Achaemenid Tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam

Tomb of Darius II. Achaemenid Tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam, Fars, Iran

Tomb of Darius II. Achaemenid Tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam, Fars, Iran

Bas releif detail of Tomb of Darius II

The Ka’ba-ye Zartosht  meaning the “Cube of Zoroaster,”which  is a 5th century B.C.E. Achaemenid-era tower-like construction at Naqsh-e Rustam, an archaeological site just northwest of Persepolis, Iran. This enigmatic structure is one of many surviving examples of the achaemenid architectural design.

“Cube of Zoroaster,”  at Naqsh-e Rustam,

Achaemenid Tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam, also referred to as the Necropolis  of the Persian crosses. The four tombs belonging to the Achaemenid kings are carved out of the rock face with the entrance to each tomb at the center of each cross, this opens onto to a small chamber, where the king lay in a sarcophagus. The horizontal beam of each of the tomb’s facades is believed to be a replica of the entrance of the palace at Persepolis. One of the tombs is that of Darius I the Great (c. 522-486 BC). The other three tombs are believed to be those of Xerxes I (c. 486-465 BC), Artaxerxes I (c. 465-424 BC), and Darius II (c. 423-404 BC) respectively.