Susa

Lore & Background

The founding of Susa corresponded with the abandonment of nearby villages, and Potts describes this as a shift in settlement patterns rather than a deliberate reestablishment of the previously destroyed settlement at Chogha Mish. The name Susa is of Elamite origin and appears in many languages, including Hebrew (Shushan), Ancient Greek (Sousa), and Old Persian (Çūšā). In historic literature, Susa appears in the earliest Sumerian records, described as one of the places obedient to Inanna in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. In the Hebrew Bible, Susa is mentioned in the Book of Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. A tomb presumed to be that of Daniel is located in the area, known as Shush-Daniel, though the current structure dates to a later period. Susa is also the setting for Aeschylus' play The Persians.

Reader's Guide

Susa was a major urban center of the Ancient Near East, serving as the capital of Elam and later the winter capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Its strategic importance continued through the Parthian and Sasanian periods. These finds established Susa as the most important center of Elamite civilization. However, early excavation methods, particularly those of Jacques de Morgan and Roland de Mecquenem, were destructive, damaging architectural remains and provenance. The site remains a key source for understanding Elamite, Achaemenid, and later periods in Iranian history.

Did You Know?

• Susa is mentioned in the Book of Esther, where Esther became queen and saved the Jews from genocide.
• The Code of Hammurabi was found at Susa during excavations by Jacques de Morgan.
• Susa served as the winter capital of the Achaemenid Empire.
• The name Susa is of Elamite origin and appears in languages including Hebrew, Greek, and Old Persian.

Geography and Imperial Role

Susa occupied a commanding position in the lower Zagros Mountains, roughly 250 kilometers east of the Tigris River, nestled between the Karkheh and Dez waterways in what is now Iran. The modern town of Shush sits directly atop the ancient settlement, preserving a continuous human presence on the site. For millennia, this location made Susa one of the most consequential urban centers in the Ancient Near East. It functioned as the political heart of Elam, the civilization for which it served as capital. Later, the Achaemenid Persian kings selected it as their winter capital, a designation that underscored its administrative and symbolic weight within the vast empire. Even after the Achaemenid era, Susa retained strategic importance through the Parthian and Sasanian periods, serving as a key node in successive Iranian polities. Its position between two rivers in the Zagros foothills gave it a geographic advantage that no single dynasty could fully exploit, yet every major power in the region felt compelled to control or at least acknowledge it.

A Name Across Languages and a City Across Literature

The name Susa originates in Elamite and has been rendered in a remarkable array of languages over the centuries. In its various Elamite forms it appears as Šušen, Šušun, Šušan, and Šuša. Hebrew speakers knew it as Šūšān, the Greeks as Soûsa, Old Persian as Çūšā, and modern Persian as Šuš. This linguistic ubiquity mirrors the city's deep literary footprint. In the earliest Sumerian texts, Susa is listed among the settlements obedient to Inanna, patron goddess of Uruk, in the epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. The Hebrew Bible references it in the Book of Esther, where the protagonist becomes queen and thwarts a plot of genocide against the Jewish people, as well as in brief mentions in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. Aeschylus set his tragedy The Persians in Susa, dramatizing the aftermath of Xerxes's defeat at Salamis. The pseudepigraphal Book of Jubilees further ties the city to the inheritance of Shem and his son Elam.

The French Unearthing of Elam

The systematic excavation of Susa began in earnest when Marcel-Auguste and Jane Dieulafoy commenced French digs in 1885 and 1886, uncovering glazed bricks, column bases, and capitals from the Achaemenid royal palace. Their work, however, was marred by the failure to recognize mudbrick walls, which were subsequently destroyed during the process. The truly transformative phase came under Jacques de Morgan, who directed major excavations from 1897 to 1911. His most significant undertaking was the Grande Tranchée on the Acropole mound, which yielded the stele of Naram-Sin, a collection of Babylonian kudurrus boundary stones, the famous stele bearing the Code of Hammurabi, an ornate bronze table of snakes, the bronze statue of Queen Napir-Asu, and thousands of inscribed bricks. These discoveries collectively demonstrated that Susa was the preeminent center of Elamite civilization, effectively bringing that culture to modern scholarly attention. The artifacts were shipped to France, where they filled multiple halls in the Louvre throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Colonial Entanglement and Destructive Legacy

The French archaeological presence at Susa was underpinned by treaties in 1894 and 1899 that granted France an indefinite monopoly on all excavations in Iran. De Morgan, originally trained as a mining engineer, focused his energy on neolithic strata and, in doing so, destroyed many of the later historical layers through a combination of carelessness and deliberate demolition. His methods, well suited to prehistoric sites, irrevocably damaged the architectural remains and compromised the provenance of countless objects. He also oversaw the construction of Shush Castle, a European medieval-style structure built largely from bricks spoliated from the ancient site itself. The castle was administered by the French Délégation en Perse and treated as French government property outside the jurisdiction of the Qajar authorities. After de Morgan's departure in 1907 and resignation in 1912, his successor Roland de Mecquenem continued with similarly destructive bulk-clearing techniques. The French mission persisted in various forms until the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

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