Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Alexander the Great burned Persepolis to the ground during a night of drunken revelry after basically being enticed into doing so by a Greek courtesan named Tais. It said she told Alexander torching the royal palace would be among his crowning achievements, and it said she inspired action among his soldiers and followers to take up torches. That is, at least according to legend. In this episode, we'll talk about the downfall of the Persian Empire and why anyone would
have wanted to torch Persepolis. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky and.
I'm Holly Frye. If you're a regular listener to the show, you may recall our previous episode was also about ancient Greece, specifically Heristratus and ancient Greek who in three point fifty six BCE burned down the Temple of Artemis as a
way to he hoped become famous. If you're not a regular follower, that's still a pretty good story explained in Ancient Greek mythology, The goddess Artemis was not available to protect the temple that night because she was attending a very important birth, the birth of the son of King Philip of Macedon, a child who grew up to also burned down some important places. We are talking about Alexander the third of Macedon, also known as Alexander the Greek.
Alexander was born in Pella, Macedonia, an ancient city located in present day Greece, and when he turned thirteen, his father hired Aristotle, yes that Aristotle, to educate the heir to the throne on everything from leadership to natural science, philosophy, mathematics, and even zoology. At age twenty, Alexander took the throne when his father was assassinated. That took place in October of three thirty six BCE.
Alexander already had military experience when he rose to power, and now on the throne, he intended to finish what his father had wanted to start, a war. Just before his death, Philip had been entertaining thoughts of invading the Persian Empire for reasons we could talk about for days. Alexander decided he would be the king to do so. Within a decade, he had conquered the Persian Empire, which meant his reign stretched from Greece to Punjab, India and he was only thirty years old.
So let's talk about the Persian Empire and why it was something a king might want to conquer. Before there was Alexander, and before one of the defining powers of the ancient world, the Roman Empire, there existed the Persian Empire. The empire, which is also known as the Achemenid Empire, was established by Cyrus the Great in five point fifty BCE. In over two centuries grew into a vast imperial state
of Western Asia. This is a region that includes the Middle Eastern and African countries, bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It was ruled by a king known as a shah, who relied upon what were known as regional satraps, and asatrap was an autonomous local governor who ruled a province known as a satrope, and in this structure they ruled in the name of their king and then they paid tribute to that king.
Writings by Western historians established the historical narrative that Alexander's invasion was the first of many Western invasions that attempted to and there are air quotes on this civilize the East. Alexander is portrayed as a great military mind and leader, and is celebrated in Western history as the conqueror of
the Persian Empire. His legacy, as you may imagine, may differ from the perspective of the Persians, though way back more than two millennia, the Persian Empire was very much worth conquering because it was actually the greatest empire there was. It covered more than two million square miles of land, and an estimated forty four percent of the world's population lived under Persian rule, extending from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia. It was
the largest empire of the world had ever seen. Compared to it, greecelok, well, it looked really tiny.
We are going to take a break here for a word from our sponsors, and when we return we will talk about the Persian destruction of Athens and how the burning of Persepolis may have been revenge.
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about Alexander's possible motivations for burning Persepolis.
According to an article published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, It's believed that Alexander used propaganda to sell his war to the Greeks, circulating materials marketing the military action as quote a revenge campaign to avenge the wrongs committed in the Persian Wars one hundred and fifty years before. Wait, so you may be thinking revenge. Yeah,
a little backstory here. The Persians had been defeated by the Greeks previously during two ill fated invasions of Greece, first by Darius the First also known as Darius the Great in four ninety BCE, and then by his son Xerxes in four eighty BCE. Some Greeks considered Alexander's invasion as a justified retaliation for one specific event that had
occurred during xerxes invasion. When Xerxes invaded Greece, he was defeated by the Greeks at the battles of Salami, Plateaea, and Thermopylae, yet he managed to get all the way to Athens, where he burned down the acropolis. That's an event known to the Greeks as the Persian Destruction of Athens above any other reasons. Most historians believe seeking revenge for this event was Alexander's true motivation to set the Persian city of Persepolis on Faya.
Alexander went to war and was victorious against the Persians at the battles of Granicus and Isis, both in present day Turkey. It was following those winds when he conquered Egypt, and it's also when he laid the foundations of the city of Alexandria, one of several cities he founded in
his own name during his reign. Alexander's final military victory over Persia took place at Gagamela now northern Iraq in October of three thirty one BCE, between his army and the Persian army under King Darius I. The Persian army was enormous, though exact numbers of forces are unknown. Estimates vary from fifty thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand, and some ancient sources claimed the Persian king had assembled
as many as a million soldiers. Darius also had two hundred chariots equipped with blades attached to their wheels, and fifteen war elephants that had been transported from his territories in India were deployed on the battlefield. The forces of the army of Masadon were significantly smaller its estimated Alexander had roughly forty thousand soldiers. Though his troops were outnumbered,
Alexander was victorious. Historians estimate that around sixty thousand Persians were killed in battle and that Alexander's army had between five hundred to one thousand casualties. As a result of this victory, Alexander had conquered the Persian Empire and became its new ruler. Still today, his military strategies and tactical triumphs during this battle are considered an example of why he became known for his military greatness.
Those battles were significant lens for Alexander, but this wasn't a case of just a couple of battles and that's that though. Let's talk about the fire and destruction he and his forces brought as he marched his way through the empire. The Persian city of Babylon surrendered to him without a fight, and then he was on to the cities of Susa and Persepolis. These were capital cities of the Persian Empire. There are two primary facts to know
about Persepolis. One, its construction began under King Darius the First in five eighteen BCE, though it's thought to have been completed under the reign of his grandson ar de Xerxes the First, and two in three point thirty four BCE, Alexander burned it to ruins.
We are going to take a break for word from our sponsor, and when we're back we will talk about the city of Persepolis and its grand and opulent palaces and buildings. Until that is, Alexander got there.
Welcome back to Criminalia. Want to know what Persepolis looked like before Alexander left his mark. Let's talk about its structures and the destruction brought about by Alexander and his forces.
Persepolis is the Greek name for the city Alexander Torch a Greek toponym meaning city of Persian, and it's the name most Westerners are familiar with. To Persians, it was known as Parsa. It was located in what's now southwestern Iran, at the foot of Kuerra Mott, known as the Mountain of Mercy. Persepolis was a capital city and was built on a half artificial, half stone terrace. It's known for its exceptionally grand staircases and gateways. Most walls were covered
by sculptured freezes, many depicting gigantic winged bulls. Historians consider most of the structures of Persepolis to have been built actually during the reign of Xerxes.
Persepolis was the seat of the government of the ancient Persian Empire, and it was enormous. Among the structures, there were nine important palaces and buildings. Let's start with the Apodana. Construction of the Apodana, which was also known as the Audience Hall, begin under Darius's rule and was finished by Xerxes. It was the largest and most opulent building in the complex.
Some say it was also the most important. Appodanna is the Persian word equivalent to the Greek term hippostile, which describes a building with an interior space where its roof is supported by rows of columns. Literally, hippostile means under columns. This hall was the star of the complex, and it was mainly used for royal celebrations, receptions of foreign representatives, and events that required a special level of luxury and grandeur.
Some modern archaeologists suggest that it was used for celebrating Noruz, the Persian New Year. To the north of the Oppadonna stood the Gate of Xerxes. Xerxes, who built the structure, originally named it the Gate of the Nations, a nod to how everyone who entered Persepolists had to do so through this entrance to the terrace, where then they would pay homage to the king. The second largest building of the Persepolist terrace was Throne Hall, was sometimes also called
the hundred column Hall. Its construction began during Xerxes' reign and was completed by his son art Xerxes. The first Throne Hall was used mainly for receptions for representatives of all the subject nations of the Empire. And then adjacent to the Throne Hall was the Treasury, which also partly served as an armory, but because it was also used as a storehouse for the royals, in addition to currency and precious metals, it also held expensive treasures.
And then there were two palaces, the Palace of Darius and the Palace of Xerxes. Twelve impressive columns supported the roof of the central hall in the Palace of Darius, his palace was also known as Tatara. Many reliefs depicting animals covered the walls, but on the northern and southern doorways the reliefs depicted the king fighting monsters. Xerxes Palace, also called Hadiz Palace, was almost twice as large as
that of his father's. It had similar architectural features, as well as reliefs carved throughout the space, though none known were of Xerxes fighting monsters. Xerxes was king when Persepolis burned, and this palace took the brunt of the destruction, and it's believed this was the first building to be torched.
Next the council Hall, some modern scholars believe it was a meeting place, though others believe it may have been a huge corridor between three building You could access the royal apartments from the council Hall via an intricate stairway which led to three doorways. While two of those doors were for official purposes, the third was a secret passage into a harem. The Harem of Xerxes was the home of the king's wives and concubines and contained twenty two apartments.
In addition to access from the council hall, two ornate stairways connected the apartments with the Palace of Xerxes, and lastly, the Tomb of the Kings. Is the site of four burial tombs at Naksha Rostam. Only the tomb of Daryus the first has been identified without a doubt by associated inscriptions. The three other tombs discovered are believed to belong to his immediate successors, Xerxes art of Xerxes the first and
Darius the second. There are other miscellane unknown structures that have been uncovered at the site of Persepolis, including what's thought to be housing towers and defensive walls. Experts believe that west of the Xerxes Palace may have been the site of the Palace of our de Xerxes the First.
Modern scholars differ on the possible motivations Alexander may have had for destroying Persepolis, and they also differ on whether or not it was actually Alexander who burned it down. Maybe some have wondered it was an accident. Some accounts suggest that when Alexander entered the city, he was shocked
by its extravagance and ordered it to be burned down. Then, of course, there is that revenge theory which is the most popular, and perhaps for good reason, overwhelmingly the story left to us in the historical record, including in the ancient writings of Diodorus, Siculus, arm Plutarch, as well as other ancient historians and chroniclers. Is this. It's said that Alexander and his army stayed in Persepolis for five months.
He was known to hold games to celebrate his victories, and one night he and the forces of his army burned down Persepolis with torches while they were drunk, partying and inspired by Thius's call for revenge against the Persians and the call to seek a lot of loot as well. Who is this tious the woman who fired everyone up? She was what was known as a Hataira, an ancient Greek cortison who often accompanied Alexander and his army on campaigns.
She was later married to Ptolemy the First, a Macedonian Greek general and successor of Alexander.
So, speaking of Diodorus, that chronicler we just mentioned a moment ago, he was a first century BCE Greek historian who wrote that Persepolis was quote the richest city under the sun. And the private houses had been furnished with every sort of wealth over the years. He also documented that Alexander helped himself to roughly thirty five hundred tons of precious metals from Persepolis, and that he carried away innumerable pack animals. Deodorus continued quote Alexander ascended to the
citadel terrace and took possession of the treasure there. This had been accumulated from the state revenues beginning with Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, down to that time, and the vaults were packed full of silver and gold. The total was found to be one hundred and twenty thousand talents when the gold was estimated in terms of silver. Because Alexander was thorough in destroying and looting Persepolis, there are only a few pieces of jewelry and several gold
and silver coins left. Some silver buttons have also been found. Some everyday objects such as bulls and bottles have been recovered, but by far the biggest loss here is the culture of ancient Persia. Persians have condemned Alexander, not only for the destruction Persepolisk, considered the pride of the Persian Empire at the time, but also for encouraging destruction of cultural and religious sites throughout the Persian Empire.
Alexander's legacy is far reaching and profound, and also quite short. He died in June of three, twenty three BCE, at the age of thirty two, and the cause of his death remains something of a mystery. Historians know that he fell ill and died in Babylon, an ancient city close to its modern day Baghdad, but it's unclear what happened, and as we see happen, a lot different versions of the story of how he died have developed over the years.
Various theories suggest that perhaps he was a victim of malaria, or typhoid fever, or strychnine poisoning, or perhaps just something else entirely. According to a report published by the University of Maryland School of Medicine back in nineteen ninety eight, they theorize that atl Lexander died of typhoid fever. According to other historical writings about him, shortly before he died, he experienced tremors, sweats, and a severe fever, all symptoms
of an infection or two symptoms of some poisons. Some sources suggest Alexander had severe abdominal pain, pain so great that he would scream, also a possible symptom of poisoning, and then there was the Macedonian aristocracy's penchant for assassination. Poisoning, though, is what's mentioned in most ancient accounts of Alexander's death, including the writings of Diodorus plutarch Aryan, as well as in Justinus's Epitome of Pompeo's Trogus histories.
The first scientific investigation of the Persepolist site was conducted in nineteen thirty one after German archaeologist, geographer, and historian Ernst Emil Hersfeld was appointed excavation director by the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago now known as the Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture's Museum. He described the city of Persepolis as quote the glory of the Persian world, and it's said he found the ancient site to be more impressive than the famous ruins of Palmyra
and Syria. In nineteen seventy nine, UNESCO declared the ruins of Percephalis a World Heritage Site.
Would you like a little lighter fluid?
I hear there's some going around.
Okay, this one was very exciting to me. And here's why Holly loves Persian.
Food and why so let's do this.
Like I love it. I would never claim to be an expert on it, but anytime I'm somewhere with a Persian restaurant, that's usually the one I'm gonna pick. Love, love love think it does not get enough representation in the when people are doing the different types of restaurants. I'm like, but do you have a Persian restaurant in your city? Because if not, you are missing out. One of the things that I really love about Persian food is the combination of fruit and florals that often goes on.
And so I thought we would do a drink that is in that space because hello, guess what gets used a lot in Persian cooking and beverages. Roses?
I know, like my favorite thing.
Yeah, my favorite thing. Oh, I love it so much. We're going to make a drink that's really pretty easy. It does involve what I call a quick infusion. Now, normally, if you're building a drink, most experts will say start from cheapest ingredient to most expensive, So you're usually starting with put your citrus juice in first your syrups, et cetera.
In this case, we're doing it a little backward. You're going to take i don't know, like a handful of culinary rosebud it's like the little baby ones and throw them in your shaker. Don't put any ice in yet, and then you're gonna put in an ounce and a half of gin and you're gonna muddle this together, so you basically want to make sure you have felt each one of those rosebuds get crushed along the way. You don't have to go bananas after that, but if you want,
you can. You're not gonna hurt it. You're just gonna give it more rose flavor. And then once that is done, you can add a half ounce of rose syrups, so it is a bit rose heavy, three quarters of an ounce of apricot liqueur, three quarters of an ounce of lime, also very often used in Persian cuisine. And then you're gonna add your ice and give that a good shake,
and then you'll just strain that over ice. You'll get some flex from those broken up rosebuds, which is quite pretty in the drink, and you just top it with club soda and you are ready for a refresher. I love this one because there's nothing heavy about it. You get all of those notes of flavor, you get the fruity note, you get the floral note. But because you're just using club soda, and because it's a gin based drink, like none of it feels heavy even with the rose
syrup added in. It's a pretty gentle, lovely drink.
It's taken me a long time to become a gin drinker, but I very much like the combination of a floral and a gin, and I think that helped me get there. So I'm super intrigued by this drink.
Some gins will have a floral note that leans a little bit away from the juniper note. That is what most people that don't like gin don't respond well to. That's what they don't like. Because I for a long time was like gin tastes like pine sal to me. But then when I started trying different gins that have slightly different flavor profiles and have different notes in them, and I was like, oh, some gin is actually quite lovely. This one is pretty easy to do a mocktail out of.
So instead of a rose infused gin, you're just gonna make rose tea. So take those culinary roastbuds, throw them in a little mini saucepan with a cup and a half of water, and let that simmer for a little bit. You can crush them down either before or after you simmer it. I would do before so they stay a little more. You don't get soggy ones that you're trying
to push leader. And then in lieu of Apricott LIQUURR, you're just going to use like Apricott juice eCPC, or if you want to just take like apricotts, chop them up, make a slurry and then mix that with water. You can do that in lieu of a if you can't find Apricot juice. I love apricots in e barby thing.
I'm actually people can't see this. I'm actually really sitting here. Started with this big smile, half laughing because it has it has apricot in it, which means I'm gonna drink it.
Yeah, it's a really good I'm glad this came up now because it's such a good summer drink. And then all of the measures exactly the same, so you're still going to use an ounce and a half at that point, of your rose tea. You could probably ease back on the rose syrup because you're gonna have the Apricott juice, which is a little bit sweeter than an Apricot liqueur. Throw your limean, get your ice involved, top it with club soda, and you're ready for a beautiful sit in
the sun or shade. And we're calling that the gardens of Persepolis because those things would have been growing there.
What a lovely name for that drink.
Oh, I'm so happy. Yeah, And it is a very yummy, this one where I put it together and I took a sip and I called out in such a way because I was excited that my husband thought something was wrong. It's like, nope, just a delicious cocktail.
Nope, everything is perfecting.
Is great. So we hope there's nothing wrong at your house and you make a delicious drink, whether it be a mocktail or a cocktail. We will be right back here next week with another story of fire and another drink. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,