Apadana

View of Apadana Palace

An apadana (Persian: آپادانا) is a large hypostyle hall, the best known examples being the great audience hall and portico at Persepolis and the palace of Susa. The Persepolis Apadana belongs to the oldest building phase of the city of Persepolis, the first half of the 5th century BC, as part of the original design by Darius the Great. Its construction completed by Xerxes I. Modern scholarships "demonstrates the metaphorical nature of the Apadana reliefs as idealised social orders".^[1]

The term "apadana"

As a word, "apadāna" (Old Persian, masc.) is used to designate a hypostyle hall, i.e., a palace or audience hall of stone construction with columns. The word is rendered in Elamite as ha-ha-da-na and in Babylonian ap-pa-da-an is etymologically ambiguous. It has been compared to the Sanskrit apa-dhā "concealment", and the Greek apo-thēkē "storehouse". The word survived into later periods in Iran, as the Parthian 'pdn(y) or 'pdnk(y) "palace", and outside Iran it still survives in several languages as loan-words (including the Arabic fadan, the Armenian aparan-kh "palace".)^[2]

As a modern architectural and archaeological term, the word "apadana" is also used to refer to Urartian hypostyle halls, such as those excavated at Altintepe and Erebuni. These halls predate those from Persia, and it has been proposed that Urartu could be the stylistic origin of the later Persian hypostyle audience halls. ^[3]

Description

Apadana was the largest building Terrace. Its was most likely the main hall of the kings the columns reached 20m high and had complex capitals in the shape of bulls of lions. Here, the great king received the tribute from all the nations in the Achaemenid Empire, and gave presents in return.

Access to the hall is given by two monumental stairways, on the north and on the east. These are decorated by reliefs, showing delegates of the 23 subject nations of the Persian Empire paying tribute to Darius I, who is represented seated centrally. The various delegates are shown in great detail, giving insight into the costume and equipment of the various peoples of Persia in the 5th century BC. There are inscriptions in Old Persian and Elamite.

Measurements

The Apadana at Persepolis is 100 metres square, 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, but after reconstruction work in the 20th century, 14 are again erect.

The Apadana in Susa, was - like the city itself, largely abandoned, and pillaged for building material.

Bas-reliefs

The Tigrakhauda (Scythian) relief of eastern stairs.

A relief of Armenian tribute bearer carrying a metal vessel with Homa (griffin) handles. From the eastern stairs of the Apadana.

Notes

References

External links

• http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/PA/IRAN/PAAI/PAAI_Apadana.html
• http://www.persepolis3d.com/control_structures/apadana.htm
• http://www.artarena.force9.co.uk/ma1.html
• A virtual reconstruction of Apadana: persepolis3D

Coordinates: 29°56′06″N 52°53′24″E / 29.935°N 52.890°E / 29.935; 52.890