsewhere along the Euphrates).
According to legend, it was built by the king Sargon the Great (r. 2334-2279
BCE) who unified Mesopotamia under the rule of his Akkadian Empire and
set the standard for future forms of government in
Mesopotamia. Sargon (or his scribes) claimed that the Akkadian Empire
stretched from the Persian Gulf through modern-day Kuwait,
Iraq, Jordan, Syria (possibly Lebanon) through the lower part of Asia
Minor to the Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus (there is also a claim it
stretched as far as Crete in the Aegean). While the size and scope of the
empire based in Akkad is disputed, there is no doubt that Sargon the Great
created the first multinational empire in the world. 3

The name Akkad was taken from the city of Agade, which was founded by
the Semitic conqueror Sargon about 2300 BCE. Sargon united the various
city-states in the region and extended his rule to encompass much
of Mesopotamia. After the fall of Sargon’s dynasty about 2150 BCE, the
central Iraq region was ruled by a state jointly composed of Sumerians and
Akkadians.

Under the kings of Akkad, their Semitic language, known as Akkadians,

became a literary language that was written with the cuneiform  system of
writing. Akkadian is the oldest Semitic dialect still preserved.4

Akkadian spread across an area extending from the Mediterranean Sea to

the Persian Gulf during the time of Sargon (Akkadian Sharrum-kin) of
the Akkad dynasty, who reigned from about 2334 to about 2279 BCE. By
about 2000 Akkadian had supplanted Sumerian as the spoken language of
southern Mesopotamia, although Sumerian remained in use as the written
language of sacred literature. At about the same time, the Akkadian
language divided into the Assyrian dialect, spoken in northern
3
Mark, Joshua J. "Akkad." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 28, 2011.
https://www.ancient.eu/akkad/.
4
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Akkadian-language
Mesopotamia, and the Babylonian dialect, spoken in southern
Mesopotamia. At first the Assyrian dialect was used more extensively, but
Babylonian largely supplanted it and became the lingua franca of
the Middle East by the 9th century BCE. During the 7th and 6th
centuries BCE, Aramaic gradually began to replace Babylonian as the
spoken and written language; after that Babylonian was still used for
writings on mathematics, astronomy, and other learned subjects, but by the
1st century CE it had completely died out. Scholars deciphered the
Akkadian language in the 19th century.

The main goddess of Akkad was Ishtar-Astarte (Inanna), who was

called ‘Aštar-annunîtum or "Warlike Ishtar".5 Her husband Ilaba was also
revered in Akkad. Ishtar and Ilaba were later worshipped at Sippar in
the Old Babylonian period, possibly because Akkad itself had been
destroyed by that time.6 The city was certainly in ruins by the mid-first
millennium BC.7

As with the rise of the city of Akkad, its fall is a mystery and all that is
known today is that, once, such a city existed whose kings ruled a vast
empire, the first empire in the world, and then passed on into memory and
legend.

BABYLON:

Babylon is the most famous city from ancient Mesopotamia whose ruins lie

in modern-day Iraq 59 miles (94 kilometres) southwest of Baghdad. The
name is thought to derive from bav-il or bav-ilim which, in the Akkadian
language of the time, meant 'Gate of God' or 'Gate of the Gods' and
'Babylon' coming from Greek.

5
Meador, Betty De Shong (2001), Inanna, Lady of the Largest Heart. Poems by the Sumerian High
Priestess Enheduanna, Austin: University of Texas Press

6
Sallaberger, Walther; Westenholz, Aage (1999), Mesopotamien: Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit, Orbis
Biblicus et Orientalis, 160/3, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
7
Foster, Benjamin R. (2013), "Akkad (Agade)", in Bagnall, Roger S. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient
History, Chicago: Blackwell, pp. 266–267,
The city owes its fame to the many references the Bible makes to it; all of
which are unfavourable. In the Book of Genesis, chapter 11, Babylon is
featured in the story of The Tower of Babel and the Hebrews claimed the
city was named for the confusion which ensued after God caused the
people to begin speaking in different languages so they would not be able
to complete their great tower to the heavens.

Babylon has resonated in Judeo-Christian culture for centuries. The books

of the Old Testament recount the exile of the Jews to Babylon following the
sack of Jerusalem, by whose waters they “sat down and wept.” By the time
of the New Testament, the city had become a potent symbol: the corrupt
earthly twin city to the pure, heavenly New Jerusalem.

Outside the biblical tradition, Babylon intrigued Greek and Roman writers,
who added to the rich store of legends that have come down to the present
day. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about Babylon in the fifth century
B.C. A number of inconsistencies in his account have led many scholars to
believe that he never traveled there and that his text may be closer to
hearsay than historical fact. Popular tales of Babylon’s fantastic structures,
like the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, may also be products of
legends and confusion. Yet to historians and archaeologists, Babylon is a
real bricks-and-mortar place at the center of the vibrant Mesopotamian
culture that it dominated for so many centuries. 8

Babylon enjoyed its heyday during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.,
when it was believed to be the largest city in the world. A new dynasty
founded by a tribe known as the Chaldeans had wrested control from the
Assyrians in the early 600s B.C. The second ruler of the Chaldean line
became notorious for both cruelty and opulence: Nebuchadrezzar II, the
king who sacked Jerusalem and sent the captive Jews to the capital of his
new and increasingly powerful regional empire. Babylonian citizens saw
their city as a paradise—the center of the world and symbol of cosmic
harmony that had come into existence when its supreme divinity, the god
Marduk, defeated the forces of chaos. The spread of the cult of Marduk

8
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2017/01-02/babylon-mesopotamia-
ancient-city-iraq/
across Mesopotamia was proof of Babylon’s prestige. No ancient city was
so desired and feared, so admired and denigrated.

 In539 B.C., Babylon fell to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, and the Jews
returned home from exile. The city would be conquered two centuries later
by Alexander the Great in 331. Although Alexander had planned to make
Babylon the capital of his empire, he died before that came to pass. The
great city would eventually be abandoned by his successors, and the
splendors of Babylon would pass into the realm of legend. 9

ASSUR:

Assur (also Ashur, Anshar) is the god of the Assyrians who was elevated

from a local deity of the city of Ashur to the supreme god of the
Assyrian pantheon. The Assyrian Empire, like the later Roman Empire, had
a great talent for borrowing from other cultures. This penchant is illustrated
clearly in the figure of Assur whose character and attributes draw on
the Sumerian and Babylonian gods. Assur's family and history are modeled
on the Sumerian Anu and Enlil and the Babylonian Marduk; his power and
attributes mirror Anu's, Enlil's, and Marduk's as do details of his family:
Assur's wife is Ninlil (Enlil's wife) and his son is Nabu (Marduk's son). Assur
had no actual history of his own, such as those created for Sumerian and
Babylonian gods but borrowed from these other myths to create a supreme
deity whose worship, at its height, was almost monotheistic. 10

Assur had power over the kingship of Assyria but, in this, was no different
from Marduk of Babylon. The king of Assyria was his chief priest and all
those who tended his temple in the city of Ashur and elsewhere lesser
priests. Assyrian kings frequently chose his name as an element in their
own to honor him (Ashurbanipal, Ashurnasirpal I, Ashurnasirpal II, etc).
Worship of Assur consisted, as with other Mesopotamian deities, of priests
tending the statue of the god in the temple and taking care of the duties of
the complex surrounding it. Although people may have engaged in private
rituals honoring the god or asking for assistance, there were no temple
services as one would recognize them in the modern day.
9
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/
10
https://www.ancient.eu/
Archaeology reveals the site of the city was occupied by the middle of the
3rd millennium BC. This was still the Sumerian period,
before Assyria emerged in the 25th to 21st century BC. The oldest remains
of the city were discovered in the foundations of the Ishtar temple, as well
as at the Old Palace. In the subsequent period, the city was ruled by kings
from the Akkadian Empire. During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the city was
ruled by Assyrian governors subject to the Sumerians.11

Women in Mesopotamia had enjoyed almost equal rights with men until the
rise of Hammurabi and his god Marduk. Under Hammurabi's reign, female
deities began to lose prestige as male gods became increasingly elevated.
Under Assyrian rule, with Assur as supreme god, women's rights suffered
further. Cultures like the Phoenicians, who had always regarded women
with great respect, were forced to follow the customs and beliefs of the
conquerors. The Assyrian culture became increasingly cohesive with the
expansion of the empire, the new understanding of the deity, and the
assimilation of the people from the conquered regions. Shalmaneser III
(859-824 BCE) expanded the empire up through the coast of
the Mediterranean and received regular tribute from wealthy Phoenician
cities such as Tyre and Sidon.

Worship of Assur continued in Assyrian communities after the fall of the

empire but was no longer widespread and no temples, shrines, or
statuaries were left standing in the cities and regions which had revolted. In
the early Christian era, the understanding of Assur as an omnipotent deity
worked well for the early Christian missionaries to the region, who found
the Assyrians receptive to their message of a single god and the concept of
this god's son coming to earth for the benefit of humanity. Although Assur's
son Nabu never became incarnated or sacrificed himself for others, he was
thought to have given human beings the gift of the written word. Nabu
continued to be venerated after the fall of the empire, and although Assur
declined in stature, he was remembered and is still present (often as
Ashur) as a personal and family name in the present day. 12
11
Joshua J. Mark. "Ashur"

12
https://www.ancient.eu/assur/
NIMRUD:

Kalhu (also known as Caleh, Calah, and Nimrud, in modern-day northern

Iraq) was a city in ancient Mesopotamia that became the capital of the
Assyrian Empire under Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 884-859 BCE) who moved
the central government there from the traditional capital of Ashur. The city
existed as an important trade center from at least the 1st millennium BCE.
It was located directly on a prosperous route just north of Ashur and south
of Nineveh. The city had been built on the location of an earlier business
community under the reign of Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BCE) but had
become dilapidated over the centuries. Ashurnasirpal II ordered the debris
removed from the crumbling towers and walls and decreed a completely
new city should be built, which would include a royal residence greater than
that of any previous king. The Assyrian Empire was ruled from Kalhu from
879-706 BCE, when Sargon II (reigned 722-705 BCE) moved the capital to
his new city of Dur-Sharrukin.

The great kings of Assyria continued to be buried at Ashur, but their

queens were buried at Kalhu. Tombs of the queens of Ashurnasirpal
II, Tiglath-Pileser III Shalmaneser V, and Sargon II, among others, have
been uncovered at Kalhu. The city is widely known as Nimrud because that
is the name 19th and 20th century CE archaeologists gave to it, believing it
was the city of the biblical king Nimrod.13

The city gained fame when king Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) of the Neo-

Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) made it his capital at the expense of Assur.
He built a large palace and temples in the city, which had fallen into a
degree of disrepair during the Bronze Age Collapse of the mid-11th to mid-
10th centuries BC. Thousands of men worked to build an 8-kilometre-long
(5 mi) wall surrounding the city and a grand palace. There were many
inscriptions carved into limestone including one that said: "The palace of
cedar, cypress, juniper, boxwood, mulberry, pistachio wood, and tamarisk,
for my royal dwelling and for my lordly pleasure for all time, I founded
therein. Beasts of the mountains and of the seas, of white limestone and
alabaster I fashioned and set them up on its gates." The inscriptions also
13
Genesis 10, page11-12
described plunder stored at the palace: "Silver, gold, lead, copper and iron,
the spoil of my hand from the lands which I had brought under my sway, in
great quantities I took and placed therein. The inscriptions also described
great feasts he had to celebrate his conquests. However his victims were
horrified by his conquests. The text also said: "Many of the captives I have
taken and burned in a fire. Many I took alive; from some I cut off their
hands to the wrists, from others I cut off their noses, ears and fingers; I put
out the eyes of many of the soldiers. I burned their young men, women and
children to death." About a conquest in another vanquished city he wrote: "I
flayed the nobles as many as rebelled; and spread their skins out on the
piles."14 He wanted the city to become the grandest and luxuriant in the
empire. He created a zoo and botanical gardens in the city which also
featured exotic animals, trees and flowers he had brought back from his
military campaigns.15

Nimrud's various monuments had faced threats from exposure to the harsh
elements of the Iraqi climate. Lack of proper protective roofing meant that
the ancient reliefs at the site were susceptible to erosion from wind-blown
sand and strong seasonal rains.16

As of 2020, what remains of Nimrud is guarded by Iraqi soldiers and a few

archaeologists, while weeds grow on the now mostly empty site.

NINNEVEH:

Nineveh (modern-day Mosul, Iraq) was one of the oldest and

greatest cities in antiquity. It was originally known as Ninua, a trade center,
and would become one of the largest and most affluent cities in antiquity. It
was regarded highly by ancient writers other than those who created the
biblical narratives which cast it in a negative light.

The area was settled as early as 6000 BCE and, by 3000 BCE, had
become an important religious centre for worship of the goddess Ishtar.
14
Time Life Lost Civilizations series: Mesopotamia: The Mighty Kings. (1995) p. 96–7

15
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrud
16
Jane Arraf (February 11, 2009). "Iraq: No Haven for Ancient World's Landmarks". The Christian
Science Monitor.
The meaning of the name is disputed but most likely relates to the prefix
Nin or Nina which often appears in the names of deities
(Ninhursag, Ninurta, among many others) and could have meant "House of
the Goddess" or, specifically, "House of Ishtar" as the city was associated
with that goddess from an early date.

Although the region was inhabited since the Neolithi Period

and civilization established by c. 6000 BCE, the first people known to live
there were the Hatti. These people, who built their great capital at Hattusa,
most likely constructed the first city of Nineveh (though what it was called
then is unknown). This early city (and subsequent buildings) were
constructed on a fault line and, consequently, suffered damage from a
number of earthquakes. Archaeological excavations have uncovered a
number of cities which rose and fell on the site. 

The Akkadians took the region during the reign of their first king Sargon the
Great (2334-2279 BCE) who conquered all of Mesopotamia as well as
Anatolian regions such as Cilicia. An earthquake in 2260 BCE destroyed
the first temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, possibly constructed by Sargon the
Great, which was rebuilt by the Akkadian king Manishtusu (r. 2270-2255
BCE) who also added on to the city. The Akkadians also assoiciated the
city with Ishtar and held it, and the region at large, until the fall of their
empire in c. 2083 BCE. At this time the Hatti regained their autonomy in the
region briefly until they were overrun by the Assyrians and Amorites.  

The Amorites occupied Nineveh and added to the temple, leaving behind
inscriptions recording other construction projects which were later
demolished. The Assyrian king Shamashi Adad I drove the Amorites from
the region and established the Assyrian capital at Ashur while Nineveh
flourished as a trade center. When Shamashi Adad I died, the region was
conquered by the Amorites under King Hammurabi of Babylon (r. 1792-
1750 BCE). After Hammurabi's death, his kingdom fell apart and Nineveh
was taken by the Assyrians under Adasi (r. c. 1726-1691 BCE). The
territory was not fully secured by the Assyrians, however, until the reign of
the great king Adad Nirari I (r. c. 1307-1275 BCE) who expanded Assyrian
rule and established the boundaries of the Middle Assyrian Empire. King
Shalmaneser I (r. 1274-1245 BCE, builder of the city of Kalhu) built
a palace and temple at Nineveh, refurbished the city, and is thought to be
responsible also for the first walls surrounding the settlement.  

Nineveh was caught up in the power struggle between the Assyrians and
the Hittites, Mitanni, and Hatti until the Bronze Age Collapse of c. 1200
BCE during which the entire region suffered in one form or another. The
Assyrians emerged from the period intact, however, and their empire grew
under the reign of Tiglath PileserI (r. c. 1115-1076 BCE).    

The ruins of Nineveh lay buried until they were uncovered and excavated
by Austin Henry Layard in 1846 and 1847 CE. Further work by Campbell
Thompson and George Smith, among others up to the present day, has
revealed the magnificent scope of this once great city. The site is known
today by the two mounds which cover it: the Kuyunjik and the Nebi Yunus.
The Kuyunjik mound has been excavated and all major finds come from
this area. The Nebi Yunus mound (whose name means `Prophet Jonah')
remains untouched owing to an Islamic shrine to the prophet and a
cemetery built there. In the 1990's CE the site was vandalized and a
number of well preserved panels broken and stolen which later appeared
for sale on the antiquities market.17

Today the ruins of Nineveh are in danger of encroaching urban sprawl from
the suburbs of Mosul and have been damaged by further acts of vandalism.
In 2010, Global Heritage Fund listed the ruins among its Top Twelve
endangered sites for these reasons among others. Once, however, the city
was among the greatest of Mesopotamia, home to the goddess Ishtar, and
there is no doubt that Sennacherib, and the kings who built before and after
him, believed that the glory of Nineveh would last forever.

PERSEPOLIS:

Persepolis was the capital of the Persian Achaemenid Empire from the

reign of Dariu I (the Great, r. 522-486 BCE) until its destruction in 330 BCE.
Its name comes from the Greek Perses-polis (Persian City), but the
Persians knew it as Parsa (City of the Persians). Construction began
17
The fall of Nineveh
between 518-515 BCE under Darius I who wanted a fresh start for Persian
government administration and moved the capital from Pasargadae (the
capital established by Cyrus the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE). The city was
located in a remote region in the mountains, however, making travel there
difficult in the rainy season of the Persian winter, so the administration of
the Achaemenid Empire was also overseen from Ecbatana, Babylon,
and Susa. Persepolis was a spring/summer royal residence and seems to
have been intended as a ceremonial center where representatives of
subject states came to pay respects to the king.

The complex was comprised of nine structures:

 The Apadana (hypostyle receiving hall)

 Trachara (Palace of Darius I)
 Council Hall
 Treasury
 Throne Hall
 Palace of Xerxes I
 Harem of Xerxes I
 Gate of All Nations
 Tomb of the King

The function of Persepolis remains quite unclear. It was not one of the
largest cities in Persia, let alone the rest of the empire, but appears to have
been a grand ceremonial complex that was only occupied seasonally; it is
still not entirely clear where the king's private quarters actually were. Until
recent challenges, most archaeologists held that it was especially used for
celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, held at the spring equinox, and
still an important annual festivity in modern Iran. The Iranian nobility and
the tributary parts of the empire came to present gifts to the king, as
represented in the stairway reliefs.18

Persepolitan architecture is noted for its use of the Persian column, which

was probably based on earlier wooden columns. Architects resorted to
18
Mousavi, Ali, Persepolis: Discovery and Afterlife of a World Wonder, p. 53, 2012, Walter de
Gruyter, ISBN 1614510334, 9781614510338, google books
stone only when the largest cedars of Lebanon or teak trees of India did not
fulfill the required sizes. Column bases and capitals were made of stone,
even on wooden shafts, but the existence of wooden capitals is probable.
In 518 BC, a large number of the most experienced engineers, architects,
and artists from the four corners of the universe were summoned to engage
and with participation, build the first building to be a symbol of universal
unity and peace and equality for thousands of years.

The buildings at Persepolis include three general groupings: military

quarters, the treasury, and the reception halls and occasional houses for
the King. Noted structures include the Great Stairway, the Gate of All
Nations, the Apadana, the Hall of a Hundred Columns, the Tripylon Hall
and the Tachara, the Hadish Palace, the Palace of Artaxerxes II, the
Imperial Treasury, the Royal Stables, and the Chariot House. 19

After the victory over Darius III (r. 336-330 BCE) at the Battle of
Gaugamela in 331 BCE, Alexander the Great marched on the city of Susa,
which surrendered without resistance. After leaving Susa for Persepolis, he
received a letter from one Tiridates, satrap of Persepolis, telling him that
Persians loyal to Darius III were en route to Persepolis to fortify it against
him and, if he should arrive first, Tiridates would surrender the city to him
but, if not, he would have to fight for it. Alexander ordered his men on a
forced march, crossed the Araxes River, and were approaching the city
when, according to Diodorus Siculus, they were met by a crowd of about
800 Greek artisans from Persepolis.

Almost all of them were elderly and had been taken prisoner and then
mutilated by the Persians, they explained (some missing a hand, another a
foot), so that they could still perform whatever skills required of them but
were handicapped and so could not easily escape. Alexander gave them
clothing and wages and is said to have been greatly moved, along with his
senior staff, by the encounter. Although Diodorus does not say so, this
meeting with the Greek artisans may have affected Alexander’s attitude
toward the city because, unlike at Susa, when he arrived there he gave his

19
Pierre Briant (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Eisenbrauns. pp. 256–
8.
men free rein to sack the city – except for the palaces – and take whatever
they wanted. After the city was taken, Alexander and his men celebrated
with a party late into the night, drinking and feasting, until they were all – or
nearly all – drunk. At some point, a woman of the group named Thais,
suggested Alexander set the city on fire. The fire, which consumed
Persepolis so completely that only the columns, shards of walls, stairways,
and doorways remained of the great palaces and halls, also destroyed the
religious works of the Persians written on parchment as well as their works
of art. The palace of Xerxes, who had planned and executed the invasion
of Greece in 480 BCE, received especially brutal treatment in the
destruction of the complex.

The city lay crushed under the weight of its own ruin (although, for a time,
nominally still the capital of the now-defeated empire) and was lost to time.
It became known to residents of the area only as 'the place of the forty
columns' owing to the still-remaining columns standing among the
wreckage. In time, the site came to be associated with supernatural
entities, was considered haunted, and was then generally avoided.