Why Did Alexander the Great Burn the Wealthiest City on Earth?

Why Did Alexander the Great Burn the Wealthiest City on Earth? For centuries, we assumed giant ancient monuments were built by slaves. But the truth about Persepolis, the ceremonial heart of the ancient Persian Empire, is far more surprising — and its ending is even stranger. In this episode, we trace the true history of Persepolis, from its construction under Darius the Great and Xerxes to its destruction by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. We uncover who actually built Persepolis — not slaves, but a paid, organized workforce that included women running their own work gangs. We walk through the multicultural Gate of All Nations, explore the daily life of the ancient Persian Empire, examine four conflicting ancient accounts of why the palace was burned, and reveal the extraordinary irony of how that very fire accidentally preserved the clues that tell us the real story of ancient Iran. Chapters: 0:00 The palace nobody lived in 1:13 Why Darius needed a fourth capital 3:49 Building Persepolis from the ground up 5:10 Who actually built it? (Not slaves) 7:13 The women who ran Persia's economy 8:25 Xerxes and the Gate of All Nations 11:38 What was Persepolis actually for? 13:15 Alexander's road to Persepolis 16:09 Four accounts of the fire 19:26 The fire that saved the truth If you enjoyed this journey through the history of our world, subscribe for more — and let us know in the comments: do you think the burning of Persepolis was a drunken accident, or a cold, calculated political move? #AncientPersia #Persepolis #HistoryDocumentary #AlexanderTheGreat #AncientHistory