Naqsh-i Rustam: Colossal Tombs of Persian Kings
About
12 km northwest of the Iranian city of Persepolis, lies a rocky hill. Engraved
on the almost perpendicular façade of the hill, at a considerable height, are
rich ornamented reliefs dedicated to the Achaemenid kings belonging to the
early first millennium BCE. This area is known as Naqsh-e Rustam, and also as
Necropolis.
Naqsh-i
Rustam (the Throne of Rustam, in English) was considered a sacred mountain
range in the Elamite periods. The façades of Naqsh-i Rustam became the burial
site for four Achaemenid rulers and their families in the fifth and fourth
centuries BCE, as well as a major center of sacrifice and celebration during
the Sasanian period between the third and seventh century CE.
The
oldest relief at Naqsh-i Rustam is severely damaged and dates to c. 1000 BC. It
depicts a faint image of a man with unusual head-gear and is thought to be
Elamite in origin. The depiction is part of a larger mural, most of which was
removed at the command of Bahram II. The man with the unusual cap gives the
site its name, Naqsh-e Rostam, "Picture of Rostam", because the
relief was locally believed to be a depiction of the mythical hero Rostam.
The
tombs are known locally as the 'Persian crosses', after the shape of the
facades of the tombs. The entrance to each tomb is at the center of each cross,
which opens onto to a small chamber, where the king lay in a sarcophagus. The
horizontal beam of each of the tomb's facades is believed to be a replica of
the entrance of the palace at Persepolis.
One of
the tombs is explicitly identified by an accompanying inscription to be the
tomb of Darius I the Great (c. 522-486 BC). The other three tombs are believed to
be those of Xerxes I (c. 486-465 BC), Artaxerxes I (c. 465-424 BC), and Darius
II (c. 423-404 BC) respectively. A fifth unfinished one might be that of
Artaxerxes III, who reigned at the longest two years, but is more likely that
of Darius III (c. 336-330 BC), last of the Achaemenid dynasts.
The tombs were looted following the conquest of the
Achaemenid empire by Alexander the Great.
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