The Secrets of Engineering and the Splendor of the Achaemenid Empire | How Persepolis Survived 2,500 Years

At the head of the staircase rose the Gate of All Nations, a vast square chamber crowned with columns over 16 meters tall. To the visitor, this was more than an entrance; it was an antechamber to empire. Walls once glimmered with glazed tiles in blues and greens, depicting palms, rosettes, and sacred symbols. Stone benches lined the interior, inviting foreign envoys to pause and contemplate the authority into which they were about to be admitted.