Susa was among the greatest cities of ancient Persia, and its remains bear exceptional testimony to successive ancient civilisations (Elamite, Persian, Parthian and Sasanian). Located in the southwest of Iran, at the foot of the Zagros Mountains between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers, Susa was the chief city of Elam (Susiana) and one of the capitals of the Achaemenid Empire. The research carried out on the site has uncovered evidence of continual habitation from the late 5th millennium BC until the 13th century AD and has yielded a wealth of archaeological and epigraphic material. Susa was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2015.

Coordinates: 32° 11′ 26″ N, 48° 15′ 28″ E

Susa began as a farming village in the Neolithic Age c. 7000 BC and developed into an urban centre as early as the late 5th millennium BC. Soon after its foundation, the inhabitants erected a monumental mud-brick platform that rose over the flat surrounding landscape. On top of this platform, a temple was erected, and only some wall fragments had survived. The temple was most likely dedicated to the god Inshushinak, the patron deity of Susa. Susa’s earliest settlement, known as the Susa I period (c. 4200–3900 BC), developed around the Acropolis.

The monumental stepped platform was probably burned around 4000 BC and later used as a cemetery. Around two thousand individuals were found in burial pits cut into the mud-brick platform. The graveyard has yielded nearly two thousand finely crafted pottery finds used as funerary gifts.

Susa quickly became a commercial, administrative and political hub that enjoyed different cultural influences thanks to its strategic position along ancient trade routes. It came within the Uruk cultural sphere and was integrated into the early Sumerian civilisation of Mesopotamia. This period, extending from 3500 to about 3100 BC is known as Susa II. It is marked by an accounting system that preceded the slightly later appearance of writing (proto-writing, cylinder seals).

New developments took place during the Susa III period (also known as the ‘Proto-Elamite’ period), extending from about 3100 to 2700 BC. This period is marked by high artistic creativity and a system of proper writing used to record commodity transactions (Proto-Elamite script). During this time, Susa became the capital of the region of Susiana (which occupied approximately the same territory as modern Khūzestān) and the centre of Elam civilisation.

Susa lost its independence sometime between 2400 and 2200 BC, and its control shifted between Elam, Sumer, and Akkad. It was incorporated by Sargon the Great into his Akkadian Empire in approximately 2330 BC. It became the capital of an Akkadian province until ca. 2100 BC when Puzur-Inshushinak overthrew the Mesopotamians. Puzur-Inshushinak made himself king of Elam and built extensively on the citadel at Susa. However, his attempt at imperial expansion was short-lived, for Susa was overrun by the Neo-Sumerian kings of Ur.

During the Middle Elamite Period (1500 BC), Susa prospered again and flourished not only as a capital but also as a centre of commerce. A new religious complex, including a ziggurat (or stepped temple tower), was built by King Untash-Napirisha at Chogha Zanbil, 30 km southeast of Susa. Under the Shutrukid dynasty in the last centuries of the second millennium BC, the structures on the Acropolis were rebuilt, replacing mud bricks with baked inscribed and glazed bricks. A high temple was dedicated to Inshushinak, the great god of the Susian Plain.

Around 1175 BC, the Elamites under Shutruk-Nahhunte invaded Mesopotamia, sacked the cities of Sippar and Babylon, and plundered the original stele bearing the Code of Hammurabi and carried it to Susa. It was found in 1901 by Egyptologist Gustave Jéquier, a member of an expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan. At the end of the 12th century BC, Susa was destroyed by Babylonian armies, and the Elamite civilisation sank into almost total obscurity, a decline that lasted until the 8th century BC (Neo-Elamite period).

In 646 BC, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, seeking retribution against the Elamites for their support of his Babylonian enemy, launched his army against Susa and destroyed the city. This defeat marked the dissolution of the Elamite civilisation.

Susa regained prominence in 521 BC when Darius I chose Susa as one of his royal residences. He remodelled the city’s urban centre by constructing a palace complex occupying the northern mound of Susa. The palace, which consisted of the Apadana and the Residence, occupied 5 hectares on a 12-hectare artificial platform. It was accessed from a monumental gate (Gate of Darius), reminiscent of the Gate of All the Nations at Persepolis. The passage through this gate toward the palace was flanked by a statue of Darius dressed in the Persian robe but in an Egyptian posture. The folds of the dress carry an inscription (known as DSab) in the three cuneiform languages of the empire (Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian) and in hieroglyphics: “Here is the stone statue which Darius ordered to be made in Egypt so that he who sees it in the future will know that the Persian holds Egypt.”.

The palace was built when Darius built Persepolis and the Royal Road, running from Susa to Sardis in Anatolia. Construction works at Susa continued under Darius I’s son, Xerxes. A century later, Artaxerxes II (404–358 BC) partially restored the palace that had burned under Artaxerxes I fifty years earlier.

This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug, until I reached rock in the earth. When the excavation had been made, then rubble was packed down, some 40 cubits in depth, another (part) 20 cubits in depth. On that rubble the palace was constructed.  Darius I, DSf inscription

The palace survived the city’s fall to Alexander the Great in 331 BC, and indeed, Alexander married the eldest daughter of Darius III at Susa and forced his companions to marry native women. Susa retained its importance under Alexander’s successors. The Seleucids later installed a garrison, and Susa became a Greek city called Seleucia on the Eulaios. Susa lost its rank of the imperial capital and later became a Parthian provincial capital (247 BC-AD 224).

Devastated by fire during battles between the last of the Sasanians, Susa next developed into a Sasanian royal residence and became a focal point for the Christian community. Susa was then sacked by the Sasanian king Shapur II (r. AD 309-379), who dispersed the population. The city revived, however, and was again prosperous when it was sacked and destroyed by the Arabs in AD 638. The Arab forces are said to have discovered a coffin during the invasion, which was believed to contain the bones of Daniel the Prophet. The tomb of Daniel can still be visited in modern-day Shush. Susa then declined and, from the beginning of the 13th century, deteriorated into no more than a series of crumbling ruins.

The site now consists of three gigantic mounds, occupying an area of about one square kilometre, known as the Apadana mound, the Acropolis mound, and the Ville Royale (royal town) mound. There is also a small palace (the “Shahur palace”) outside the walls on the west near the Shahur River. Another building, the so-called Donjon, at the far southern extremity of the city, is of uncertain date. Much of what can be seen today at the site dates back to Darius’ reign.

Susa was identified by British archaeologist W.K. Loftus, who opened the first trial trenches in 1854 on the Acropole, Apadana, and Ville Royale mounds. The famous French archaeologists Marcel and Jane Dieulafoy began systematic excavations in 1885–6. In 1897, Jacques de Morgan headed the first of the annual winter excavations conducted by the French Archaeological Mission. Roman Ghirshman took charge of the Mission Archéologique in 1946, after the end of the war. Together with his wife, Tania Ghirshman, he continued there until 1967. During the 1970s, excavations resumed under Jean Perrot. The finds, including a complete series of glazed brick reliefs, were brought back to France and are now filling various halls in the Louvre in Paris.

The small museum is set in a garden and contains many objects found in Susa and elsewhere in Khuzestan.

PORTFOLIO

My ancestor Darius [I the Great] made this audience hall [apadana], but during the reign of my grandfather Artaxerxes, it was burnt down; but, by the grace of Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra, I reconstructed this audience hall. Artaxerxes II A²Sa

Links:

• Discovering the Glories of Persia
• World History Encyclopedia
• Achemenet
• Encyclopædia Iranica
• Livius.org
• UNESCO