About 12 kilometres north of Persepolis, four great tombs are cut high into a sheer cliff. Each façade forms a giant cross, with columns imitating a palace entrance and, above, a relief of the king worshipping before a fire altar. An inscription identifies one as the tomb of Darius the Great; the others are attributed to Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I and Darius II.
Centuries later the Sasanian kings returned to this sacred cliff to carve their own triumphs beneath the Achaemenid tombs. The most famous shows Shapur I on horseback receiving the submission of the Roman emperors Valerian and Philip the Arab. In front of the cliff stands the Ka’ba-ye Zartosht, an enigmatic stone tower whose purpose is still debated.
Highlights
- Cross-shaped tomb of Darius the Great
- Shapur I’s triumph over two Roman emperors
- The investiture relief of Ardashir I
- The mysterious Ka’ba-ye Zartosht tower
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