Relief Fragment: Attendant with Lamb

Fragments from Persepolis

Persepolis (City of the Persians) is the Greek name for one of the capitals of the Achaemenid Persian empire (c. 550–330 BCE). The Persians called it Parsa—like the people and the region at the empire’s heart, today’s Fars province in Iran. Especially significant to ancient Persian identity, the city is a key site for Achaemenid archaeology. The empire was the last of the great Middle Eastern empires before Alexander’s conquest, extending from Egypt in the west to the Indus Valley in the east. The massive terrace at Persepolis contained monumental stairs, gate buildings, audience halls, residences, and a treasury; royal tombs were carved into nearby cliffs. The walls were of mud brick, but stairways, doorways, and columns were made of limestone and decorated with sculpture in relief and in the round. Subject peoples from across the empire contributed materials, labor, and know-how to the building efforts, and the site’s architecture and sculpture incorporated motifs from conquered regions. The result was a unified visual representation of Achaemenid kingship and empire.