Persepolis Iran 'Takht-e Jamshid'

1975 Persepolis (Old Persian: 'Pars', New Persian: تخت جمشید, 'Takht-e Jamshid') was an ancient ceremonial capital of the second Iranian dynasty, the Achaemenid Empire, situated some 70 km northeast of modern city of Shiraz, not far from where the small river Pulwar flows into the Kur (Kyrus). To the ancient Persians, the city was known as Parsa, meaning the city of Persians, Persepolis being the Greek interpretation of the name (Περσες (meaning Persian)+ πόλις (meaning city). In contemporary Iran the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid (Throne of Jamshid). The largest and most complex building in Persepolis was the audience hall or Apadana with 36 columns, accessible by two monumental stairs. The initial works were started in 518 BC. Andre Godard the French archaeologist who excavated Persepolis in early 1930s, believed that it was Cyrus the Great who chose the site of Persepolis, but Darius the Great built the terrace and the great palaces at Persepolis and the construction of the buildings at the terrace was continued until downfall of the Achaemenid dynasty. Darius ordered the construction of Apadana Palace and the Debating hall (Tripylon or the three-gated hall), the main imperial treasury and its surroundings, which were completed at the time of the reign of his son King Xerxes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis