Old Persia

Driving south to Shiraz we explored old Achaemian Persia well known to ancient Greeks. A dirty road through obscure village of Pasargadae leads to Cyrus’s tomb, a giant marble sarcophagus, standing by itself, forgotten in the middle of the field. No ornament disturbs its peacefulness; I only wish it wouldn’t be enclosed in iron bars. The cliff of Nagsh-i-Rustam is struck by four cross tombs of the Achaemian kings, including Darius.

We spend the night in the park attached to Persepolis; the guard just let us in and offered us tea. We were alone with the ancient world. Persepolis was built about 512 BC by Darius and burnt to the ground by Alexander the Great some two hundreds year later. The most fascinating feature of the site is the decoration. Reliefs are surprisingly well preserved; their surfaces are smooth as silk.