More than forty years ago, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the self-proclaimed king of kings, presided over a grandiose celebration commemorating the purported twenty-five-hundred-year anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire. The celebration convened in 1971 at Persepolis, in southwestern Iran, where the remains of this fabled capital – built by Darius, burned by Alexander the Great, and ravaged by time and travelers – frame the desert landscape. The walls showcase intricately carved friezes, depicting envoys from across the Achaemenian Empire offering tributes to the Persian king. There, in the shadow of the great gates and columns that had stood for two millennia, sixty-eight heads of state and hundreds of foreign dignitaries gathered in an air-conditioned tent city, dining on cuisine prepared by Maxim's of Paris and toasting their host with French champagne.

The expenses incurred for the party and the related infrastructure have been estimated at $35 to $300 million (and even higher), and everything except the carpets and the caviar was imported from abroad. The crystal was Baccarat, the china Limoges and Haviland, the uniforms produced in France, and the tents in Switzerland. Iranian diplomats “used hardknuckle politics” to lure prestigious guests, not so subtly hinting to foreign governments that future Iranian business was contingent on VIP presence. As part of the lavish ceremonies, the shah addressed the tomb of Cyrus the Great, who had conquered a vast empire from Central Asia to modern Turkey and Egypt. Invoking this legacy, the shah declared, “Sleep happily, Cyrus, for we are awake.”

History would of course prove the shah's assertion painfully true. Iran was awake, and many Iranians were outraged by the royal excesses in Persepolis, which coincided with a severe drought and famine in several provinces, including the one where the festivities took place. University students held strikes; the bazaar closed in protest; urban violence escalated. different tomb, and he too summoned the imagery of Iranian history to herald the country's future.