The ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire, begun under Darius I with the earliest remains dating to 515 BC and added to by Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I. The thing to walk slowly is the Apadana staircase, where the carved delegations of every subject people come up the steps in their own dress carrying their own tribute, so you can stand there and read the extent of an empire off a wall. In 330 BC Alexander’s army took the city and the timber burned; the accounts say the courtesan Thaïs proposed it during a very drunken night, in revenge for Greek sanctuaries the Persians had destroyed. UNESCO listed it in 1979. Marvdasht, Fars province, ringed by the Zagros. Check your government’s travel advice for Iran before planning.
Marvdasht, Fars, Iran
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