Gate of All Nations

The Gate of All Nations or Gate of Xerxes palace is located in the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis, Iran.

The construction of the Stairs of All Nations and the Gate of All Nations was ordered by the Achaemenid king Xerxes I (486-465), the successor of the founder of Persepolis, Darius I the Great.

Building

The structure consisted of one large room whose roof was supported by four stone columns with bell-shaped bases. Parallel to the inner walls of this room ran a stone bench, interrupted at the doorways. The outside walls, made of broad mud block, were bedecked with frequent niches. Each of the three walls, on the east, west, and south, had a very large stone doorway. A pair of massive bulls secured the western entrance; two Lamassu in the Assyrian style, albeit, of colossal proportions, stood at the eastern doorway. Engraved above each of the four colossi is a trilingual inscription attesting to Xerxes having built and fulfilled the gate. The doorway on the south, opening toward the Apadana, is the widest of the three. Pivoting devices found on the inner corners of all the doors indicate that they must have had two-leaved doors, which were possibly made of wood and covered with sheets of ornamented metal.

All Nations

All Nations was the name of a barnstorming professional baseball team that toured the Midwest from 1912 to 1918, and again in 1920 and 1921, and from 1923 to 1925. It derived its name from the fact that its team included players of several nationalities, including blacks and whites, Indians, Hawaiians, Orientals, and Latin Americans. The team was founded by the Hopkins Brothers sporting goods stores. One day, however, the team's manager absconded with the daily gate proceeds. J. L. Wilkinson, who played for the team, replaced him as manager, later becoming owner as well. The team was based out of Kansas City and Des Moines.

Under the management of Wilkinson, the All Nations' approach to the game was more serious than that of many teams who followed Abe Saperstein's farcical approach. They did however provide additional entertainment for their audiences, including having a dance band to play before the games and wrestlers like Ben Reeves to perform after their games.

Wilkinson transported the team from location to location in a $25,000 Pullman car, which also held portable bleachers which would be set up for the game. He did not pay for rooms for his players, however, instead having them sleep the night before the game in tents they brought with them on the field on which they would play.