PALACE OF DARIUS

Darius I (l. c. 550-486 BCE, r. 522-486 BCE), also known as Darius the Great, was the third Persian King of the Achaemenid Empire.
His reign lasted 36 years, from 522 to 486 BCE; during this time the Persian Empire reached its peak.
According to tablets inscribed in Old Persian and Elamite found at Persepolis, it seems that Darius planned this impressive complex
of palaces not only as the seat of government but also, and primarily, as a show place and a spectacular center for the receptions and
festivals of the Achaemenian kings and their empire
The Palace of Darius in Susa was a palace complex built at the site of Susa, Iran, during the reign of Darius the 1st , one of the
famous rulers of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
The construction was conducted parallel to that of Persopolis. Manpower and raw materials from various parts of the Achaemenid
Empire contributed to its construction.

he palace was captured and plundered by the invading Macedonians under Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

Architecturally, the palace was the epitome of the Persian architecture at the height of the
empire’s growth. It was meant to reflect the same opulence and prestige as Persepolis. This
was Darius the Great’s attempt to decorate his summer capital of Susa and to show case its
glory.

French archaeologist Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy discovered the remnants of the palace ,

among the ruins of Susa producing the artifacts of this once magnificent structure now at
display in the Louvre museum, France.

HYPOSTYLE HALL OF XERXES

The Hypostyle Hall of Xerxes, King of Persia who reigned from 485 to 465 B.C., served as a
throne-room or audience hall. The columns which were 65 feet in height were were crowned
with double bull's head capital. It was open to the air but the spaces between the columns
could be closed with hangings on the sunny side.

The Hypostyle Hall of Xerxes (B.C. 485), probably used as a throne room, and having no enclosing
walls, occupied an area larger than the Hypostyle Hall at Karnac, or any Gothic cathedral except Milan.
It originally had seventy-two black marble columns, 67 feet in height, arranged in a somewhat novel manner supporting a flat roof. Of these only
seventeen now exist, and have capitals either of brackets and volutes, or formed of a pair of unicorns or bulls ; the bases are bell-shaped (No. 13
A, c, G) and the shafts are fluted with fifty-two flutes.

HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMNS

The Hall of the Hundred Columns, 225 feet square, was probably used as an audience and throne-hall. It was surrounded by a brick
wall, 10 feet 8 inches thick, in which were forty- four stone doorways and windows.

The bas-reliefs are on a magnificent scale, representing the king surrounded by the
arms of subject states, receiving ambassadors, rows of warriors and other subjects.
The columns, of which only one is still in situ, had capitals of curious vertical Ionic-like
scrolls (No. 13 G), or of the double-bull or double-horse types.

PDF [PREHISTORY, MESOPOTAMIA…]

PROPYLON

The exterior walls of the structure, made of thick mud brick, were decorated with numerous niches. Each of the three walls, on the east, west,
and south, had a very large stone doorway. A pair of colossal bulls guarded the western entrance; two assyrianized man-bulls stood at the
eastern doorway. The function of the gate was not only to allow the entry of the visitors, but was also to separate the people according to their
social importance. The Gate of All Nations (Persian: ‫ )دروازه ملل‬also known as the Gate of Xerxes, is located in the ruins of the ancient city of
Persepolis, Iran. The construction of the Stairs of All Nations and the Gate of All Nations was ordered by the Achaemenid king Xerxes I (486-465
BCE), the successor of the founder of Persepolis, D arius I the Great.
SUSA

Susa stands as one of the few ancient sites in the Middle East where two major social and cultural developments took place: the development of
the early state, and urbanization. Susa, capital of Elam (Susiana) and administrative capital of the Achaemenian king Darius I and
his successors from 522 BCE. It was located at the foot of the Zagros Mountains near the bank of the Karkheh Kūr (Choaspes)
River in the Khuzistan region of Iran.

Susa has important remains in the palaces of Xerxes and Artaxerxes, from which splendid examples of colored and glazed brickwork have been excavated,
especially the frieze of lions and the frieze of archers in which the figures, about 5 feet high, are now in the Louvre, Paris, and give a good idea of the glazed
and colored work of the Persians.

The Tomb of Darius, Naksh-i-Rustam, near Persepolis, has a rock cut fa9ade, reproducing the Palace of f)arius, and forming one of four rock-hewn
sepulchres of the Akhaemenian kings. In this fa9ade the columns are of the double-bull type with cornice over, above which are two rows of figures supporting
a prayer platform, upon which stood a statue of the king, about 7 feet high, with his arm uplifted towards an image of the god Ormuzd.

ZIGGURAT OF UR

Built by king ur-nammu

Ziggurat at Ur, ziggurat located in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur in southern Iraq, near the modern-day city of Al-Nāṣ iriyyah. Its
earliest bricks date to about 2100 BCE.

Ziggurats are pyramidal stepped temple towers built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians of ancient Mesopotamia—the region between
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There are approximately 25 surviving ziggurats, and the ziggurat at Ur is one of the best preserved.

The core was clad with glazed bricks mortared with bitumen to create a waterproof surface, punctuated by “weeper holes” to
allow water to evaporate from the center. Many of these facing bricks were stamped with the name of Ur-Nammu (reigned 2112–
2095 BCE), the first king of the 3rd dynasty of Ur. In Ur-Nammu’s time, the ziggurat had three tiers and
three buttressed staircases, which led to a temple on the flat surface at the top that was dedicated to the Sumerian moon
god Nanna (Sin). Each tier formed a terrace that may have been planted with vegetation.