Xerxes Building Program Speech

Xerxes Building Program Speech

Ancient History Assessment-
Xerxes: Palace of Persepolis

Good morning travellers and welcome to Persepolis!
Persepolis was one of the ancient capitals of Persia, established by Darius 1 in the late 6th Century BC. As you can see the ruins lie some 56 kilometres north-east of the Iranian city of Shiraz. Persepolis was built on the edge of a mountain. The site was set out on a giant terrace partly built up with stone blocks to a height of about 15 metres. This elevated the platform of the site of the building complex so it was visible from a distance. The German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld led a team of excavators at Persepolis from 1931 to 1934. Erich Schmidt continued the work at the site. The findings of these teams have provided most of the modern information about the site.
Darius transferred the capital of the Achaemenian dynasty to Persepolis from Pasargadae; construction of Persepolis began between 518 and 516 BC and continued under Darius’s successors Xerxes 1 and Artaxerxes 1. Inscriptions found at Persepolis say “Xerxes the King says: By the favour of Ahuramazda, this Colonnade of All Lands, I built. Much other good (construction) was built within this (city) Persepolis, which I built and which my father built. Whatever good construction is seen, all that by the favour of Ahuramazda we built.
Since Xerxes built much of Persepolis it is important to know a little bit about him. Xerxes was the eldest grandson of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, and the son of Darius and Atossa, Cyrus’ daughter. He was not the first-born son of Darius, but his direct descent from Cyrus and being born while Darius was on the throne made his appointment as crown prince acceptable. He was born about 519 BC and became king in 486 BC. Xerxes is most known for his unsuccessful invasion of Greece in 480 BC in which Herodotus tells us he brought 300,000 men in his army to conquer Greece.   His main aim in invading appears to have been to force mainland Greeks...