travel thoughts: Persepolis, Iran
There are any number of sights worth seeing in Iran; it is a beautiful country, and all of its provinces have something worth your time. But the jewel, of course, is the ruins of Persepolis - the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, constructed in the sixth century BCE on the orders of the King of Kings, Darius the Great, and expanded under his successors until it was looted and destroyed by Alexander of Macedon in 330 BCE.
(One of the things I appreciated in Iran was that it is a place that shares my rather low opinion of Alexander. I did not find a single sign anywhere that referred to him as 'the Great', and several instead gave him the epithet 'the Destroyer'...)
Due to the current political climate, the Iranian tourism industry is struggling. As a result, there were only a handful of tourist groups there when I visited; October is supposed to be peak season, I suspect at other times there would be even fewer. As a result, we didn't have to rush and had plenty of time to take in the details of the surviving relief carvings, such as the beautiful carvings in the audience hall of the various nations bringing tribute to the Persian court, or the rows of Immortal soldiers.
The Iranians I talked to take a justifiable pride in their heritage; not simply the power and size of the ancient Persian Empire, but also its history as a multi-cultural, multi-religious empire known for its tolerance. Throughout Iran, I saw many people displaying the Faravahar - the emblem of the Achaemenid dynasty, and today the symbol of the Zoroastrian faith - on their cars, shops and homes. Whether this is simply a sign of pride in Persian history and culture, or a subtle sign of rebellion against the modern government's rigid theocratic worldview, I wasn't sure...
It is difficult to imagine the scale of the halls when they were intact; only a handful of the columns that supported the ceiling survive intact. Each would have been originally almost twenty metres high, with the beams of the roof supported by elaborately carved capitals in the shape of bulls, lions and griffons - works of art in their own right, which would have been all but invisible to ancient visitors from ground level. Some pieces appear to have never been used; they were either intended as spare parts in case a section needed quick repairs, or were part of planned expansions to the site that were never completed.
A few minutes drive from Persopolis was the Necropolis of the Achaemenid Emperors Darius I, Xerxes, Artaxerxes I and Darius II. Alongside them were later relief carvings from the Sassanian era, showing their victories over the Roman emperors; the death of the Emperor Gordian III, the capture of Emperor Valerian, and the surrender of Philip the Arab. The tombs, of course, are now empty, having been looted by Alexander's armies.
An unexpected treat was the number of cats in residence - further proof of my theory that ancient ruins generate cats! This very friendly orange chap greeted us when we bought our tickets, but soon moved on to greet the next group of tourists. Other cats lurked around the coffee shop, hoping perhaps to glean a snack or two. It would not surprise me if their distant ancestors were similarly underfoot in the halls of Darius and Xerxes...
Iran as a whole was one of the most welcoming, safest, and most pleasant countries I've had the pleasure to visit. It is more than worth the visit at the moment; despite the dire warnings the Australian government offers, it is an oasis of calm in a dangerous part of the world, a beautiful country that deserves a better reputation.