We get a sense of the kind of wealth at pours into a iran from er. The peoples of the empire are tasked with bringing together different goods from across the empire. We have texts written in elamite ind cune form, which talk about individuals travelling from memphis in northern egypt right to kandaha in afghanistan. And there are road stations which would litated those kind of journeys. Lissuncultural must have daing quite a lot of organizing. Wasn't a huge amount of organize, but this is something that the the aranians have always been very good on.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of the great 'City of the Persians' founded by Darius I as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire that stretched from the Indus Valley to Egypt and the coast of the Black Sea. It was known as the richest city under the sun and was a centre at which the Empire's subject peoples paid tribute to a succession of Achaemenid leaders, until the arrival of Alexander III of Macedon who destroyed it by fire supposedly in revenge for the burning of the Acropolis in Athens.
The image above is a detail from a relief at the Apadana, the huge audience hall, and shows a lion attacking a bull.
With
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University
Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis
Curator of Middle Eastern Coins at the British Museum
And
Lindsay Allen
Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History at King's College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.