Achaemenian

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Achaemenian, Achaemenid. Period in Persian architecture from the time of Cyrus the Great (d. 529 BC) until the death of Darius (330 BC). Its most elaborate buildings include the vast palace complex at Persepolis (518–c.460 BC) which included large relief decorations, while the apadana (or Hall of the Hundred Columns) had elaborate capitals with vertical volutes and animal-heads. Reliefs of green, yellow, and blue glazed bricks were employed at the palaces of Susa, and the rock-cut tombs at Naksh-i-Rustam have similar capitals to those at Persepolis, with door-surrounds derived from Egyptian precedents.

Bibliography

Cruickshank (ed.) (1996);
Lloyd & and Müller (1986)

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