[{SlideShowNav}] !!!Persepolis [{Image src='130ir.jpg' width='720' height='480' caption='Image courtesy of NASA. ' alt='Persepolis' class='image_left' popup='false'}] [{SET customtitle='Persepolis'}] In southwestern Iran, roughly 650 km (400 mi) south of the capital city of Tehran, and some 70 km (40 mi) northeast of Shiraz, a cultivated plain gives way to the Zagros Mountains. At the transition between flat land and rugged mountain, at the base of Kuh-i-Rahmat, or "Mountain of Mercy," lies Persepolis [{GoogleMap location='Persepolis, Fars, Iran' zoom='13'}]. Founded around 518 B.C. by Darius the Great, the site served as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid (or Persian) Empire.