21 Facts About Susa

One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital of Elam and the Achaemenid Empire, and remained a strategic centre during the Parthian and Sasanian periods.

The name Susa is reflected in the local city deity Inshushinak, possibly from Sumerian en susinak “lord of Susa”.

Susa was one of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East.

Susa is mentioned in the Ketuvim of the Hebrew Bible by the name Shushan, mainly in the Book of Esther, but once each in the Books of Nehemiah and Daniel.

Almost all of the excavations at Susa, post-1885, were organized and authorized by the French government.

Related searches

The excavations that were conducted in Susa brought many artistic and historical artifacts back to France.

Excavation efforts continued under Roland De Mecquenem until 1914, at the beginning of World War I French work at Susa resumed after the war, led by De Mecquenem, continuing until World War II in 1940.

In urban history, Susa is one of the oldest-known settlements of the region.

Susa came within the Uruk cultural sphere during the Uruk period.

Daniel T Potts, argues that the influence from the highland Iranian Khuzestan area in Susa was more significant at the early period, and continued later on.

Susa enters recorded history in the Early Dynastic period of Sumer.

Susa unified the neighbouring territories and became the king of Elam.

Susa encouraged the use of the Linear Elamite script, that remains undeciphered.

Under Cyrus' son Cambyses II, Susa became a center of political power as one of four capitals of the Achaemenid Persian empire, while reducing the significance of Pasargadae as the capital of Persis.

City retained its importance under the Seleucids for approximately one century after Alexander, however Susa lost its position of imperial capital to Seleucia on the Tigris to become the regional capital of the satrapy of Susiana.

Nevertheless, Susa retained its economic importance to the empire with its vast assortment of merchants conducting trade in Susa, using Charax Spasinou as its port.

Susa is rich in Greek inscriptions, perhaps indicating a significant number of Greeks living in the city.

Susa was still very significant economically and a trading center, especially in gold trading.

Susa later had the city rebuilt and resettled with prisoners of war and weavers, which is believed to have been after his victory over the Romans in Amida in 359.

Susa recovered following its capture and remained a regional center of more than 400 hectares in size.

Today the ancient center of Susa is unoccupied, with the population living in the adjacent modern Iranian town of Shush to the west and north of the historic ruins.