Naqsh-i Rustam Stock Photography

The tombs of Persian kings, Naqsh-i Rustam. Naqsh-e Rustam is an ancient necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis. Four tombs belonging to Achaemenid kings are carved out of the rock. Locals gave them name as the Persian crosses, after the shape of the facades of the tombs. The center of each cross is also the entrance to each tomb, where kings lay in a sarcophagus. One of the tombs is of Darius I the Great (c. 522-486 BC). The other three tombs are believed to be those of Xerxes I (c. 486-465 BC), Artaxerxes I (c. 465-424 BC), and Darius II (c. 423-404 BC). A fifth unfinished one is more likely that of Darius III (c. 336-330 BC), last of the Achaemenid dynasty. The tombs were looted by Alexander the Great.