Xerxes I completed the Apadana audience hall at Persepolis after his father, Darius I, began it.
The Apadana was a vast hypostyle hall designed for royal receptions and ceremonial gatherings. Its roof was supported by massive stone columns, and its monumental stairways were decorated with reliefs showing delegations from across the Achaemenid Empire bringing gifts.
Darius started the hall during the early development of Persepolis, but the building was unfinished at his death. Xerxes completed it and incorporated it into the larger terrace complex. The reliefs are not normally interpreted as a scene of conquered peoples being humiliated; instead, they present the empire as an ordered community approaching the Persian king. Artaxerxes I later completed additional work at the site.