Abstract
The ancient site of Tol-e Ajori is located 3 km from Persepolis, in a location called Bagh-e Firouzi. As a result of the thirteenth season of archaeological excavations of the Iranian-Italian joint mission (2009-2023), within the framework of the “From Palace to Town” project, a new perspective was opened. This new horizon is the discovery of a monumental gate in the paradise of Parsa. This building is oriented NW-SE with a deviation of 20 degrees from the east-west axis. This structure measures 29.06 meters (NE–SW) × 39.07 meters (NW-SE) and is composed of a massive wall 10.47 meters wide. Access to this room was possible through two corridors. With the discovery of Babylonian and Elamite cuneiform inscriptions and considering the function of the structure, it was determined that this building was a monumental gate. This magnificent gate, on a larger scale, resembles the design of the famous Ishtar gate (ca. 580 BCE), which was founded by one of the two first rulers of Achaemenid dynasty and predates the construction of Persepolis. It is likely that the purpose of constructing this gate was to commemorate the conquest of the city of Babylon in 539 BCE during the reign of Cyrus the Great. The structure is entirely made of brick and mudbrick: the entire wall surfaces were decorated with glazed bricks. The decoration on the lower parts of the walls features geometric patterns and floral motifs. Numerous glazed bricks recovered from the debris of the building indicate that the wall surfaces were entirely adorned with depictions of mythological animals such as the bull and the composite Mušḫuššu creature. This historic structure provided access to a royal garden (paradise), which included a large palace, the ruins of which are now located in the Firouzi 5 area.
Keywords: Gate, Paradise, Tol-e Ajori, Achaemenid.
 
1. Introduction
The ancient so called archaeological site of Tol-e Ajori is situated 3 km northwest of Persepolis, in a location called Bagh-e Firuzi. Its dimensions are 30 by 40 meters, rising 3 meters higher than the surrounding lands, located within the first-degree buffer zone of Persepolis. This archaeological site was registered on June 7, 2006 under number 15530 in the National Heritage List of Iran (Figs. 1, 2).
As a result of a decade archaeological excavations by the joint Iranian-Italian mission in Parsa, Persepolis (2011-2023), within the framework of the “From Palace to Town” project, a new perspective on the earliest Persian city of ancient Iran was opened. This new horizon, marked by the discovery of Babylonian and Elamite cuneiform inscriptions and considering the function of the building, revealed that the structure was a monumental gate
With the conquest of Babylon, the first Achaemenid kings transferred an important part of the mythological symbols of Babylon to Persia. Symbols such as the emblem of the god Marduk, known as the mušḫuššu motif, constituted a major portion of the architectural decorations of this gate. In his famous cylinder seal, Cyrus the Great attributed his victory and the legitimacy of his power in Babylon to this deity. This magnificent gate, on a larger scale, repeated the design of the famous Ishtar Gate (ca. 580 BCE), and was constructed before the construction of the Persepolis terrace, during the reign of one of the first two Persian kings (Askari Chaverdi, Callieri & Matin 2017). It is likely that the construction of this gate was intended to commemorate the conquest of the city of Babylon in 539 BCE, during the reign of Cyrus the Great.
The Tol-e Ajori Gate stands as the main preserved monument of the eastern Bagh-e Firuzi area in the Persepolis plain. Built out of brick and mudbrick, it was constructed at the beginning of the Achaemenid period with the same plan and decorations of plain glazed bricks and relief-decorated bricks as the Ishtar Gate of Babylon.
 
2. Methodology
Despite the heavy destruction of this archaeological site, the systematic excavations applied in identifying the architectural structures and the precise documentation of the finds made it possible to achieve a clear stratigraphic interpretation of the ancient ruins of this building. Drawings of the motifs and figures, along with the scientific study of the construction techniques, enabled the reconstruction of the motifs as well as the rebuilding of the original form of this gate on a true scale. Finally, the three-dimensional reconstructions of this building provided a scientific method of interpretation and a documented analysis of the cultural and artistic values of this magnificent monumental gate in the Firuzi Paradise of the city of Parsa.
 
3. Discussion
The specific plan of the Tol-e Ajori building shows the closest parallel to the inner part of the Ishtar Gate in Babylon(Koldewey 1918: pl. 3 ), with a rectangular plan and thick side walls, although overall it is known in larger dimensions (Figs. 4, 5, 6). The plan of the Tol-e Ajori building measures 29.06 × 39.07 meters, while the inner section of the Ishtar Gate in Babylon measures 29.20 × 22 meters (Koldewey 1918: 31). The narrow dimensions of the inner room made it possible to construct a roof with simple wooden beams without a central support, as mentioned in Nebuchadnezzar’s inscription referring to the interior space of the gate (Koldewey 1918: 40). The same roofing solution can also be proposed for the Tol-e Ajori structure, where no traces of column bases were found. The presence of a long passageway with two openings on the short sides, which widen into the central hall, likewise supports the interpretation of the uncovered building at Tol-e Ajori as a monumental gate, similar to the Ishtar Gate.
Nevertheless, the main architectural differences in the plan are shown by the benches along the side walls of the inner room—which do not exist in Babylon—by the form of the two façades on the transverse sides, and by the construction technique of the Tol-e Ajori building with a mudbrick core (Figs. 6–12). In contrast, the Ishtar Gate was built entirely of brick. Furthermore, in the Ishtar Gate, the lower section was completely covered with unglazed bricks, the middle section with plain glazed bricks, and the upper section with glazed relief-decorated bricks (Fig. 44). In Tol-e Ajori, however, the brick flooring known from the Ishtar Gate is missing, probably due to looting (Fig. 11). Despite these distinctive differences, the Tol-e Ajori structure was deeply inspired by the Ishtar Gate, as the analysis of the decorations also confirms (Figs. 43–53). Therefore, we may suggest that the two buildings also served a similar function.
Moreover, although the use of mudbrick and brick, bitumen mortar, and glazed bricks for decoration in the buildings of this period is also an example of the Elamite tradition—as the system of mason’s marks also indicates—it seems that in Tol-e Ajori the principal source of inspiration was Babylon. Even the dimensions of the bricks correspond (Marzahn 2008: 46).
The Tol-e Ajori Gate represents a new type of architecture inspired by Mesopotamia, which had already been recognized by scholars of Achaemenid architecture: the ‘monumental gate.’ The closest known example of this type in Iranian architecture is the R Gate at Pasargadae (Stronach 1978: 44-55), which, like the Tol-e Ajori Gate, has a rectangular plan and differs from the Gate of All Nations at Persepolis, which has a square plan (Schmidt 1953: 65-68). In the cases of Pasargadae and Persepolis, the central room is of the columned-hall type, whereas the plan of the Tol-e Ajori Gate lacks interior columns.
The brick fitters’ marks, the motifs, the colors, the method of brick production, and even the arrangement of the decorations at Tol-e Ajori are very similar to the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. The most striking and significant feature is the use of panels with bulls and mušḫuššu in the decorations of the Tol-e Ajori Gate (Figs. 46–53). The results of these studies demonstrate for the first time the profound impact of Babylonian art on Achaemenid architecture. This research shows that not only were the very same motifs of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon used in making the panels of Tol-e Ajori, but also that the bricks of the Babylonian gate were copied in detail for the production of the Tol-e Ajori bricks. The similarity is so strong that if the bricks of both sites were placed side by side, distinguishing them from one another would be very difficult.
Historical sources indicate that the earliest Achaemenid kings employed workers and craftsmen from southern Mesopotamia in the construction of buildings at the imperial center. The construction of the Tol-e Ajori Gate and its decorated bricks can be considered one of the remarkable achievements of the presence of these craftsmen in Fars at the beginning of the Achaemenid period.
 
4. Conclusion
From a historical perspective, the most prominent reason for constructing such a magnificent monument as the Tol-e Ajori Gate may have been Cyrus’s intention to celebrate his exceptional conquest of Babylon by his own land: the proposed statement in the Cyrus Cylinder would be acknowledged in Mesopotamia, and, if not, it would be reinforced in his homeland. Nevertheless, the chronological elements available to us do not allow a more precise dating of the complex. It is not unlikely that among the fragments of glazed bricks not yet studied there may be one bearing the name of that ‘king’ mentioned in the two inscriptions already found. But even without such a discovery, Tol-e Ajori remains an exceptional confirmation of a historical project of the earliest Achaemenids, in a place where their presence had already been recognized thanks to the Babylonian and Elamite tablets, and where Darius I later built Persepolis in 518 BCE.
The discovery of Tol-e Ajori ultimately allows us to see with our own eyes what until now could only be imagined, and to cast a truly ‘colorful’ glance at an entirely new historical environment at the dawn of the Persian Empire.