Royal Cities and Royal Art: the Image of an Empire

1 Royal Cities and Royal Art: the Image of an Empire by Galya D. TOTEVA The Achaemenid Persian Empire has been considered by many scholars the first world empire. Starting from a very small area in the region known as Parsa, north of the Persian gulf, its founder Cyrus II the Great (559-530 B.C.E.) quickly expanded it, conquering first the lands which had been home of the great kingdoms of the Near East (Assyrian, Babylonian, Elamite and Median), and reaching the borders with the Greek world to its west. His successors, Cambyses (530-522 B.C.E.) and Darius I the Great (522-486 B.C.E.) carried out his legacy, stretching the Empire to the lands along the Nile in the west and the Ganges in the east. Such a vast territory had to be sternly, but flexibly ruled. It incorporated peoples of different languages, cultures and religions with traditions deep into the past. An attempt to wipe out these differences and to impose uniformity in the entire empire would have posed the risk of constant uprisings, as people do not easily change their customs and especially their religion. This would have resulted in political and economic instability of the empire. That is why the most distinctive feature of the Achaemenid Empire is what is sometimes called today its cultural and religious “tolerance.” In fact, it was a very good control strategy. Part of this strategy was the omnipresence of the King, but the King appearing in a way that would have been most appealing to his people. This was especially necessary in the early decades of the Empire, as new lands were still conquered and incorporated in the imperial domain. This is probably one of the reasons that the early Persian Kings presented themselves in the local fashions of the new lands. They wore the titles of the previous local kings, thus appearing as the heirs of their thrones. Archaeology has come to illustrate this by a stunning discovery from Susa of a statue of Darius I, depicting him both as King of Persia and Pharaoh of Egypt; the inscriptions accompanying the statue are both in cuneiform and in hieroglyphic. The cities of the glorious Near Eastern kingdoms from the past were now in the core of the imperial domain. The Persian Kings continued to revere them as prominent centers and undertook large scale constructions in them. Three of the five official Achaemenid capitals had been the royal cities of these previous kingdoms, conquered by the founder of the Empire Cyrus the Great: those were the cities Ecbatana (the royal city of the Median kingdom), Susa (the capital of the Elamite kingdom) and Babylon (the capital of Babylonia). According to the Greek author Xenophon, in winter the Persian King spent seven months in Babylon, in the spring he 2 spent three months in Susa, and in the summer two months in Ecbatana, and thus he enjoyed the warmth and coolness of a perpetual spring (Cyropaedia VIII.6.22). The real centre of the empire was comprised by Persia (Pasargadae and Persepolis), Media (Ecbatana) and Elam (Susa). Babylon became a cultural capital of the Empire because of its thousand-year long history. Each of the Achaemenid capitals was a splendid site with lavishly decorated monumental structures. This is how On the Cosmos, to Alexander, a treatise now believed to have been written by Aristotle himself, describes the pomp of the Persian royal cities: “The King ... lived in Susa or Ecbatana, invisible to all, in a marvelous palace with a surrounding wall flashing with gold, electrum and ivory; it had a succession of many gate towers, and the gateways, separated by many stades from one another, were fortified with brazen doors and high walls”. Such depictions have triggered high interest among scholars of the Near East, and a number of excavation projects had been undertaken at the sites where the capitals had lain in the past. Ecbatana, the royal residence of the Medes, is a large site spread over a 35-hectare area. It was plundered by Cyrus the Great after his victory over Astyages, the king of Media. That happened in 550 or some time in the early 540s B.C.E. Although Cyrus did not initially make the city his capital, we are told by the above-mentioned ancient sources that in later years it was used as such (Xenophon also says this in Anabasis III.5.15). As if to confirm their statement, an inscription on a column base, discovered in the year 2000, names a King Artaxerxes (probably Artaxerxes II, 405-359 B.C.E.) who built a terrace with columns in Ecbatana. Investigations in the rest of the Achaemenid capitals had demonstrated that the Persians did indeed build on terraces of packed soil, and colonnaded halls were always a prominent part of the plan. Archaeologists have tried to find the remains of the Median and Persian period city at Ecbatana, but to no avail. It remains among the many mysteries that archaeology is yet to solve. One possibility is that excavations in other parts of this vast hill might offer remains from earlier periods. Although the archaeological evidence of the Median and Persian city is scarce, literary sources again come to shed light on its magnificence. The ancient Greek author Polybius wrote that Ecbatana greatly exceeded all the other cities in wealth and the magnificence of its buildings (The Histories X.27.5-11). In his words, its palace was 7 stades (estimated to be about 1300 m) in circumference, and its cedar and cypress buildings were covered with silver and gold. The city’s 3 richness is also mentioned in the text of the so-called Nabonidus Chronicle, covering events from the reign of the last Neo-Babylonian king, Nabonidus (556-539 B.C.E.). It tells us that when Cyrus defeated Astyages, he looted Ecbatana and carried off rich spoils of silver, gold, goods and property. The most impressive, and least plausible, description of the city is provided by Herodotus, according to whom it was surrounded by seven circles of walls. Their battlements were painted in different colors (white, black, scarlet, blue and orange); the battlements of the last two were coated with silver and gold (Histories I.98). Just as beautiful a city was Susa, the former capital of the Elamite kingdom. Its fate just before the Achaemenids arrived is not very clear, but we know that it was made capital by Darius I. Its palace had three courtyards, two entrance gates and an Apadana (audience hall), with 36 columns inside and 36 columns outside. At the second gate was located the Egyptian statue of Darius I. The first courtyard was decorated with glazed bricks representing winged bulls; upon entrance in the second court the visitor saw two apotropaic (protective) crowned sphinxes located under the sun disk of Ahuramazda (the chief god of the Persians); the third, most private courtyard was surrounded by panels of winged griffins. Beyond the two inner courts were smaller rooms leading towards the Apadana. To the north and west of the structure are remains of a lavish garden – one of the famous luxurious paradeisoi (paradises), so typical for the Persian Royal complexes. One of the most famous and lengthy inscriptions of Darius I, the so-called Building inscription found at Susa, describes in detail the process of construction of this marvelous palace: “(…)This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug, until I reached rock in the earth. When the excavation had been made, then rubble was packed down, some 40 cubits in depth, another part 20 cubits in depth. On that rubble the palace was constructed. And that the earth was dug downward, and that the rubble was packed down, and that the sun-dried brick was molded, the Babylonian people performed these tasks. The cedar timber, this was brought from a mountain named Lebanon. The Assyrian people brought it to Babylon; from Babylon the Carians and the Yaunâ [=Greeks and probably also southern Anatolians] brought it to Susa. The yakâ-timber was brought from Gandara and from Carmania. The gold was brought from Lydia and from Bactria, which here was wrought. The precious stone lapis lazuli and carnelian which was wrought here, this was brought from Sogdia. The precious 4 stone turquoise, this was brought from Chorasmia, which was wrought here. The silver and the ebony were brought from Egypt. The ornamentation with which the wall was adorned, that from Yaunâ was brought. The ivory which was wrought here, was brought from Nubia and from India and from Arachosia. The stone columns which were here wrought, a village named Abiradu, in Elam - from there were brought. The stone-cutters who wrought the stone, those were Yaunâ and Lydians. The goldsmiths who wrought the gold, those were Medes and Egyptians. The men who wrought the wood, those were Lydians and Egyptians. The men who wrought the baked brick, those were Babylonians. The men who adorned the wall, those were Medes and Egyptians. Darius the King says: At Susa a very excellent work was ordered, a very excellent work was brought to completion. May Ahuramazda protect me, and my father Hystaspes, and my country”. A big fire during the reign of Artaxerxes I (465-424 B.C.E.) destroyed much of the buildings at Susa from this age. The city was rebuilt, however, and another inscription records reconstruction works from the age of Artaxerxes I and Darius II (423-405 B.C.E.). King Artaxerxes II built a second audience hall on the opposite bank of the river. In 1879 in Babylon was found an object known as the Cyrus Cylinder, a clay barrelshaped cylinder about 23 cm long and 8 cm in diameter. Such objects were usually buried in the foundations of buildings, and were addressed to the gods and to posterity. This particular inscription records the conquest of Babylon from the prospective of Cyrus himself. In the text Cyrus claims that as Marduk was unhappy with the rule of the last Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus, he looked through all the lands in search of a rightful king, and eventually called to rule Cyrus and announced him as the King of the Universe. The city was conquered in 539 B.C.E. and afterwards was regarded as the cultural capital of the Empire. Cyrus decided to represent himself as chosen by Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, in order to appear as a legitimate heir of the rule in Babylonia. According to the text of the Cylinder, the King was allowed by Marduk to enter the city without battle, which set him apart from previous rulers who had sacked this sacred place. Here is a small part of Cyrus’ message: “I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of the lands of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the universe… After entering 5 Babylon in peace, amidst joy and jubilation I made the royal palace the center of my rule. The great lord Marduk, who loves Babylon, with great magnanimity, established (it) as (my) destiny, and I sought to worship him each day (…). I took great care to peacefully (protect) the city of Babylon and its cult places. (And) as for the citizens of Babylon … I released them from their weariness and loosened their burden (…). The wall Imgur-Enlil, the great (city) wall of Babylon, I strove to strengthen its fortifications (…). I made it anew with bitumen and baked bricks and [finished the work upon it (…). I installed doors of] mighty [cedar] clad with bronze, thresholds and door-opening[s cast of copper in all] its [gates (…)”. But Herodotus tells us that the Babylonians met the Persians in battle, for which they had been preparing themselves ever since Cyrus II started his conquest (Histories I.190). As Xenophon tells us, Babylon was one of the seats where the Persian Kings spent part of the year. Archaeology has also confirmed that by the find of a palatial structure at the site. Like in Susa and later in Persepolis (see below), it was built on a terrace of packed soil. It measured approximately 34.80 by 20.50 meters and had a large Apadana hall supported by two lines of four columns each and approached by porticoes at its front and sides. The palace was decorated with glazed bricks with figural, floral and geometric motifs. Scholars believe that the figural scheme included representations of the ten thousand “Immortals”, the elite guard of the King. The palace was also adorned with low stone reliefs, of which not much is preserved. A clay tablet dated to the early 490s B.C.E. puts the construction of this structure in the reign of Darius I. Two of the Achaemenid Persian capitals were newly built. According to Strabo (Geography XV.3.8) the older of them, Pasargadae, was constructed at the site where Cyrus the Great had defeated Astyages. Soon after the battle, in 546 B.C.E. or slightly later, Cyrus started construction of the city. Some of the structures were still unfinished in 530 B.C.E., when Cyrus died in battle against the tribe of the Massagetes in the territory of modern Kazakhstan. Pasargadae is part of today’s province Fars, in the mountain-ringed Morghal plain of southwestern Iran. It was first excavated in the late 1920s, and the archaeological investigations have revealed a splendid city with magnificent structures commissioned by the early Kings of the Empire, Cyrus II and Darius I. The most recent research reveals that the engineers of the project have employed an ingenious invention known as the “Base Isolation System”, allowing the city to withstand an earthquake up to 7 on the Richter scale. This is achieved by creating two separate layers of 6 foundations, the lower one solid, the one on top susceptible to movement. It is an incredibly advanced technology, still used by modern engineers all over the world. The remains of the city are distributed over an area about 3 km long and 2 km wide. Cyrus had a number of structures built there, including a platform on the so-called Tall-i Takht (or Throne) hill, a palace complex, and a garden (paradeisos). The Palace complex itself consists of a residential part and a columned audience hall. The latter was approached from the southeast, after passing through a large gatehouse and then crossing a bridge over the river Pulvar. The gatehouse was a freestanding rectangular structure that was the ceremonial entryway to the site as a whole. It consisted of a colonnaded central part and four axial doorways. From the gate, upon entering the city, one would first reach the audience hall, which once was forested by 30 columns. From the southern portico of this structure there was a wonderful view towards the palace’s inner garden. White limestone water channels are still in place to define the rectilinear shape of the garden, which seemingly was divided into four quadrants. According to some scholars these four parts may have symbolized the four quarters of the universe that the Persian King ruled. In the southernmost part of the site is the tomb of Cyrus the Great, a monument posed on top of a pyramidal platform of 6 steps. It is described by the second century Greek author Arrian (Anabasis VI.29.4-8), according to whom inside the chamber was a golden sarcophagus with the body of Cyrus. The sarcophagus lay between a couch with golden feet and a table. Numerous precious burial gifts were left for the King: tapestries and garments of Babylonian and Median workmanship, daggers and jewelry made of precious metals. A grove with trees of all kinds surrounded the tomb, thus placing the monument into its own paradeisos. According to Arrian, the inscription on Cyrus’ tomb read the following: “Mortal! I am Cyrus son of Cambyses, who founded the Persian empire, and was King of Asia. Grudge me not then my monument”. The decoration employed in the structures at Pasargadae included protective semi-divine figures and images of the King himself. The main doorways of the monumental gate were guarded by paired colossi, while apotropaic genii were placed at the side doors. At the doorway of the audience hall were sculpted reliefs depicting the King himself followed by an attendant. But it was the last capital of the Empire, Persepolis, that incorporated a complete artistic program conveying a well developed royal ideology. Construction of the city was started by Darius I, the King who had the hard task to calm down the unrest in the Empire after Cambyses’ 7 death, and to secure the territories that had not yet been brought under Persian rule. After achieving that, Darius needed to create an image of a united and peaceful empire: an empire that was blessed by the gods and worked for the well being of its subjects. Darius came into power after a few months of unrest following the death of Cyrus’ son Cambyses in 522 B.C.E. We know that in that year a certain Bardiya was in power for a short time, but was soon killed by Darius. According to Darius, Bardiya was a usurper, whose true name was Gaumata, and who pretended to be Cambyses’ brother. Darius explains, however, that Cambyses himself had already arranged the murder of the real Bardiya some time earlier, and Gaumata was simply taking advantage of the fact that the murder was kept in secret. This story is told in a lengthy text, now known as the Behistun (Bisitun) Inscription of Darius I, located on an elevated cliff along the road from Babylon to Ecbatana. It seems to be aiming at legitimating Darius’ access to power. Today many scholars believe that Darius himself was the usurper, and most likely he actually killed the real Bardiya, son of Cyrus and brother of Cambyses. In order to justify his actions, Darius employs not only the story about the fake Bardiya, but also the idea that he had been chosen by the main god of the Persians, Ahuramazda himself. This is a strategy that Cyrus had already used in Babylon. As part of his propaganda, Darius also had himself depicted as a just and righteous king: “King Darius says: On this account Ahuramazda brought me help, and all the other gods, all that there are, because I was not wicked, nor was I a liar, nor was I a despot, neither I nor any of my family. I have ruled according to righteousness. Neither to the weak nor to the powerful did I do wrong. Whosoever helped my house, him I favored; he who was hostile, him I destroyed”. So to justify his accession to power the new King needed to employ a series of effective and all-convincing devices. These included not only the inscription, but also the artistic representations at Persepolis. The palace complex at Persepolis was probably founded between 518 and 516 B.C.E. It is located about forty kilometers southwest of Pasargadae, on a large terrace at the base of a hill offering a wonderful view of the plain below. It rises up to 15 m above the plain, and measures approximately 450 by 300 meters. The complex was conceived as a seat of the government and a center for formal receptions and ceremonies. From tablets found in the treasury we know that the city was built in a few phases. 8 First, Darius had the ground leveled and the terrace laid out, and then constructed the treasury in its south-eastern part. The latter was used for the storage of booty and the annual tribute sent by the subjects for the New Year's festival, a religious celebration of the Persians and an event reaffirming the King’s supremacy. A square audience hall, or Apadana, was built to the northwest of the treasury. On its eastern stairs were the famous sculpted reliefs showing the King enthroned, receiving 23 delegations of gift-bearing subjects. Darius’ successor, Xerxes I, continued some of his father’s building projects and undertook new ones. He finished the Apadana and built a small palace to the south of it, which we now call Darius' palace. To the north of the audience hall Xerxes built the Gate of All Nations (also known as Xerxes' gate); it was guarded by a pair of large bulls in the west and lamassu figures (bulls with the heads of bearded men) in the east. In front of the gate was a monumental double-ramped stairway, allowing slow and impressive access towards the city. Xerxes also built a second palace, twice as large as that of “the palace of Darius” and now known as Xerxes’ palace. Xerxes’ son, Artaxerxes I later built his own palace structure, and the majestic Hall of a Hundred Columns (measuring 70x70 m), second in size only to the Apadana. The city was probably completed by about 450 B.C.E. The Achaemenid Kings also set their resting places near this splendid ceremonial site. On the hillside above the palaces are located the tombs ascribed to the last Achaemenid Kings (Artaxerxes II, Artaxerxes III (359-338 B.C.E.) and Darius III (336-330 B.C.E.). About 10 km away is another such site, Naqš-i Rustam, where only the tomb of Darius I is identified by an inscription. The use of sculpted reliefs is an artistic tradition that was developed under the NeoAssyrian kings in the early centuries of the First Millennium B.C.E. The first Assyrian king to employ this type of decoration was Ashurnasirpal II in the 9th century B.C.E. He had the internal walls of his palace at Nimrud covered with sculpted scenes depicting him as a great king, protected by divine creatures and by the gods themselves. There is a critical difference, however, between the Assyrian and Achaemenid artistic traditions. The Assyrian rulers were usually depicted as conquering their subjects, and often their artistic representations were violent and graphic. The Achaemenid Kings, on the other hand, chose to show themselves as protectors and benefactors of all their subjects. They are often depicted granting audiences or receiving processions of the subjected people (see image of an audience scene in Olivier Casabonne this volume). 9 The best known and revered are certainly the reliefs from the eastern stairs of Darius’ Apadana in Persepolis. They show delegates from all corners of the Empire coming to bring the gifts of their lands to the Great King. He is beneath a canopy, flanked by two pairs of Persian guards. The delegations each include a figure that leads a group of gift bearers. Each leader is escorted by an usher holding him by the hand. The representation bears no hint of force. This is not surprising, since after crushing the rebellions of his early years Darius went at lengths to create an art full of allusions to peace and friendship. This tradition was later carried out by his successors. The only time when a Persian King is shown with captivated enemies is in the Behistun relief, probably the earliest monument commissioned by Darius. But in this case the representation is accompanied by the long inscription, explaining that all captives were serving “the Lie”, and that they rebelled against Darius, who was protected and guided by Ahuramazda, “the Truth”. The text clearly draws a distinction between these deceivers, and the loyal subjects of the King: “One was named Gaumâta, the Magian; he lied, saying ‘I am Bardiya, the son of Cyrus’. He made Persia to revolt …. As to these provinces which revolted, lies made them revolt, so that they deceived the people. Then Ahuramazda delivered them into my hand; and I did unto them according to my will”. The King’s efforts to make sure his subjects are treated well were crucial for his maintenance of worriless power. That is why it is only few wrongdoers who take the blame for the rebellion. After all, it was the mass of subjected people and their service that made the King powerful. This idea is nicely represented in some depictions of the King being literally carried or supported by all of his subjects. Such a representation is seen on Darius’ tomb at Naqš-i Rustam, where the King is standing on a platform held by all subject nations. This is also a wonderful example of a royal art that never failed to stress the hierarchical distance between the King and his subjects. The inscription accompanying the relief reads the following: “If now you shall think that ‘How many are the countries which King Darius held?’ look at the sculptures (of those) who bear the throne, then shall you know, then shall it become known to you: the spear of a Persian man has gone forth far”. The royal artistic nomenclature included some standard depictions of the ideal King. Like in all empires, the vigor of the king takes a prominent part in it. But as we saw, unlike in other empires the Persian King is never shown conquering and killing his subjects. Instead, his heroic 10 nature appears through scenes showing him defeating monsters or wild animals. As a representative of righteousness and order, the King had to struggle against such beasts, the symbolic representatives of lack of order and of evil. This was one of the main royal functions, also amply attested in the royal inscriptions. For example, two identical inscriptions by Darius I and his son Xerxes attest to the moral virtues of the Achaemenid ruler: “(…) by the favor of Ahuramazda I am of such a kind that I am a friend to what is right, I am no friend to what is wrong. It is not my wish that to the weak is done wrong because of the mighty, that the mighty is hurt because of the weak. What is right, that is my wish. I am no friend of the man who is a follower of the lie”. The capitals of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the artistic representations employed in them were thus the image of the Empire itself. It was a prosperous unity of all the lands of the great past, living in peace under the rule of the Great King. The mere fact that there was not one, but five capital cities, clearly symbolizes this. So does the diversity of the gift-bearing people on the Apadana stair reliefs, whose ethnicity is meticulously depicted, thus implying that all countries from all corners of the world were now brought together under the mighty Persian King. The wealth of his Empire was displayed in his monumental and lavishly decorated palaces, constructed with materials from all corners of the world that the Persians governed. The reliefs at Persepolis in particular are a wonderfully designed artistic form of propaganda. They imply the unity of a peaceful and prosperous empire - an empire to which anyone would have wanted to be subjected. It was a nice illusion, into which one was submerged upon arrival at the royal capital. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26