home   :    index    :    picture archive
:   Iran   :    photos Persepolis    :    text Persepolis    :    photos by Marco Prins ; text Jona Lendering ©

Persepolis - Hall of 100 columns
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
According to the inscription known as A1Pb, the Hall of Hundred Columns at Persepolis (map 8) was built by the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes I Makrocheir (465-424). This throne hall was Persepolis' second largest building, measuring 70 x 70 meters.
At a certain moment, its function was changed and it became a store room, probably because the Treasury had become too small to contain all treasures that were hoarded in Persepolis.
A reconstruction.  
One of the entrances shows the king on his throne, with fifty soldiers.
The audience scene. The king in the center, a servant with a fan, the king's weapon carrier, and a guard behind him. The great king receives the mayor of the palace and a religious official. Probably, this is exactly what happened in the Hall of Hundred Columns: it was audience hall.
Some of the soldiers.
One of the soldiers.
Another gate. In the gate, the king is sitting on a throne. Behind him is a servant with a fly-whisk.
The two men again.
Above the king and the servant we see the canopy, which is decorated with flowers, bulls, and lions.
Carriers of the royal throne. Relief from Persepolis. Photo Marco Prins. People carrying the king's throne.

Finally, here you can see the Hall of the Hundred Columns on a satellite photo.
 home   :    index    :    Iran   :    Persepolis