Apadana
Apadana (
Etymology
As a word, apadāna (
As a modern architectural and archaeological term, the word apadana is also used to refer to
Apadana Palace in Susa
The Apadana Palace in Susa started construction during the reign of Darius after the overall plan was chosen in 515 BC but it was finished during the reign of Xerxes I.[4] The walls of this palace are made of clay with a brick facade and its columns are made of stone. Its inner walls were covered with glazed brick reliefs and featured soldiers of the Eternal Guard, a winged lion, and a lotus flower. Important parts of the Apadana Palace caught fire during the reign of Artaxerxes I (461 BC) and were rebuilt during the reign of Artaxerxes II (359 BC). [citation needed]
Description
The Apadana was the largest building on the Terrace at Persepolis and was excavated by the German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld and his assistant Friedrich Krefter, and Erich Schmidt, between 1931 and 1939. Important material relevant to the excavations are today housed in the archives of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Measurements
The Apadana at Persepolis has a surface of 1000 square metres; its roof was supported by 72 columns, each 24 metres tall. The entire hall was destroyed in 331 BC by the army of Alexander the Great. Stones from the columns were used as building material for nearby settlements. By the start of the 20th century, only 13 of these giant columns were still standing. The re-erecting of a complete, but fallen column in the 1970s, is now the 14th standing column of the Apadana.
The
Legacy
The apadana hall influenced the Umayyad architecture. Early mosques built in Persia and Iraq imitate this structure.[5]
References
- ^ M. Root (1986) p. 1.
- Encyclopaedia Iranica
- ^ Henri Stierlin, Greece, from Mycenae to the Parthenon (Taschen's World Architecture), 1997. p. 116.
- ^ [1]
- ISBN 9789047433040. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
Bibliography
- Cool Root, Margaret (1985). "The Parthenon Frieze and the Apadana Reliefs at Persepolis: Reassessing a Programmatic Relationship". American Journal of Archaeology. 89 (1): 103–122. S2CID 192986359.
- Schmitt, R; Stronach, D. "Apadana". Encyclopædia Iranica. 2. Routledge.
External links
- Oriental Institute Photographic Archives
- The Achaemenians continued
- Persepolis3D, a virtual reconstruction of Apadana