Persepolis

On July 31, 1938, archaeologists discovered engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius in Persepolis. An excerpt from the article:

"Destruction of Persepolis

After his victory over Darius III (r. 336-330 BCE) at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE, Alexander the Great marched on the city of Susa, which surrendered without resistance. After leaving Susa for Persepolis, he received a letter from one Tiridates, satrap of Persepolis, telling him that Persians loyal to Darius III were en route to Persepolis to fortify it against him and, if he should arrive first, Tiridates would surrender the city to him but, if not, he would have to fight for it. Alexander ordered his men on a forced march, crossed the Araxes River, and were approaching the city when, according to Diodorus Siculus, they were met by a crowd of about 800 Greek artisans from Persepolis.

Almost all of them were elderly and had been taken prisoner and then mutilated by the Persians, they explained (some missing a hand, another a foot), so that they could still perform whatever skills required of them but were handicapped and so could not easily escape. Alexander gave them clothing and wages and is said to have been greatly moved, along with his senior staff, by the encounter. Although Diodorus does not say so, this meeting with the Greek artisans may have affected Alexander's attitude toward the city because, unlike at Susa, when he arrived there he gave his men free rein to sack the city – except for the palaces – and take whatever they wanted. Diodorus describes the scene:

[Persepolis] was the richest city under the sun and the private houses had been furnished with every sort of wealth over the years. The Macedonians raced into it, slaughtering all the men whom they met and plundering the residences; many of the houses belonged to the common people and were abundantly supplied with furniture and wearing apparel of every kind. Here much silver was carried off and no little gold, and many rich dresses gay with sea purple and with gold embroidery became the prize of the victors. (17.70.2-3)

After the city was taken, Alexander and his men celebrated with a party late into the night, drinking and feasting, until they were all – or nearly all – drunk. At some point, a woman of the group named Thais, suggested Alexander set the city on fire. Diodorus describes the destruction of Persepolis:

Alexander held games in honor of his victories. He performed costly sacrifices to the gods and entertained his friends bountifully. While they were feasting and the drinking was far advanced, as they began to be drunken, a madness took possession of the minds of the intoxicated guests. At this point one of the women present, Thais by name and Athenian by origin, said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and permitted women's hands in a minute to extinguish the famed accomplishments of the Persians. This was said to men who were still young and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out to form up and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance for the destruction of the Greek temples [burned by the Persians when they invaded Athens in 480 BCE]. Others took up the cry and said that this was a deed worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed the word along to form a victory procession in honor of the god Dionysus. Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thais the courtesan leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As the others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration. It was most remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport. (17.72.1-6)

Diodorus is not the only ancient historian to make this claim, and it is generally accepted as accurate. The Roman historian Plutarch (l. c. 45 - c. 125 CE) relates a similar story, further claiming that Alexander carried away the treasures of Persepolis on the backs of 20,000 mules and 5,000 camels.

The fire, which consumed Persepolis so completely that only the columns, shards of walls, stairways, and doorways remained of the great palaces and halls, also destroyed the religious works of the Persians written on parchment as well as their works of art. The palace of Xerxes, who had planned and executed the invasion of Greece in 480 BCE, received especially brutal treatment in the destruction of the complex."