Retrieving Achaemenid palaces in Borazjan with the Help of Archeological Findings

Although historical texts and stone reliefs from the Achaemenid era offer valuable information about the way this vast and mighty empire was managed, archaeological findings that could help determine the detailed designs of ceremonial structures have been very limited. In addition, despite the fact that the construction materials used to build these ceremonial structures and their mere magnitude, were meant to render them indestructible, the scourge of time and the forces of nature have hit them so hard that their retrieval seems impossible without lengthy archaeological studies. If we add the number of royal structures constructed upon the orders of Achaemenid princes,subordinates (known as the Satraps) and other rulers to the number of various regional and seasonal palaces built for the kings, we can easily estimate that the vast territory under Achaemenid rule held tens of such structures. Nevertheless,questions about the exact number of these palaces, their geographical distribution, their forms and functions as well as the political ranks of their inhabitants and the methods used to construct them remain unanswered. The discovery of three palaces belonging to the Achaemenid dynasty near the city of Borazjan (in Iran’s southern Bushehr Province) will help researchers find some answers but at the same time begs further questions about the date of these palaces’ construction, the motives of their builders, their architectural style, as well as the time and causes of their annihilation. This paper, which has been prepared based on data collected from archaeological excavations at the aforementioned sites, is an attempt to answer those questions. Analysis of the collected data has revealed that all three palaces were built at the beginning of the Achaemenid Empire and probably by the same architects that constructed the Pasargad. Based on the same findings, it may also be concluded that the construction of at least one of the palaces was abandoned in an emergency wrought by foreign invasion and possible conflagration.