Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, is in Iran.
Persepolis stands near modern Shiraz in Iran’s Fars Province. Darius I began building the complex around 518 BCE, and later Achaemenid rulers expanded it. Its monumental terrace, columned halls, stairways, and reliefs presented delegations from across the empire bringing gifts to the Persian king.
The site was not the empire’s only capital: Susa, Babylon, and Ecbatana also served important administrative or seasonal roles. Alexander the Great captured Persepolis in 330 BCE, and a major fire damaged parts of the complex. The surviving reliefs are especially valuable because they depict imperial ceremony and the empire’s many peoples in a formal artistic style.