by Kathryn Hadley
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a short piece about the South Korean diplomat in Iran, who had attempted to smuggle an inscribed stone from Perspeolis from the Achaemenid era out of the country. Officials in Shiraz airport caught the thief and sent the stolen piece back to the ruins of Persepolis, but he was eventually released due to diplomatic immunity!
Persepolis was just one of the capitals of the Achaemenid Empire, which flourished from approximately 550 to 330 BC and was, at its height, the largest empire of the ancient world. Susa was another of its capitals and was rebuilt by Darius the Great (in the picture on my previous post). Alexander the Great also married in Susa, which therefater became part of the Seleucid Empire.
I have just come across a very useful blog post, which describes in greater detail the history of Susa and also has fascinating pictures of some of the reliefs which decorated the palaces of Achaemenid kings, many of which are now in the Louvre in Paris. Another post on the same blog also describes a statue of Darius the Great, which was found during excavations of the Great Gate in Susa in 1972. It provides detailed pictures and also explains the various inscriptions on the statue...
Well worth a visit if you are interested in finding out more about the Achaemenid Empire!
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