Commissioned for the 1971 Shiraz-Persepolis Arts Festival, an Iranian institution which lasted from 1967 to 1977, Persepolis was one more work in an enormous variety of classical and avant-garde art productions from all over the globe that gathered and met at one of the most important cities of the ancient world. King Xerxes, back in the 5th century BC, had built a remarkable monument composed of two pieces: the Stairs of All Nations, which led upwards to the Gate of All Nations. The name was a testament to the ancient Persians’ cosmopolitanism and their multi-language empire, a metaphorical center of the universe upon which a world-spanning cultural thread was spun. Xenakis’ piece was not meant to be played by a traditional musical ensemble, arranging a multimedia spectacle staged in the dark of night all over the archeological site of the ancient city, using two lasers and ninety-two spotlights that projected patterns that evoked the Zoroastrian symbolism of light associated to eternal life. Fifty-nine loudspeakers projected, in turn, eight channels of sound throughout the audience, who, in the distance, could see bonfires burning and parades of children carrying torches over the hills, forming even more patterns, the most important of which was a message ‘written’ in Persian: “We bear the light of the earth”…