Persian design was more colorful, grandiose, and intricate than that of Greece. The kings of the Persian Empire built magnificent palaces and decorated them lavishly. The stairway of King Darius’s palace at Persepolis was carved with portraits of people from many different parts of his empire. The vast royal hall, supported by many dozens of carved stone columns, could hold 10,000 people. Artisans from across the empire carved numerous stone monuments in Persepolis and other royal capitals.
Stone carvings often portrayed the kings’ pride in their military conquests. Monuments carved on cliffs depicted great military achievements, showing victorious leaders and defeated enemies.
Unlike Persepolis, Susa was not close to sources of stone. The construction of the royal palace at Susa depended on materials brought in from throughout the empire, including wood, gold, silver, ebony, and ivory. The palace also incorporated styles and techniques from craftsmen from the far reaches of the empire, including stonecutters, goldsmiths, woodworkers, and glazed-brick makers. It was decorated with pictures of men, monsters, and gods made from tiles and glazed bricks. The clay bricks were coated with colorful glazes made of crushed rocks, salt, and powdered clay and baked in a kiln (a large, very hot oven) to create a thin, shiny surface.
Babylon was a spectacular city, with a huge temple and a great royal palace. The road leading to the temple was decorated with lions, flowers, and patterns made of glazed bricks. The palace’s hanging gardens were famous throughout the ancient world (see page 32).
From the wealth of materials that came into their empire, the people of the Persian Empire created all kinds of beautiful works. They made fine jewelry out of silver and carpets out of wool. These intricately designed carpets were highly valued and are still very expensive and rare today. Persian nobles decorated their homes with beautiful sculptures, delicate vases, and luxurious fabrics. Their homes, like the palaces, were designed to command respect.
Unlike building design in the East during Alexander’s time, Greek architecture was typically very regular and rectangular in shape. But a
Seven Wonders of THE Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were the major landmarks of the Hellenistic world. The first three were the statue of Zeus in Olympia, the Great Pyramids in Egypt, and the hanging gardens of Babylon. These three sites form a triangle that identifies the economic heartland of the Hellenistic civilization.
The other four wonders were the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos, the Mausoleum in Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos, or lighthouse, of Alexandria. Of all these wonders, only the Great Pyramids remain today.
Number of round buildings were constructed as well. These exceptions, which include tholoi-circulax buildings with pointed or domed roofs-are considered by some to be a result of the Persian influence on Greek architecture.
There was another important result of this fusion of West and East. The great stores of wealth that Alexander laid claim to in the Persian Empire had a direct and striking effect on architecture and building in Greece, as well as in the conquered lands. Before Alexander’s time, even traditional Greek buildings such as gymnasia and theaters had been relatively primitive. With the riches that Alexander and his army poured back into circulation, such buildings became monumental complexes of the finest order. The sometimes awe-inspiring appearance of Greek architecture that today we take for granted as “how it was done” in Greece could not have been possible without Alexander’s eastern expansion.
World History
