ABSTRACT
The most outstanding architectural work of Darius is undoubtedly Persepolis, which was constructed anew in the heart of Parsa, the homeland of the Achaemenids. Persepolis was particularly related to ceremonies and certain festivities, and its administrative importance was regional. Susa had the main administrative and political functions, Babylon was the ‘winter capital’ and Ecbatana, which was capital of the Medes, seems to have been the ‘summer capital. The royal ensemble of Persepolis was constructed on a partly natural platform, the so-called Terrace, built by flattening the promontory and using the stone rubble for shaping the platform. In substance, one of the functions of Persepolis may have been the observation of celestial bodied throughout the year and proclamation of these observations, especially of the sun course, to representatives of the Empire at a fixed time of the year in order to guarantee a uniform time reckoning in all its provinces.
