Gateway to Persepolis — the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire where Darius built in stone what Alexander burned in anger
Marvdasht is a small Iranian city in Fars Province that serves as the practical base for visiting Persepolis (Takht-e Jamshid), the UNESCO World Heritage ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (UNESCO 1979), located 12km northeast. Persepolis (founded by Darius I around 518 BCE, expanded by Xerxes and Artaxerxes I, burned by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE) is the most complete surviving Achaemenid palace complex — the Apadana (audience hall with capacity for 10,000, its carved staircase reliefs showing delegations from 28 subject nations bearing tribute), the Gate of All Nations, the Thr…
Darius I began construction of Persepolis around 518 BCE as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire — the largest empire in ancient history, stretching from Egypt to the Indus. The complex served as the site of the Nowruz (Persian New Year) celebrations and the reception of tribute delegations from all 28 satrapies. Alexander the Great burned the palace complex in 330 BCE (variously attributed to drunken revenge for the burning of Athens in 480 BCE or deliberate symbolic act ending Achaemenid rule). The ruins remained buried under windblown silt until excavations began in the 1930s.