Persepolis

Persepolis (Persian: پرسپولیس) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire  (ca. 550–330 BC). It is situated 60 kmnortheast of the city of Shiraz in Fars Province, Iran. The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture.  UNESCO declared the ruins of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979.

The English word Persepolis is derived from Greek  Persépolis, a compound of Pérsēs (Πέρσης) and pólis (πόλις), meaning “the Persian city” or “the City of the Persians”.

To the ancient Persians, the city was known as Pārsa, which is also the word for “Persia”(more accurately, the region of Persis).

Because Persians of Late Antiquity believed Jamshid, an Iranian mythological figure, built its monuments, since the time of the Sasanian  period (224–651 AD) the site has been known as Takht-e-Jamshid.

Another modern Persian name for the site was Chel Menar (چهل منار), also transliterated as Chehel Menar and Chilminar, which means “having many columns.”