Persepolis
In the morning, before the buses arrived, we had the pleasure and privilege to have Persepolis for ourselves. The complex is, compared to ancient Greek sites, simply overwhelming. It was not even finished, when Alexander the Great destroyed it 2300 years ago. Historians state, that female jealousy triggered this rampage. When the Arabs conquered Iran, they wanted to completely destroy even the ruins. Later Persepolis sunk into the sand was forgotten. Archeologists dug it out before World War II and once again it was almost erazed: the mullahs wanted to eraze all pre-Islamic heritages – as they did in Afghanistan with the giant Buddhas. I am surprised that its Greek name survived the centuries. The town was never mentioned in the bible. Persepolis has been built on a divine scale. Some stones weigh more than 30 tons and were jointed perfectly with each other. The most impressive detail in Persepolis is the stone relief of Apradana, showing 23 different nationalities who lived in the Persian Empire. They are shown in great detail paying tribute to the Persian Emperor, e.g. Egyptians, Armenians, Indians, Ethiopians…are carrying vessels, cloths, furs, young lions, buffalo, rams and camels. There was not a single scene that showed an act of war or violence, except the ritual biting of a bull by a lion.
When I was looking for Hertha in Iran, all I had to do was to look for a crowd of females. This time they were school girls hanging on Hertha’s lips. No matter how vigorously the female teacher used her whistle for a call to order, at this time Hertha got all the attention. By the way, in Iran girls have female teachers, boys have male teachers.
Related posts:
- The memory of a traveler, part 1
- The memory of a traveler, part 5
- The memory of a traveler, part 3
- The memory of a traveler, part 8
- The memory of a traveler, part 7
Tags: Perespolis, Persia, pre-Islamic heritage