I like the idea that by destroying persepolis, alexander certainly put an end to the persian empire. I think one should also bear in mind that these texts are of a later period. When alexander got back in the three twenties, go lat te rest or, not a piece of mere gossip. As quickl as we can he was geting. We read that he was getting drunk a lot at this time. Was this an act of this no, onin mandalis is one of these, er, these difficult texts to analyze that that vester was just talking about.
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.