The Tachara, or the Tachar Château, also referred to as the Palace of Darius the Great, was the exclusive building of

Darius I Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. It is located 70 km northeast of the modern city of

marvdasht Marvdasht ( fa, مرودشت, also romanized as Marv Dasht) is a city and the capital of Marvdasht County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 123,858, in 29,134 families. Name Some historians hold that Marvdasht was ...

in Fars Province.

History and construction

The construction dates back to the time of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...

(550 BC–330 BC). The building has been attributed to

, but only a small portion of it was finished under his rule. It was completed after the death of Darius I in 486, by his son and successor,

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( peo, 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ξέρξης ; – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. He was the son and successor of D ...

, who called it a ''taçara'' in

Old Persian Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ( ...

, translated to "winter palace". It was then used by

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. He may have been the " Artas ...

. Its ruins are immediately south of the

Apadana Apadana ( peo, 𐎠𐎱𐎭𐎠𐎴) is a large hypostyle hall in Persepolis, Iran. It belongs to the oldest building phase of the city of Persepolis, in the first half of the 6th century BC, as part of the original design by Darius the Gr ...

. On the walls of its gates, there are carvings that shows one of the famous Achaemenids architecture motifs: the

Battle of Shahriar and Lion Battle of Shahriar (Achaemenid king) and Lion, "Confrontation between Shahriar and Lion" or "Shah's battle with lion", winged ox, Griffin, and winged lion refers to rock carvings in three palaces of Persepolis, especially the Palace of 100 Column ...

. In the 4th century BC, following his invasion of Achaemenid Persia in 330 BC,

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

allowed his troops to loot Persepolis. This palace was one of the few structures that escaped destruction in the burning of the complex by Alexander the Great's army.

Structure

The Tachara stands back to back to the

, and is oriented southward. Measuring , it is the smallest of the ''palace buildings'' on the Terrace at

. As the oldest of the palace structures on the Terrace, it was constructed of the finest quality gray stone. The surface was almost completely black and polished to a glossy brilliance. This surface treatment combined with the high quality stone is the reason for it being the most intact of all ruins at Persepolis today. Although its mud block walls have completely disintegrated, the enormous stone blocks of the door and window frames have survived. Persepolis 24

Its main room is a mere with three rows of four columns. A complete window measuring was carved from a single block of stone and weighed 18 tons. The door frame was fashioned from three separate monoliths and weighed 75 tons. Like many other parts of Persepolis, the Tachara has reliefs of tribute-bearing dignitaries. There are sculptured figures of lance-bearers carrying large rectangular wicker shields, attendants or servants with towel and perfume bottles, and a royal hero killing lions and monsters. There is also a bas-relief at the main doorway depicting Darius I wearing a crenellated crown covered with sheets of gold. The Tachara is connected to the south court by a double reversed stairway. Later under the reign of

Artaxerxes III Ochus ( grc-gre, Ὦχος ), known by his dynastic name Artaxerxes III ( peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 359/58 to 338 BC. He was the son and successor of ...

, a new stairway was added to the northwest of the Tachara which is connected to the main hall through a new doorway. On walls of these stairways, there are sculptured representations of figures such as servants, attendants and soldiers dressed in

Median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic f ...

and Persian costumes, as well as gift-bearing delegations flanking carved inscriptions.

Darius the Great Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his d ...

's pride at the superb craftsmanship is evident by his ordering the following inscription on all 18 niches and window frames: ''Frames of stone, made for the Palace of King Darius''.

Function

The function of the building, however, was more ceremonial than residential. Upon completion, it served in conjunction with the earlier south oriented entrance stairs as the

Nowruz Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...

venue until the other buildings that would comprise Persepolis could be finished, which included a provisional union of the Apadana, the Throne Hall and a Banquet Hall.

Gallery

2018-09-21 Iran, Persepolis, Tachara (from the southeast).jpg Tachar-Persepolis-Iran.tif Persépolis, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 25.jpg Persépolis, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 23.jpg Persépolis, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 14.jpg Tachar-palace (2).tif, Carving of the Battle of Shahria and Lion on the wall of a gate. Tachar-palace (6).tif

References

External links