Ideological Aspects of Persian Art and Architecture as Seen from Persepolis, in a Historical Perspective.

The enormous importance that Persepolis had during the Achaemenid period makes it a key site for understanding the cultural and ideological climate at the center of the empire, which was doubtless also reflected in the farthest regions of the empire, thanks to the particular administrative structure of the satrapies, and which therefore influenced the cultural history of Palestine as well. The information that has been obtained since 2011 by the Iranian-Italian Archaeological Mission directed by Alireza Askari Chaverdi of Shiraz University and myself at a site a short distance from the Persepolis Terrace, and therefore within the area of Pārsa, coincides fully with the reconstruction of Persian political ideology and its influence on the cultural developments in Palestine proposed by the biblical scholar Giovanni Garbini. The author proposes an evaluation of Achaemenid political ideology based mainly on architectural and visual evidence, leading him to conclusions which to some extent differ from those of historians, who rightly stress the continuity with Assyrian and Babylonian traditions when characterizing Persian rule over subject peoples. The textual evidence does not justify taking for granted the concept that the Achaemenid kings maintained a different religious policy toward subject peoples; actually, the alleged alliance of the victors with the local deities provided a way to make integration of the new power with local societies possible after the decidedly violent conquest. When we turn to the actual architectural and figural evidence stemming from the Achaemenid kings, we see that alongside themes and motifs of clear Egyptian and Neo-Assyrian origin, some themes and motifs, at least starting from the age of Darius I, appear to be original Persian creations. Achaemenid architecture and art, therefore, can be summarized as an original elaboration firmly based on previous traditions, particularly of the Neo-Assyrian empire, but integrated with original ideas that must have amounted to a statement of ideological diversity. An appendix is dedicated to the evidence from Tol-e Ajori.