Alexander burned the palace complex at Persepolis in 330 BC, during the final phase of his conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of Persia, begun under Darius I and expanded by later Achaemenid kings including Xerxes I. Alexander captured the city after defeating the Persian defenders at the Persian Gate. His army then looted Persepolis, which contained immense royal wealth and served as a powerful symbol of Persian kingship.
Ancient writers disagree about why the fire was set. Some accounts portray it as deliberate revenge for the Persian destruction of Athens during the Greco-Persian Wars. Others say the decision followed a drunken banquet, with the Athenian courtesan Thaïs encouraging Alexander and his companions to burn the palace. Modern historians also consider the possibility of a politically calculated act or an accidental fire that spread.
The burning did not erase every trace of Persepolis. Archaeological evidence shows that some administrative tablets survived, while the stone terraces and reliefs remain among Iran’s most important ancient monuments.