This scene is the “home” baggage camp for my Early Achaemenid Persians.
It shows supplicants lining up for an audience with the King of Kings in an outdoor pavilion.
Although the diorama only has a small garden area, it is inspired by Pasargadae, Cyrus the Great’s spectacular garden palace.
The patterns on the canopy and the garden edging tiles are based on these glazed tiles from Susa:
The Persians were seen by the Greeks as the 'great gardeners' of the world. We get the English word for Paradise from the Persian word for garden: Paridaiza. Xenophon claimed that Cyrus the Younger would garden every day that he wasn’t on campaign.
Young nobles received their lessons, which included the study of gardening, and herbal medicines were held in palace garden areas.
The palace at Pasargadae was in the center of a fertile plain, surrounded by mountains. It was essentially a group of garden pavilions in a 2x3 km park in the style of a nomad camp, but made out of stone.
There were trees and trellises alongside pavilions and walls to shade out the hot sun. Underground tunnels transported water from aquifers to the gardens’ wells, irrigation ditches, and ponds, including a huge trapezoidal reflecting pool around 250m long and 50-100m wide, but only 1.5m deep.
It was a totally new concept of a garden city that established many of the principles of what became Persian architecture. Unlike the cluttered designs of previous Assyrian and Babylonian palaces, Pasargadae’s design places central importance on its gardens.
The King of Kings and his eunuch advisor:
The Chiliarch (Chief of the Court) with the Indian Supplicant:
The Babylonian dignitary with the Persian noble:
The Apple Bearers:
The Scene is based around these three images:
A reconstruction of Pasargadae:
Darius on his throne:
Sources:
https://www.world-archaeology.com/features/pasargadae/
https://mghc.org/articles/gardens-of-history-ancient-gardens-of-persia/
https://www.worldhistory.org/Pasargadae/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK1w0BVZ5JU
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