While programming JDAMs over Iran it struck me I should take a day off. How about some history in the sand?
The recent update of the Persian Gulf map added a number of new sites, so let’s take a look for potential World Heritage site targets of interest. I’m sure the sign back there said something about Persopolis?
Frank, pull over here and ask that person where we are…
A long HMMMV drive and no Subway store in site. I’m sure the locals would love to show us around.
Well, look at that, it’s the 500 BC site of ancient antiquity. Zooming up a bit we can see that it is pretty big:
To try to make sense of it I hit The Google and found a decent archaeological site map. I hope there isn’t any snakes - I hate snakes. I’ll use the same letter legends for where we stomp over and take pictures:
Persepolis - Wikipedia
A bit of rotation and blend and you can sort of see where it all lines up. The Palace of 100 Columns lines up nicely at the top and there looks to be a few covered buildings over some of the site as well.
First up, we have (A) The Great Staircase and the (B) Propylon. A ‘propylon’ is a gateway often with large statues in Greek and Persian design. Here’s what a real one looks like at the actual place:
Back to the digital combat simulator - pretty good:
Ok, let’s climb this big column at ( C) and check out The Great Palace of Xerxes, which is to the right of the stairway and gates we see on the left.
Here you can see how it looked back when the English poked around in 1903 and stole stuff:
An inside view of the older (and smaller) (D) Palace of Darius. Really nice details in here.
The original (E) Palace of Xerxes has it’s own gate (F) Propylon as well. I really should get a proplyon for the back porch.
Under the covered North East end of the Great Palace it looks like a great place to work on F-15’s rather than dig in the sand. Still amazing that it is here in the sim.
The level of details on the statues is fantastic. You can tell this is a labor of love for someone at Eagle Dynamics. Great stuff!
The (G) Palace of 100 Columns. I counted them and we’re two short. @NineLine, I shall submit a ticket for a full refund of course.
The (H) Small Palace is one of the best sites preserved and is covered, let’s check out the. Oh. Frank, we’re not the first American’s here I think. I rang the phone number and it is a print shop in Fremont. http://www.americanprintinglv.com/! 
Great fun. I’ll go grab the shovels from the truck and we can start digging for souvenirs! 
