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17 - CLASSIC ACHAEMENIAN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Edith Porada
Edited by
I. Gershevitch
Edith Porada
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
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Summary

ARCHITECTURE

Good and comprehensive surveys of the art of the Achaemenian empire have been written in recent years. The present essay will therefore merely summarize the characteristics of classic Achaemenian art as they are revealed in the principal monuments. In view of David Stronach's discussion in this volume of the buildings and reliefs at Pasargadae, which manifest the early stage of Achaemenian art, it is the classic phase of it, revealed in the works sponsored by Darius and Xerxes, which will be discussed here, as well as – briefly – the relatively slight modifications it underwent in the reliefs of the later kings of the Achaemenian dynasty.

In art, as in politics, Cyrus and Darius I applied themselves to organizing and inspiring large numbers of people of diverse ethnic and cultural origin. They succeeded in stimulating builders and sculptors to create at Pasargadae, Persepolis and Susa a style of art expressive of imperial majesty and so distinctive as to be immediately recognizable. This style is all the more remarkable because it was produced by peoples of many lands with different traditions and aesthetic predilections affecting the technical procedures used in architecture and sculpture, the types of buildings, and the repertory of images.

The proudest monument of Persian art, Persepolis, whose ancient name was Pārsa, owed its existence to Darius, a scion of a secondary line of Achaemenians. Darius emerged victorious in 521 B.C. from battles which broke out with insurgents after the death of Cambyses, the eldest son of Cyrus.

Persepolis is built on the spur of a mountain which was partly flattened and partly built up with stone blocks to form the gigantic terrace up to 15 metres high on which palatial buildings were to stand above the plain, elevated and secure.

Keywords

Dariuseastern MediterraneanApadanaclassic Achaemenian artPersian artsculpturesIonian structuresSusaPersepolisElamite inscriptions
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Iran , pp. 793 - 827
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1985

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