Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones;

Author:Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones;
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

Figure 2.1 Series of rooms making up the ‘harem wing’ of Xerxes’ palace at Persepolis.

Figure 2.2 A room and antichamber; part of the ‘harem wing’ of Xerxes’ palace at Persepolis.

The L-shaped building lies well inside the area of the palace platform defined by excavators as a private area, out of bounds to visitors. In fact, Herzfeld argued for the strict separation of this area from those accessible to the public on the model of similar layouts of the majority of other ancient Near Eastern palaces (Herzfeld 1941: 226; Allen 2007: 328). At Persepolis the protection of these structures by the thick southern fortification wall immediately behind the L-shaped structure contributes to the function proposed here for the building. One would expect to find accommodation used by the king and the royal family to be best protected. Indeed, the presence of guard-reliefs at major entrances to the compound suggests that security was paramount (Root 1979: 10 – but figures of soldiers carved into the connecting wall between the upper terrace and the harem are usually overlooked by scholars). Crucially then, this space at the terrace rear was allocated as living quarters for at least some of the royal family. It was hidden by high fortifications and well-guarded by the military. It was both secure and private.

The harem is grouped with other palatial residential structures both on and off the platform and it is actually integral to the building immediately above it – identified as Xerxes’ palace and private residence. Xerxes’ palace is connected to the harem by two grand well-worked flights of stairs, which must have been utilized by the king or his courtiers when they required direct access to the rooms below (Figure 2.3; Schmidt 1953: 244). They could move between the two parts of the palace without having to traverse any public space. Schmidt’s excavations found that the lower flights of steps were formerly enclosed whilst the upper section was open and that the more monumental, well-dressed and polished western stairway also contained one of the few physically evidenced (well-worked) doors in the area. Schmidt also identified a direct access route, via the stairways, connecting the harem with the Council Hall and the Hall of a Hundred Columns, allowing the king and the royal family to move conveniently and directly from their private apartments to the public areas without breaching security (Schmidt 1953: 255).

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