=Babylon= has been already described.
=Ecbatana=, formerly the capital of the Median Empire, was a very
ancient city, surrounded by seven walls, each overtopping the one
outside it, and surmounted by battlements painted in five different
colors, the innermost two being overlaid with silver and with gold.
The strong citadel inside all was the royal treasury.
=Susa= was a square-built city unprotected by walls, but having
strongly fortified citadel, containing a royal palace and treasury.
The only remains of the place are extensive mounds, on which are
found fragments of bricks and broken pottery with cuneiform
inscriptions.
=Persepolis= was one of the two burial-places of the Persian kings,
and also a royal treasury. Darius I. and Xerxes greatly enlarged and
adorned the city, which retained its splendor till it was partially
burned by Alexander the Great. The tomb of Cyrus and a colossal
bas-relief sculpture of the great founder of the monarchy, was at
Murghab, northeast of Persepolis.
=Sardis=, in western Asia Minor, once the capital of the Lydian
monarchy, was an almost impregnable citadel, and the residence of
the satrap of Lydia, and is often mentioned in connection with the
Persian kings.