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January-May 330 BCEReputable source · 2 sourcesDebated

Alexander Conquers Persia and Burns Persepolis

The Achaemenid Empire's ceremonial heart goes up in flames, whether from cold calculation or a drunken party depends on which ancient historian you believe

On the timeline · around January-May 330 BCE · Alexander, the Seleucids, and the Parthian EmpireXerxes, the Greco-Persian Wars, and the Later AchaemenidsAlexander, the Seleucids, and the Parthian EmpireAlexander Conquers Persia and Burns Persepolis375 BCE350 BCE325 BCE275 BCE225 BCE175 BCE

Quick facts

Date
January-May 330 BCE
Buildings destroyed
Apadana, Treasury, Palace of Xerxes
Sober account source
Arrian, via eyewitness Ptolemy
Alternate account source
Plutarch, Diodorus, Curtius Rufus (Thais story)

What happened

Alexander the Great's Macedonian army reached Persepolis in January 330 BCE, having already defeated the Achaemenid king Darius III at Gaugamela the previous year. According to Arrian, whose account derives from the eyewitness general Ptolemy, Alexander burned the palace complex deliberately, after discussion with his officers, as retribution for the Persian destruction of Athens during Xerxes's invasion a century and a half earlier. A separate tradition, recorded by Plutarch, Diodorus, and Curtius Rufus, claims the Athenian courtesan Thais, Alexander's companion, convinced him during a drunken celebration to set the palace alight on impulse. Livius.org's assessment of the ancient sources notes Alexander was not yet the sole ruler of the former Persian empire and had strong practical reasons not to leave the enormous Persepolis treasury behind for a rival to seize. Whichever motive is accurate, Alexander selected the Apadana, the Treasury, and the Palace of Xerxes for destruction in the spring of 330 BCE.

Why it matters

The burning of Persepolis is treated by historians as the symbolic end of the Achaemenid Empire, even though fighting against Darius III and other claimants continued for a time afterward. It also destroyed one of the best physical records of Achaemenid administration and art, though enough of the terrace and reliefs survived fire and time for modern archaeology to reconstruct much of what stood there.

How we know

Two competing ancient accounts survive: Arrian's sober version drawing on the eyewitness Ptolemy, and the more dramatic Thais story from Plutarch, Diodorus, and Curtius Rufus, none of whom were present. Historians treat the dispute over motive as genuinely unresolved.

Sources

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Part of a timelineAncient Persia27 events · Three empires in a row, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanid, ran the largest state the ancient world had seen and left cuneiform, coinage, and a fire religion behindView all →