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Persepolis - Lower City
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.
To the south of the Terrace of Persepolis was the Lower City. It is certain that there were people living over here before Darius I the Great started to build the palace, but unfortunately, hardly anything has been excavated, and what was excavated is still partly unpublished. This, however, certainly was a gate.
These buildings could be seen from the Tomb of Artaxerxes II. They are some 300 meters south of the terrace, closer to the palaces than, for example, a "real royal monument" like the Unfinished tomb. The owners of these houses must have been very wealthy people, perhaps even princes belonging to the highest Achaemenid elite.
This is one of the largest houses: a square court, separated from the main residence by small stairs, and several rooms surrounding a central hall. The palaces had a similar map. This part of the city, which was really large, was looted by the Macedonians of Alexander the Great in 330, but remained inhabited. Here are satellite images.
To the north of the Terrace was this small building, the function of which is not well understood.
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