Grand Staircase & Gate of all Nations
History
Persepolis is around 55 km northeast of the city of Shiraz in Iran. The magnificent ruins of Persepolis lie at the foot of Kouh-e Rahmat, or “Mountain of Mercy,” in the plain of Marv Dasht. The word Persepolis itself comes from the Greek, meaning ” City of Persians”. Persepolis is also known as Takht-e Jamshid locally. Persepolis was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire between 530 BC – 330 BC.
Grand Staircase at Persepolis
King Xerxes (486-465 BC) built the Grand Staircase and the Gate of All Nations. The Grand Staircase is located on the northeast side of the city and these stairs were carved from massive blocks of stone. Whenever important foreign delegations arrived, their presence was heralded by trumpeters at the top of the staircase. Acolytes then led the dignitaries through Xerxes’ Gateway (also known as the Gate of All Nations).
Gate of all Nations
The Gate of all Nations consisted of a grand hall that was a square of approximately 25 meters (82 ft) in length, with four columns and its entrance on the Western Wall. Xerxes’s name was written in three languages (Old Persian text are Babylonian and Elamite) and carved on the entrances, informing everyone that he ordered it to be built.
It translates as; ‘A great god is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created heaven, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Xerxes king, one king of many kings, commander of many commanders’.
Lamassu or bull-men originated in Babylonia and Assyria, but the Persians adopted them. These mythological creatures have the head of a bearded man. Lamassu is a winged animal with the head of a human. Assyrians used to place these figures at the entrance of the cities and palaces.
In the past, visitors didn’t have much respect for these monuments and they left their marks on the walls of the Gate of All Nations. Many Iranians believe that these creatures were defaced by the Arabs when they conquer Persia in the 7th century.
