Staircase Relief and Columns of the Apadana

STAIRCASE RELIEF AND COLUMNS
OF THE APADANA
Apadana (Audience Hall), Eastern Staircase
Field Negative 33.9
Negative N. 14606
Herzfeld Expedition 1933

The reliefs on the northern wing of the eastern staircase of the Apadana depict nobles in Persian and Median dress, followed by soldiers, guards, and the king’s horses and chariots. The Elamite and Babylonian versions of the inscription of King Xerxes commemorating his construction of the Apadana bound the relief on the right-hand side. The comparison of the relief and towering twenty-meter columns with the worker standing in front draws attention to the scale of this building.