Babilonesi a Persepoli. Nuovi studi sull’architettura dell’antica Persia

The period that saw the assertion of Persia’s supremacy on the Iranian plateau around the mid-6th century BC was a time characterised by the mixing of heterogeneous cultural and ethnic realities. Architectural remains from this period show plans in the local tradition with iconographic traits of a generic Mesopotamian origin, and an architectural appearance in the Ionian tradition. In his study on Achaemenid kingship, Gh. Gnoli emphasised how the Mesopotamian component constituted a fundamental reference for the construction of the ideology of the Persian kings. The discovery near Persepolis by the Iranian-Italian Joint Archaeological Mission of the Gate of Tol-e Ajori, a modified replica of the Ishtar Gate in Babylon, testifies to the adoption of typically Babylonian construction devices, which are best understood when attributed to Babylonian craftsmen. Tol-e Ajori extends the primary role of Babylonian culture in Persia from only depictions of fantastic beings in the buildings of Pasargadae to an entire monument.