Ancient Susa (Biblical Shushan) [Modern Shush]

Susa: The Acropole 1935 by E.F. Schmidt (ACHEMENET)

Susa lay in the uplands of the Plain of Susiana on the east of the Tigris about 150 miles to the north of the head of the Persian Gulf. It is the modern Shush. Once a magnificent city it is now an immense mass of ruins three miles in circumference. Here Daniel saw one of his visions; and here also Nehemiah began his public life. Most of the events recorded in the Book of Esther took place here. The inscriptions on the ruins of the palace here record that the palace was founded by Darius and completed by Artaxerxes.

Susa was originally the capital of the country called in Scripture Elam and by the classical writers Susiana. In the time of Daniel Susa was in the possession of the Neo-Babylonians; Elam [and thus Susa] had probably passed into their hands at the division of the Assyrian Empire between Cyaxares (Persia : 625 – 585 BC) and Nabopolassar (Chaldea : 625 - 605 BC). The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus transferred Susa to the Persian dominion; and it was not long before the Achaemenian princes determined to make it the capital of their whole empire and the chief place of their own residence ...