DAY TWELVE… Sightseeing in Persepolis
Rose at 6.45am, usual time…. to squeeze in a little time at the bazaar. It’s hard to spend a little time at the bazaar as everything is interesting and draws one’s attention. I spent most of the time looking at carpets. Sadly, the one I chose weighed too much (6.3 kgs). We’ve only got about 4kgs free and don’t want to be faced with the situation we had last time leaving Iran with over the limit luggage.
In the afternoon we arrived at Persepolis. What was so striking about this long-forgotten city, ransacked and burnt to the ground by Alexander the Great after he’d been a guest there for 2 months, was the sheer skill of the work and the incredible feats of architecture.
But also, Persepolis, the Spring dwelling place of the king (Darius the Great, and his son, Xerxes), was a very sophisticated society; women got maternity leave and were also managers of the craftsmen. Everyone was on a salary. The king would invite people from his entire empire which included Azerbaijan, Iraq, Syria, Greece, Indus Valley… etc. It was huge. Everyone was invited for Nowruz (Persian New Year, at the Spring Equinox) and he would entertain them in style.
