[Jedi Master Pikachu]

"from Libya and Egypt to India, from the Danube to the Indus , from the Caucasus Mountains to the Asiatic Steppes and from the Aral Sea to the Persian Gulf to work together with Persian architects to create something never before seen yet unmistakably Persian."

From all over the world to make something distinctly American.

Disagree with Persepolis being the religious center, but interesting article.

[ZULU]

"the spiritual center.."

The ancient Persians were Zoroastrians who were montheists and worshipped one God. They believed in angels, a resurrection of the dead, a last judgment, the coming of a Messiah, the world as the site of a conflict between the forces of God and the forces of Evil.

Zoroastrianism had an impact on post-exilic Judaism and later Christianity with many of its ideas.