Oct 00 - Family planning ad, Susa

Have just the one kid and you'll be able to afford to relax and have popsicles.

 

- (Continued from the last photo of the ruins at Susa): Susa's golden age began with the conquests of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid empire, and the choice of Susa as winter capital by his son and successor Cambyses II as "it stood between the Aryans of the east and the Semites of the west. ... The Achaemenid kings were great road builders, and their most important hwy. was the famous Royal rd. from Susa to Sardis (the Lydian capitol) in Asia Minor. Another road continued from Susa SE across the plain and through the Zagros to Persepolis and Pasargadae.

- Cyrus regarded the waters of the Choaspes or Karkha river as excelling all others. "Herodotus recounts that whenever Cyrus went on expedition, he brought with him "water from the Choaspes ... whereof and of none other he drinks. This water of the Choaspes is boiled, and very many 4-wheeled wagons drawn by mules carry it in silver vessels, following the King whithersoever he goes."

- In 517 Darius I began to build his palace at Susa on a mound (an Elamite cemetery) levelled with the sides revetted and a great platform made (820' by 490'). He recorded the construction on a preserved tablet: "I constructed this palace. Its decoration was brought from afar ... The ground was dug out ... and the gravel that was thrown in, and the bricks that were moulded, they were the people of Babylon who did this work. The wood called naucina [cedar] was brought from a mtn. called Lebanon. The people of Assyria brought it up to Babylon and the people of Karkha and Ionia brought it from Babylonia to the land of the Susians. Wood was brought from Candara and Karmana, Gold was brought from Sardis and Bactria. ... That which was employed here of silver and bronze was brought from Egypt. The decoration with which the [walls of the] fortification were embellished was brought from Ionia. Ivory ... was brought from Kussa, from India and Arachosia. ... Those who worked in gold were the Medes and the Egyptians. ..." You get it, a palace for the ruler of most of the known world. While the general style of the palace was Assyrio-Babylonian, its design was influenced by Persian architecture, and the hypostyle hall was on the Egyptian model. It burned down in the reign of Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC) but was rebuilt by Artaxerxes Mnemon (r. 404-359 BC) "on even more sumptuous lines than before", but on a different site across the Karkha.

- W. K. Loftus, the archaeologist who first identified the site with ancient Susa, thus describes the city as it must have appeared in the great days of the Achaemenians.: "It is difficult to conceive a more imposing site than Susa, as it stood in the days of its Kayanian splendour, its great citadel and columnar edifices raising their stately heads above groves of date, konar and lemon trees, and backed by rich pastures and golden seas of corn [not real corn of course; wheat?], and by the distant snow-clad mountains. ..." The geographer Strabo stated that the walls, temples and palaces of Susa were constructed in the same manner as those at Babylon, that is of baked brick and asphalt (the latter used in place of mortar).

- "It was from Susa that Xerxes set out on his great expedition against Greece; in Milton's words "Xerxes, the Libertie of Greece to yoke, from Susa his Memnonia Palace high came to the sea..." Although he failed to subjugate the whole of Greece, he did despoil both Delphi and Athens and deposited their wealth in his treasury at Susa. With the extension of the empire first to Asia Minor and later to parts of Greece itself, the might of Persia and the glories of Susa became well known to the Greeks. When Aristagoras of Miletus sought to enlist the aid of Cleomenes of Sparta in an attempt to free it and the other Ionian cities from the Persian yoke, he said "Susa, where the Persian monarch occasionally resides and where his treasures are deposited - make yourself master of this city and you may vie in influence with Zeus himself." (When Cleomenes learned that the expedition would entail a march of 3 mos.' duration from the Mediterranean, he refused to take part in it.)

- "It was at 'Shushan the palace' that Daniel had his vision of the ram with the 2 horns. If we are to believe the story of Daniel in the lion's den, Susa or some place in the vicinity may have been where he underwent his ordeal, as the district was until the 1800s a favourite haunt of the king of beasts.". 'Shushan the palace' is also the setting for the intrigues in the Book of Esther. (See below.)

- After the Greeks had won their great victory over the Persians at Salamis, and the remnants of the hosts of Xerxes had been forced to retreat in disorder, the poet Aeschylus commemorated that triumph in his Athenian tragedy 'The Persians' (472 BC) Susa is the setting for 'The Persians' (472 BC), THE OLDEST surviving play in the history of theatre (!), for which the setting is in the great palace of Darius at Susa. "In some moving lines, the poet portrayed the grief of Atossa, the queen mother, and of the nobles and courtiers when the news of the disaster was received". (L. Lockhart)

- After his defeat of the Persians near Arbela in 331 BC, Alexander "marched through Babylonia into Elam. At Susa, like Assurbanipal > 300 years earlier, he discovered enormous riches. In the palace were 40,000 talents worth of coined $ and an immense amt. of other treasure; all this wealth he distributed amongst his troops. He then passed on to India, and returned and came once more to Susa. There he married an Achaemenid princess and gave a great banquet in the royal palace to celebrate his nuptuals". (According to Aristobulos, a member of Alexander's expedition, the heat in the summer was so great at Susa that reptiles that tried to cross a street at midday couldn't cross quickly enough to avoid being burnt to death. Again this was the Persian WINTER capital, Ecbatana [modern-day Hamadan] was the summer capital.)

 

- Following Alexander's death in Babylon in 323 BC, Susa became for a time the capital of a Graeco-Persian subkingdom, the Seleucid capital, and retained some importance in the Roman period as part of the Parthian empire, with much autonomy from the capital Ctesiphon. The city continued to thrive until it was destroyed by the Mongols, and never recovered.

- See? So historic that I've written a book with just a bare-bones history of the place

- A video with scenes from Susa www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt97ahE2pG4 Here's one with slides and captions set to the Game of Thrones theme, with singing in Persian. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwkTCPELkvI

 

 

Cont. from the last photo comment, re more misses en route south from Khorramabad to Andimeshk:

 

- 2 aquamarine ponds are at 'Siah Gav Twin Lakes' @ 15 km.s SW of the 37 and Hamgan.

- Quite a find on google maps, a most photogenic suspension bridge and an equally impressive canyon in an oxbow, the magical Khazineh valley, @ 1 km. and visible from the 37 /b/ Cham Gaz and Pa Alam.: www.google.com/maps/place/Khazineh+Valley/@32.9022776,47.... youtu.be/ksrWy-ynXmo?si=xCz2hZqYFloIIfmX

- The ruins of a Sassanian fort or castle loom above the Karkheh river less than a km. south of the bend in the 37 just below Pa Alam.

- 2 interesting, exotic suspension bridges span the Dez river in the mtn.s just @ 50 clicks or more east and a bit north of the 5 and 37 where they turn south, and 5 - 10 north of 'Tale Zang'.: www.google.com/maps/place//@32.8588859,48.699076,13z?entr...

- The ruins of Reza castle and caravanserai are only @ 300 m.s north of the 37 near Qaleh Razeh.

 

ANDIMESHK - I arrived in Khuzestan and disembarked at Andimeshk, a city of @ 110,000 in 2000, where I found affordable accommodation in a home-stay (the home of a very nice couple) which became my base in Khuzestan, 34 km.s NE of Susa, for at least 3 nights (too few).

 

History: The name had formerly been that of the Sassanian town on the river Dez, now known as Dezful. It "first appears in Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets from the Ur III period (21st to 20th cent.s BC) in the form 'Adamshakh', which likely means 'Crocodile (town)'. ! It then morphed into 'Andamaska' or 'Andimaska', 'Plenty of butter'.

- The current town of Andimeshk became a stop on the Trans-Iranian Railway in 1929. During WWII a pipeline was laid from Abadan, then the location of the world's largest oil refinery, to Andimeshk, where fuel was re-loaded onto trucks and sent to the U.S.S.R. (and which was important to the Soviet war effort against Nazi Germany). In 1955 the pipeline was extended from Andimeshk to Tehran. Two famous, high-capacity dams are in the city's vicinity, the Dez dam, built under the direction of an Italian co. from 1959 to '62, and the Karkheh, built from 1992 to 2001. (I heard nothing about these dams when I was there.)

 

- After settling in that first day I took a shared taxi or bus 34 km.s further SW and SE down the 37 to legendary Susa or Shush (Shoosh).

- Re more misses on that stretch: Another ancient, well-preserved Sassanian bridge, the Seyhe, less than 1 km. south of the hwy. across from Azadi; and the Eyvan-e Karkheh, @ 12 km.s west of the 37, the adobe ruins of an ancient Sassanian city dating to the reign of Shahpur II, said to be "the most complete and the largest buried city of the Sassanian period," a centre of silk weaving with pottery kilns and weaving workshops.

 

 

- DANIEL'S TOMB at SHUSH - Soon after I arrived in the modern town of Shush (Shoosh) (adjacent to the site of Susa) I visited the shrine and tomb purported to be that of the Old Testament prophet Daniel of 'Daniel in the Lion's Den' fame, surmounted by its famous, tiered, plaster, white sugar-loaf or 'pine-cone' tower (1871). This is one of only 9 purported tombs of this prophet in 5 countries (!), incl. Iraq, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Morocco. 4 are in Iraq, 2 of which were blown up, one in Mosul by ISIS in 2014 and the other in Muqdadiyah by terrorists (the AQI?) in 2007. But this at Susa is the most famous and "the most widely accepted" of the bunch.

- The Book of Daniel mentions that he lived in Babylon, but the only reference to Susa is in the account of a vision in 8:2.: "And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan [Susa] in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river [or canal] of Ulai." (That's it?) "Some older versions take this to be the Ulai River [the KJV, which I've quoted], but the word 'uval' (אוּבָל) is not the common word for a river (nahar, נָהָר). Daniel seems to refer to the (now dry) canal that separated the royal city at Susa from the lower city. ... Why did this vision take place in Susa and not in Babylon? Perhaps because the first part of the vision relates to the Medo-Persian empire." (Crossroadsbible.net) The Book doesn't specify where Daniel died, but "the tradition preserved among the Jews and Arabs is that he was buried at Susa." (Wikipedia) According to a 9th cent. Muslim chronicler, Daniel's body was brought to Susa from Babylon. (See below.)

- Elam was known for its population of Asiatic lions in the 1st mill. B.C. (and more recently). Elamite tribute bearers in the procession of the 24 subject nations depicted on the Apadana staircase at Persepolis bear 2 daggers, 2 bows, a fierce lioness on a chain and her 2 cubs. www.google.com/imgres?q=apadana%20lioness&imgurl=http... "The Asiatic lion was recorded only in Iran's Khuzestan and Fars Provinces. The last sighting occurred [as recently as] 1957 in the Dez River valley." (Wikipedia. A population survives today in the Gir forest in Western India.) Could this have something to do with the association made /b/ Daniel and Susa (although the lion's den was in Babylon, per the good Book)?

- Re the historicity of Daniel per Wikipedia: "[T]he broad consensus [amongst historians] is that Daniel is not a historical figure, [and that the Book's] author appears to have taken the name from a legendary figure of the distant past mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel [14:14, 14:20 and 28:3. A tablet in the Louvre found at Ugarit in coastal Syria and which dates from @ 1400 BC is referred to as 'the Legend of Aqhat, son of Dan'el'. Some scholars consider this to be the famous Dani'el mentioned by Ezekiel. The Hebrew name of the Daniel of the Book of Daniel is Daniyye'l. biblicalstudies.info/louvre.pdf] The Book of Daniel features prophecies, but it's an apocalypse, ["one of a large number of Jewish apocalypses, all pseudonymous",] not a book of prophecy, and its contents are a cryptic allusion to the persecution of the Jews by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r 175-164 B.C.) [who married his sister btw, Laodice IV, and whose paternal grandparents were nephew and aunt, that nephew being the son of 1st cousins. But the contemporary Ptolemies of Egypt were much more in-bred, incredibly.] Broad agreement has it that the stories of court intrigue in chap.s 1-6 of the Book are legendary [ youtu.be/6r1baNdgImo?si=6kfysaaA4irNG9Sh commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Blake_-_Nebuchadn... , so it's a myth that "God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs" {?}, etc., Daniel 1:9], that the visions in chap.s 7-12 were added during the persecution of Antiochus IV, and that the Book itself was completed in or @ 164 B.C., but before Antiochus' death in December of that year in Persia or before word of his death had reached Jerusalem, for the Book predicts his death in Palestine (11:44-45). The language in Daniel 5 (the tale of 'Belshazzar's feast' joyofmuseums.com/museums/united-kingdom-museums/london-mu... youtu.be/z4wO4aMblv8?si=fmjJ8h4fV2YawXwj ), for example, follows ancient Near Eastern conventions. Daniel 6 ('the Lions' Den') [might be] based on the classic Babylonian folk-tale Ludlul-bel-nemeqi, which concerns a courtier who suffers disgrace at the hands of evil enemies but is restored due to the intervention of a kindly god; in the Babylonian original the 'pit of lions' is a metaphor for human adversaries at court." (Wikipedia)

 

- Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled in Asia /b/ 1160 and 1163, wrote the following account as to the tomb of Daniel at Susa.:

"4 miles from thence begins Khuzistan, the Elam of Scripture, a large province, which, however, is but partially inhabited, a portion of it lying in ruins. Among the latter are the remains of Shushan [Susa], the metropolis and palace of King Ahasuerus [Xerxes], which still contains very large and handsome bldg.s of ancient date. It has 7,000 Jewish inhabitants, with 14 synagogues, before one of which is the sepulchre of Daniel, who rests in peace. The river Ulai divides the city into 2 parts, which are connected by a bridge; that portion of it which is inhabited by the Jews contains the markets, to which all trade is confined, and there all the rich dwell; across the river they are poor, because they are deprived of the above-named advantages, and have even no gardens or orchards. These circumstances gave rise to jealousy, which was fostered by the belief that all honour and riches originated in the possession of the remains of the prophet Daniel, who rests in peace, and who was buried on the favoured side of the river. A request was made by the poor for permission to remove the sepulchre to the other side, but it was rejected; upon which a war arose, and was carried on /b/ the 2 parties for a length of time; this strife lasted until "their souls become loath," and they came to a mutual agreement, by which it was arranged that the coffin which contained Daniel's bones should be deposited alternately every year on either side. Both parties faithfully adhered to this arrangement, until it was interrupted by the interference of Sanjar Shah ben Shah [r 1118 - 1157] who governs all Persia, and holds supreme power over 45 of its kings. This prince is called in Arabic Sultan-al-Fars-al-Khabir ('Supreme Commander of Persia'), and his empire extends from the banks of the Shat-el-Arab to the city of Samarkand and the Kizil Ozein, enclosing the city of Nishapur, the cities of Media, and the Chaphton mountains, and reaches as far as Tibet, in the forests of which country that quadruped is found which yields the musk. The extent of his empire is 4 months and 4 days' journey. When this great emperor, Sanjar, King of Persia, came to Shushan and saw that the coffin of Daniel was removed from one side to the other, he crossed the bridge with a very numerous retinue, accompanied by Jews and Mohammedans, and inquired into the reason of those proceedings. Upon being told what we have related, he declared it to be derogatory to the honor of Daniel, and commanded that the distance between the two banks should be exactly measured, that Daniel's coffin should be deposited in another coffin, made of glass, and that it should be suspended from the center of the bridge by, chains of iron. A place of public worship was erected on the spot, open to every one who desired to say his prayers, whether he be Jew or Gentile; and the coffin of Daniel is suspended from the bridge unto this very day. The King commanded that, in honor of Daniel, nobody should be allowed to fish in the river one mile on each side of the coffin." sacred-texts.com/jud/mhl/mhl20.htm#fn_70

- "Muslim traditions agree that Daniel was buried at Susa, and a similar tradition was current among Syriac writers. Al-Baladhuri (9th cent., [whose account predates that of Benjamin of Tudela by @ 3 centuries]) states that when the conqueror Abu Musa al-Ash'ari came to Susa in 638, he found the coffin of Daniel, which had been brought there from Babylon so as to bring down rain in a period of drought. [Interesting.] Abu Musa referred the matter to the caliph Umar, who ordered the coffin to be buried, which was done by sinking it to the bottom of one of the streams nearby. In another account, once the city fell to the Muslims, as there's no reference to Daniel (Arabic: دانيال,) in the Qur'an, the invaders confiscated the treasure that had been stored at the tomb since the Achaemenid era. They then broke open the silver coffin, carried off the mummified corpse and removed a signet ring from it, which carried an image of a man /b/ 2 lions. However, upon hearing of this, the caliph Umar ordered the ring to be returned and the body reburied under the riverbed. In time, Daniel became a Muslim cult figure ... (etc.) (Wikipedia)

- Arab chronicler Ibn Hawqai wrote a similar account in the 10th cent.: “In the city of Susa there is a river and I have heard that in the time of Abu Mousa Al Ashoari a coffin was found there; it is said to contain the bones of Daniel the Prophet. The people held it in great veneration and in times of distress, famine or drought brought it out and prayed for rain. Abu Mousa Al Ashoari ordered that the coffin be encased with 3 coverings and submerged it in the river so that it could not be viewed. The grave can be seen by anyone who dives to the bottom of the water.” Istakhri gives a similar account adding that the Jews were accustomed to make a circuit around Daniel's tomb and to draw water in its neighborhood. Al-Muqaddasi refers to the contention /b/ the people of Susa and those of Tustar [Shushtar]. A divergent tradition reported by Ibn Taimiyyah claims that the body was found in Tustar; that at night 13 graves were dug, and that it was placed in one of these - a sign, according to him, that the early Muslims were opposed to the worship of the tombs of holy men." (Wikipedia)

- William Ouseley in Walpole's Memoirs of the East described the Tomb of Daniel in Susa as being situated in "a most beautiful spot, washed by a clear running stream and shaded by planes and other trees of ample foliage. The building is of Mahomedan date and is inhabited by a solitary Dervish, who shows the spot where the prophet is buried beneath, a small and simple square brick mausoleum, said to be (without probability) coeval with his death. It has, however, neither date nor inscription to prove the truth or falsehood of the Dervish's assertion. The small river running at the foot of this building, which is called the Bellerau, it has been said flows immediately over the prophets Tomb, and from the transparency of the water, his coffin was to be seen at the bottom; but the Dervish and the natives whom I questioned remembered no [such] tradition ... ; on the contrary, it has at all times been customary with the people of the country to resort hither on certain days of the months, when they offer up their prayers at the tomb, in supplication to the prophet's shade."

- "The current tomb was renovated and repaired in 1870 by order of Shia scholar Sheikh Jafar Shooshtari. ... Today the tomb is a [very] popular attraction among local Muslims and Iran's Jewish community alike, who crowd the glittery interior, kissing the zarih grate @ a green-draped cenotaph" as at so many imamzadehs in Iran. (Wikipedia)

- www.youtube.com/shorts/qGU3CViEpRo

- www.7dorim.com/tasavir/ziyarat_danial_nabi/

 

- The RUINS of SUSA.: The most prominent feature at the site is the vast 'Château de Morgan' (1890s), resembling a crenellated Omani desert fortress, infamously built from 1897 to 1912 on the site of an Elamite acropolis with bricks taken from the legendary Achaemenid palace of Darius I and other structures on-site by French archaeologist (or vandal or whatever I should call him) Jean-Marie Jacques de Morgan as protection from local Arab and Lurish tribesmen, at least allegedly. Many of the bricks in the walls are covered in ancient cuneiform. Worse still, the 'château' was built atop a tappeh which almost certainly contains invaluable artifacts. (Following the identification of the site by William Loftus with the biblical Shushan in the 1850s, Sir Henry Rawlinson inexplicably "persuaded the British Museum that the site had little to offer" [Bradt]. Imagine how much more would remain on site to be seen today if the British had dug there [rather than the French], and hadn't cannibalized the site to built a fortress or folly.) It's huge, built in a design similar to that of medieval castles in France, and must've been built for purposes beyond any concern for the security of the French team, if not as a 'folly'. It's a prime example of the early, pre-scientific age of archaeology when sites were mutilated or destroyed in official excavations with the focus on obtaining treasures for the Louvre, the British museum, etc. (The "Persian Collections at [the] Louvre [obtained at Susa] Are Worth the Journey" [the NYT] www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/arts/persian-collections-louvr...; "“France [had] made a very clever [and mercenary] diplomatic agreement and had a monopoly,” said Julien Cuny, curator of the Persian collections at the Louvre. “For decades, only the French could dig, and everything they dug up was allowed to come to France”" until 1925 and the renegotiation of the agreement to split the spoils. depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/ml/achaemenid.html ) We can only try to imagine how vast and impressive the Achaemenid and Elamite ruins would be today if they'd been untouched. French property until 1979 (!) and the Islamic Revolution, and badly damaged in the Iran-Iraq war ("Iraqi strikes badly damaged the ruins of the [Achaemenid] palace’s audience hall" [NYT]), the castle's been restored since. But the interior's off limits to tourists for some reason.

 

- I met some Westerners on the site of the terrace of the apadana, an elderly European couple on tour, the first foreign tourists I'd met since Dogubeyazit, aside from one seen from a distance at Ghara Kelise and someone in Hamadan (whom I don't recall). I'd meet many more in Esfahan, Yazd and Shiraz.

- The site of the terrace of the Achaemenid palace complex (246 x 155 m.s) and of the apadana (109 m.s2), built from 516 to 521 B.C. for Darius I, had a labyrinth of neatly outlined foundations of long, strong walls of brick and wattle; and with 6 x 6 large, column bases or pedestals finely carved in limestone and some fluted column drums (pieces of columns that had been 22 m.s high) on the site of the former apadana, and several cracked or fragmentary white Achaemenid bulls' heads on the ground from column capitals of the type seen in abundance at Persepolis (I'll scan a photo), with other bits and pieces on the terrace. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Darius_in_Susa#/media/Fil... Darius' dictation discovered on 2 foundation tablets in 1970 reads, in part, as follows.: "This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. [See above.] ... 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. ..." Built on an artificially raised platform or terrace 15 m.s high, 100 ha.s in area, the complex at Susa consists of a residential palace, an apadana (audience hall), and a monumental gate. A covered passage ('propylaeum') faces these structures. The apadana is similar to that at Persepolis, incl. 36 distinctive grand Persian columns, each 23.25 m.s in height, incl. 13.5 m. shafts, 1.75 m. pedestals, and an 8 m. tall composite capital topped by 2 symmetrical bulls' heads, which was probably developed here. They once supported the roof, comprised of beams of Lebanese cedar, of the 128,000-square-foot audience hall, the apadana in the palace. youtu.be/N17JaXoxvP0?si=5C9rP2gPWQ3FWaZv "Any surviving painted plaster and glazed brick panels of pacing animals [incl. griffins and winged bulls] and motionless military guards [incl. spearmen and archers] and attendants were all removed to Paris, with a few examples going to Tehran" (Bradt), which I'd see later in the Bastam museum. Part of a monumental entrance or doorway remains, 40 x 30 m.s (which I don't recall), where "a fragmented granite statue of Darius was found in 1972 [also now in Tehran's Bastam museum], its quadrilingual inscription recording his victories in Egypt." (Bradt) Those ruins were the first glimpse I would have of a fleeting grandeur that the Seleucids, Parthians, and even the vigorous Sassanians couldn't begin to imitate. (Darius' inscription at Bisotun was obscured by scaffolding and by its height; otherwise these sculptures at Susa were the first distinctly Achaemenid works of art that I saw that trip [o/s of a museum].) See the ruins of the palace in this PressTV clip from the 2:50 min. pt. to 3:55. youtu.be/vt97ahE2pG4?si=1v0pWaKhK8aCswjR Much work has been done at the site since 2000 with the partial reconstruction of the base of the bldg.s in the complex. youtu.be/kw_FtzYCkus?si=BiHMbe-eJAfZjwt0

- youtu.be/yd_13K4O3EA?si=dlCoIRK0snVopLT0

- 'Shushan the Palace' is the setting for the Book of Esther, which I write about at length in this 'description' www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/3623624478/in/photostr... , and the Book includes some interesting passages re Susa. In the first chapter, King Ahasuerus (Xerxes or Artaxerxes I) held a great feast for his subjects in the court of the garden of the palace "where were white, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble; the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble. And they gave them to drink in vessels of gold (vessels being diverse one from another) and royal wine in abundance..." Simultaneously, "Vashti the Queen made a feast for the women in the royal house" (which implies that the sexes were segregated amongst the nobility).

 

- At Susa, "one has a feeling of being in the midst of something almost immeasurably old." ('Persian Cities') The site's vast, "currently consisting of 3 archaeological mounds over an area of @ 1 km 2", and although most of what there is to be seen are indistinct mounds and badly eroded walls of adobe mud brick (or what had once been mud brick, see the last photo in this stream), with one prominent vertical structure (an adobe tower of sorts nick-named 'De Morgan's pillar; I'll scan a photo www.livius.org/pictures/iran/susa/susa-acropolis/susa-de-... ), there was enough to walk through and @ and look over for more than a day. I'd read that the French had found and identified 13 layers of habitation sediment (as well as such treasures as the Babylonian stele with the Code of Hammurabi, Elamite war booty) and I did my utmost to keep in mind how very historic and prehistoric the place had been. The renovation of the foundations of adobe walls since 2000 at various points across the vast site (as seen in photos online) has made a dramatic difference.

- The following is a copy and paste of a paragraph from Bradt (2009) with details and info. that I wish I'd known when I was there.: "The mounds far behind the chateau mark the so-called 'Royal Sector', that the site guardian is unlikely to allow you to approach [there were no such restrictions in 2000], where the French found evidence of at least 15 layers of occupation [again I've read 13], [dating] from 2700BC to the Islamic period. Remains of excavated streets and bldg.s date from the Elamite period, @ 1900 BC, but this section, House A in particular, proved to be rich in Seleucid figurines. ... Various Seleucid inscriptions suggest that, as with Dura Europos in eastern Syria, a stadium, gymnasium, archive and law court were constructed together with at least 3 temples: to Apollo, the Mesopotamian goddess Nanaya, and to Ma, an Anatolian deity. Later this area was occupied in the Sassanian and early Islamic periods until the 10th cent. [Further to the south of this sector is the 'Donjon', per Bradt's map.] Further to the east is the ‘Artisans’ village’ where clear evidence of Seleucid and Parthian workshops and an early Islamic mosque were discovered. Immediately south of the chateau was 'the Acropolis' where a necropolis was excavated and where Elamite temples had stood [incl. the 'Temple of Inšušinak', the 'Temple of Nin-hursag' {although Ninhursag was the Sumerian 'mother goddess of the sacred mountain', "similar to the Elamite goddess Kiririsha", Wikipedia - ?} and that of the Neo-Elamite king 'Shutruk-Nahhunte II' (r 717-699 BC), in whose reign emerged "a true beginning of the Elamite renaissance." (Amiet) "When Elam was incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire in 538 BC, the Persians inherited its art and civilization." (W. Hinz 1973: 178) A "bronze and copper statue of Queen Napirasu, wife of Untash (r1 359-1333 BC), known from Choga Zanbil, was discovered in 1903 in the Temple of the Goddess Ninhursag. Weighing 1,750kg.s, it now stands headless {again, in the Bastam museum in Tehran} 1.29 m.s tall, inscribed with a warning to anyone who might cause it damage that "his name shall become extinct, that his offspring be barren". 'De Morgan's pillar' stands within or at the edge of the Acropolis.] It doesn’t seem possible that from such a jumble of lumps and humps, such unique and fascinating artefacts were uncovered in such a marvellous state of preservation. Make a mental note to visit the Louvre in Paris." (Bradt)

- At Susa, I had a similar experience to the one at Hasanlu with a group of curious kids who followed me @ for a bit and then threw stones in my direction from a distance when my back was turned, to get the attention of this odd, solo foreigner who was so strangely interested in mud and broken bits of pottery, etc. One of them pointed out something earlier that I would see again twice later en route, a needle or 2 left behind somewhere in the ruins by a heroin junkie. (I'll write more about Iran's troubles with heroin addiction in a subsequent photo write-up).

 

- More re the ANCIENT HISTORY of SUSA (further to what I wrote above and at the top of the last photo comment many yr.s ago): "The name Susa derives from the Ancient Greek Sousa (Σουσα) and ultimately from an original Elamite name written as Šušen in its Middle Elamite form, Šušun in its Middle and Neo-Elamite forms, Šušan in its Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid forms, and Šuša in its Achaemenid Elamite form. Susa appears in the very earliest Sumerian records: e.g. it's referred to as one of the cities obedient to Inanna, patron deity of Uruk, in 'Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'.

- Biblical references in the Books of Esther and Daniel are reviewed above and in my photo write-up re Hamadan, but Susa features in Nehemiah 1:1 as well. "The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the 20th year, as I was in Shushan the palace [at the time of the Babylonian captivity in the 6th cent. B.C.], that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. ..." The city is further mentioned in the Book of Jubilees (8:21 & 9:2) as within the inheritance of Shem and his oldest son Elam; and in 8:1 "Susan" is also named as the son (or daughter, in some translations) of Elam.

- Carbon-14 test results place the foundation of the settlement at no later than 4395 B.C., a date which "corresponds with the abandonment of nearby villages. Potts suggests that the settlement may have been founded to re-establish the previously destroyed settlement at Chogha Mish, @ 25 km.s west. Chogha Mish had been very large, featuring a massive platform [for a temple?] similar to one later built at Susa." Lovely, finely painted ceramic goblets, serving dishes and jars from this period (free-hand painted in black and white) were interred for use in the afterlife in the Susa 1 period, 4200-3800 B.C., in > 1000 graves in a cemetery near the base of the platform. Of @ 2000 excavated, most are in the Louvre. (Ceramics found at Susa from this period are famous, and are a highlight of the Bastam museum's collections in Tehran.) They were crafted in "a late, regional variation of the Mesopotamian Ubaid ceramic tradition that spread across the Near East in the 5th millennium B.C.", and their style was also "very much a product of the past and of influences from contemporary ceramic industries in the mtn.s of western Iran." (A bit contradictory.) "We learn from this pottery that [the locals] practised a sun and fertility cult." (L. Lockhart) Copper axes and mirrors and tools of flint and obsidian have also been discovered which date from that early period.

- "Susa came within the cultural sphere of Uruk in 'the Uruk period'. An imitation of the state apparatus of Uruk, with proto-writing [although, again, the earliest Elamite cuneiform might predate the earliest Sumerian], cylinder seals with Sumerian motifs, and monumental architecture, is found at Susa. According to some scholars, Susa may have been a colony of the much larger city of Uruk, although this is in dispute. Recent research indicates that the Early Uruk period corresponds to Susa II (3800-3200 B.C.). Daniel Potts maintains that the cultural influence of the highlands in Khuzestan was more significant in the early period and continued and that the culture at Susa combined influences from the highlands and the alluvial plains. "An architectural link has also been suggested between Susa, Tal-i Malyan, and Godin Tepe at this time, which supports the theory of the parallel development of the proto-Cuneiform and proto-Elamite scripts". (?)

- During Susa III (3200-2700 B.C.), the 'Proto-Elamite' period, proto-Elamite tablets appear in the record and Susa then became the centre of Elamite civilization. Elam was one of the most perdurable kingdoms or civilizations in history. It enters recorded history in Sumer's Early Dynastic period in @ 2700 B.C. when En-me-barage-si "made the land of Elam submit" following a battle /b/ Kish and Susa. In the Sumerian period, Susa was the capital of the state of Susiana (Šušan), which occupied the territory of modern Khūzestān prov. centered on the Karun river, control of which shifted /b/ Elam, Sumer, and Akkad.

- It seems that Elamite was a linguistic isolate which bore no relation to Semitic, Sumerian or Indo-European, but has been classified as 'Elamo-Dravidian', with ties to India. (?) The name 'Elam' ('highland'), is Akkadian, while in the original Elamite form it was Haltamtu or Haltamti. Elam was also known in classical records as Susiana, from the city state of Susa (one of the four major cities of Elam with Awan [NW of and close to Susa but in a location that's a mystery today; 3 kings of Awan in succession were the first foreign rulers of Sumer in @ the mid 3 mill. BC], Anshan [in Fars prov., @ 400 km.s to the south, ruled often as a separate kingdom, perhaps only briefly united within one state] and Simash). Elamite kings succeeded by matrilineal descent, and were referred to as 'son of a sister'. www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternElam.htm

- The earliest evidence of the use of Elamite as an administrative language is in texts of ancient Anshan from Tall-e Mal-yan, dated to @ 1000 B.C. Akkadian had been in use in the 2nd mill. B.C. and earlier following the incorporation of Susiana by Sargon into his Akkadian Empire in @ 2330 B.C. The pre-eminent goddess of the city in that period was Nanaya, to whom a significant temple was dedicated in Susa.

- 3 dynasties reigned during the 'Old Elamite period' (c. 2700-1500 BC). 12 kings of each of the first two, Awan or Avan (@ 2400-2100 B.C.) and Simashki (@ 2100-1970 B.C.), are known from a list which dates to the Old Babylonian period. 2 Elamite dynasties which exercised brief control over parts of Sumer include Awan and Hamazi; and several of the stronger Sumerian rulers, such as Eannatum of Lagash and Lugal-annemundu of Adab, temporarily dominated Elam.

- Susa was reputedly conquered by Alusarsid of Akkad under Sargon in @ 2350 BC and served as capital of an Akkadian province until the collapse of the Akkadian empire (the world's first) in 2154 BC with the onslaught of Gutians as they swept down from the Zagros. King Kutik-Inšušinak aka Puzur-Inšušinak, the last of the Awan dynasty per the Susa king-list, ruled Susa as an independent state and literary centre in @ 2100 BC. books.google.ca/books?id=mc4cfzkRVj4C&pg=PA124&lp... He unified neighbouring territories, became the king of Elam, and encouraged the use of the Linear Elamite script (which, reportedly, has recently been deciphered. www.smithsonianmag.com/history/have-scholars-finally-deci... ) Susa was then conquered by the Neo-Sumerian 3rd Dynasty of Ur in 2050 and was held until Ur was sacked by Kindattu (of the Simash dynasty) and rebellious Elamites in @ 2004 B.C., the death knell for Neo-Sumeria. The last king of Ur was exiled to Anshan (modern Malyan).

- Trade was conducted in this period /b/ Susa and the Indus Valley civilization. Many seals and much jewellery with etched carnelian beads from the Indus have been found at Susa.

 

- KING CHEDORLAOMER: Elam features in the account of 'the War of the 9 kings' in Genesis 14, the first biblical war (!), in which 5 Canaanite kings fought against Chedorlaomer, their Elamite overlord (!). In @ 1750 BC, per Genesis 14:1-17, "it came to pass in the days of Amraphel [Nimrod per Rabbinic sources] king of Shinar [Hebrew for Sumer, allied with] Arioch king of Eliasar [Cappadocia per the Genesis Apocryphon, col. 21, or Eri-Aku of Larsa - ?], Chedorlaomer [Kedorlaomer or Kudur-Lagamer] king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ['king of Goyim', in Mesopotamia per the Genesis Apocryphon, col. 21, or the proto-Hittite king Tudhaliya - ?] that these made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the sea of salt. 12 yr.s they served [ie. paid tribute to] Chedorlaomer, and in the 13th year they rebelled. And in the 14th year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim [see below] in Ashteroth Karnaim ["widely seen" as Al-Shaykh Saad near Daraa, Syria, aka Dair Ayyub, the 'Monastery of Job', the capital of ancient Bashan {incl. what is today 'the Golan Heights'}], and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their Mt. Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezontamar. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar); and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; with Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal, Amraphel, and Arioch, 4 kings with 5. And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits [bitumen]; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew [Abraham]; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his [nephew] was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot [sic? nephew? see 14:12], and his goods, and the women also, and the people. [So Abraham freed Lot et al. from the Elamites and their allies.] And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. ..." (I'm not religious, but I was raised in the church and find the Old Testament interesting.)

- Chedorlaomer fascinates Christians (apparently), which he would do if the Rephaim he smote "in Ashteroth Karnai" descend from the giant Nephilim of Genesis 6:4. Listen to this guy.: youtube.com/shorts/Xrb-7x0SMKs?si=-whZ96bVKRoCr3Xk youtu.be/jtdQIQNdHrw?si=JVB3mK4C89EOSjUk Genesis 6. "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. ... There were Nephilim in the earth in those days. ..." "[Most] ancient biblical translations - incl. the Septuagint, Theodotion, Latin Vulgate, Samaritan Targum, Targum Onkelos, and Targum Neofiti - interpret the word [Nephilim] to mean 'giants'." (Wikipedia) "Rephaites or Repha'im describe an ancient race of giants in Canaan" in the Bible, according to Wikipedia, but the go-to reference in Deuteronomy 2 is to "a people strong, numerous and tall" (if not gigantic). So Rephaim descend from Nephilim? In any case, if I was Iranian I'd make a point to drop oblique references to Chedorlaomer in any discussion with Christian fundamentalists or Orthodox Jews. "What, you don't recall Chedorlaomer, king of the Elamites? Genesis 14:5 "Chedorlaomer ... [valiantly] smote the Rephaim [an ancient tribe of giants, likely descendants of the Nephilim] in Ashteroth Karnaim" in the VERY FIRST battle to be mentioned in the Old Testament, which then allowed the race of man to multiply and prosper here on God's green earth, giant-free. Yes, the Elamites [then look away and say wistfully] ... my ancestors. [Iranians descend from a mix of Elamites, Medes, ancient Persians, et al.] I thank them every day for appointing Chedorlaomer as their king and for the evil-giant-free life and world that all people everywhere have enjoyed since then and owe to them, including Moses and then Jesus and his mother and all the good people of the Holy Land in his time. Credit where credit's due, don't ya think?" :D

 

- The 'Middle Elamite period' commences @ 1500 B.C. with the rise of the Anshanite dynasties, whose rulers took the title "king of Anshan and Susa" and whose reign was characterized by the "Elamization" of Susa. Local scribes shifted from the use of Akkadian to Elamite, and Elamite language and culture grew in importance in Susiana. The Elamite pantheon was imposed in this period, resulting in the construction of the political and religious complex at Chogha Zanbil, 30 km.s SE in @ 1300 B.C. (See my next 2 photos.) In @ 1175 B.C., the Elamites under Shutruk-Nahhunte plundered Babylon, absconding with the already ancient stele bearing the Code of the Old Babylonian and 6th Amorite king Hammurabi (r 1792-1750 B.C.). The French found it at Susa in 1901. But Nebuchadnezzar I of Neo-Babylon would plunder Susa @ 50 yr.s later. (But, again, Shutruk-Nahhunte, having married the eldest daughter of Melishipak, seems to have laid claim to Babylon, evicting the Kassites and placing his son Kutir-Nahhunte III (r 1158-1155) on the throne. "The Middle Period ends with the sacking of [Susa by Nebuchadrezzar] and with further occupation by Babylonia, from which Elam never fully recovered." (historyfiles.co.uk)

- In the 'Neo-Elamite Period II', a new Elamite state emerged from centuries of Babylonian rule, although not as the powerful state of the late 2nd mill. BC. "Records of the Elamite rulers of this period are poor, with only 5 kings recorded from native sources, while sources from Mesopotamia record 15. However, although the country was politically unstable and under constant threat from Assyria, the Elamites retained control of the Persians to their south, whom they heavily influenced culturally." (historyfiles.co.uk)

 

- NEO-ASSYRIA v. ELAM: "Clashes between the Elamites and the Assyrians had been ongoing for many years prior to 721 BC, the year of their first recorded conflict. For centuries the Elamites would intervene in Babylonian politics, while the Assyrians saw Babylon as within their sphere of influence. In 721 BC, Babylon rebelled against Assyria and Elamite forces attempted to aid the Babylonians in their revolt. The Assyrians and Elamites then clashed at the Tigris in 717 BC, again along the Elamite coast in an amphibious invasion in 694 BC, at the province of Der and again at the River Diyala in 693 BC (these may have been the same battle). [I've also read that in 692-'91 BC, Khumma-Menanu led a coalition of Elamites, the Parsua/Parsuash [Persians], Babylon, Ellipi [in Lorestan], and Anshan against Sennacherib in the Battle of Halule on the Tigris. "The location ... suggests a march by the allies towards the heart of Assyrian-dominated territory."] These battles were generally bloody and inconclusive, but after a failed attack on Babylon in 655 BC, Elamite power soon began to collapse. Aššurbanipal (r. 666-625 BC) invaded in 653, his army assaulted Elamite defensive positions and defeated the Elamites at the river Ulai in the plain of Susa, beheading king Tempti-Khumma-In-Shushinak whilst he attempted to flee in his chariot. Although another Babylonian revolt saved Elam from immediate invasion, it would remain one of the most important objectives in the mind of the next and last great Assyrian King, Aššurbanipal" (r. 666-625 BC).

- "In 648 BC [I've also read 647 and 644], Susa was razed to the ground ["in a sacking that continued for > 50 days" {Bradt}], and in 639 the Assyrians moved their entire army from the west to destroy their enemies; it would be their last and most glorious act of retribution and conquest that the Assyrians had mastered like none before." In the meantime, "civil war had erupted in Elam, and her northern borders had been overrun by the Persians." In 639 BC, Aššurbanipal moved into Elam and proudly recorded his vengeance:

“For a distance of a month and 25 days' journey I devastated the provinces of Elam. Salt and sihlu I scattered over them. ... The dust of Susa, Madaktu, Haltemash and the rest of the cities I gathered together and took to Assyria. ... The noise of people, the tread of cattle and sheep, the glad shouts of rejoicing, I banished from its fields. Wild asses, gazelles and all kinds of beasts of the plain I caused to lie down among them, as if at home." (Aššurbanipal). A tablet discovered by Layard in Nineveh in 1854 refers to Aššurbanipal as an 'avenger', seeking retribution for humiliations that the Elamites had inflicted on the Assyrians over the centuries. In the Rassam Cylinder (quoted above?), Aššurbanipal boasted that he had destroyed the ziggurat of Susa, built from lapis-lazuli bricks, and broke off its horns of gleaming bronze. Assyrian rule of Susa would then last until the downfall of Assyria and the Median capture of Susa 30 yr.s later in 617 B.C.

- What goes around comes around.: "With Elam destroyed, the Assyrians returned to find their empire falling apart; years of war had destroyed their ability to wage it. Within 34 years of Elam's destruction, Assyria fell as an independent political entity." (Wikipedia)

 

- Elam was captured by Cyrus the Great and the Persians from the Neo-Babylonians in 539 B.C. The Nabonidus Chronicle records that, at least prior to the decisive battles of Opis (an ancient city on the Tigris @ 80 km.s north of Baghdad and then at one end of the Median wall) and Sippara, Nabonidus had ordered cult statues from outlying Babylonian cities to be brought into the city of Babylon, which suggests that the conflict over Susa might have begun in the winter of 540 B.C. (Btw, that contemporary chronicle in cuneiform helps to expose the tendency of Herodotus and Xenophon and the author[s] of the 'Book of Daniel' to make shit up and fill in the historical gaps, or to recount folk tales and legends.) Nabonidus had been living in Susa at the time and soon fled to Babylon, the imperial capital, which he hadn't visited in years. Cyrus' conquest of Susa and the rest of Babylonia commenced a fundamental shift and brought Susa under Persian control for the first time. Strabo writes that Cyrus made Susa an imperial capital, but this is in dispute as there was no new construction in that period. Under Cyrus' son Cambyses II, Susa became a center of political power as one of 4 capitals of the Achaemenid Persian empire (the winter capital), while reducing the significance of Pasargadae as the fading capital of Persis. Following Cambyses' brief rule, Darius began a major building program at Susa, his favourite capital, which included construction of the apadana, his famous palace, etc. (See above.) Construction continued under Darius I's son, Xerxes I (in the time of Esther, allegedly), and to a lesser extent, Artaxerxes I (r 465-424 BC) and Darius II (r 423-404 BC). Artaxerxes II (404-358 BC) partially restored the palace as it was destroyed in a fire during the reign of Artaxerxes I, 50 yr.s earlier.

- Susa was captured and plundered by Alexander and the invading Macedonians in December 330 BC (Susa had the ill reputation amongst the Greeks as the despicable home and point of departure of Xerxes I when he set out against Greece and Athens in 480 BC.) Alexander presided over a mass wedding there in 324 BC /b/ Persian women and his Macedonian troops. Persian custom permits polygamy, and so Alexander's marriage to Roxana of Sogdiana, the daughter of a Bactrian chief, wasn't a hindrance. His 2nd wife was Stateira II, eldest daughter of the late Darius III. Alexander may have taken a 3rd wife at the same ceremony, Parysatis, the youngest daughter of Artaxerxes III (Darius III's late great-uncle and a former Persian king in his own right). Hephaestion married Stateira's sister, Drypetis. To Seleucus Alexander gave Apama, the daughter of Spitamenes the Bactrian, and likewise to the other companions the daughters of the most notable Medes and Persians, 80 in all. Ptolemy I Soter married Artakama, daughter of Artabazus of Phrygia. "The weddings were solemnized in the Persian fashion: chairs were placed for the bridegrooms in order of precedence; following toasts the brides entered and sat down each by her groom, who took them by the hand and kissed them. The king was the first to be married." upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/The_weddings_...(late_19th_century_engraving).jpg Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, Roxana murdered Stateira and possibly her sister, to remove competition in the succession. All surviving Macedonian officers except Seleucus divorced their Persian wives, ending any pretense at Macedonian-Persian unity. In 320 BC, at the division of Alexander's new, short-lived empire by his rival generals (the Diadochi), Antigenes, one of the 3 murderers of Perdiccas, was made satrap of the former Persian province of Susiana. He was burned alive by Antigonus in 316 BC, and Susiana was then drawn into Antigonus' empire. One outcome of the 3rd War of the Diadochi, 314-311 BC, was that Seleucus regained Babylonia. Following the 4th War of the Diadochi (306-301 BC) and the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Seleucus came to rule all Hellenic territory from Syria eastwards, incl. Susiana, where the Seleucids would reign until 147 BC.

- Susa retained its importance under the Seleucids for @ a century after Alexander, however the imperial capital was moved to Seleucia on the Tigris, while Susa became the regional capital of the satrapy of Susiana and was renamed Seleucia on the Eulaeus or Seleucia ad Eulaeum. It retained its economic importance to the empire with its large population of merchants, who used the port of Charax Spasinou. Seleucus I Nicator minted coins at Susa in substantial quantities. The site is rich in Greek inscriptions, and large, well-equipped peristyle (Greek) houses have been excavated in the royal precincts. The Seleucid emperor Antiochus III 'the Great' (whose parents were nephew and aunt) was born near Susa in @ 242 B.C.

- Susa and the adjacent Elymais broke free from Seleucid rule in @ 147 B.C. The city was at least briefly ruled by the Elymais as Kamnaskires II Nikephoros minted coins there. From the reign of Phraates II (@ 138-127 B.C.) to Gotarzes II (@ 40-51 A.D.) most rulers of the Parthian Empire minted coins in Susa, and so it must've been under Parthian control over that period. But the city retained some relative independence and its Greek city-state organization well into the Parthian period. Susa was a frequent place of refuge for Parthian and, later, Sassanian kings as the Romans sacked Ctesiphon 5 X /b/ 116 and 297 AD. Susa was briefly captured in 116 by Trajan in the course of his Parthian campaign (which again was Rome's easternmost penetration).

- 'Suzan' was conquered and destroyed by Ardashir I Babakan in 224 AD, but was promptly rebuilt ("in the shape of a falcon ... according to Hamdullah Mustaufi" [L. Lockhart]), and it's possible that it served briefly as a royal residence. According to a later tradition, Shapur I is said to have spent his twilight years in the city, although this tradition is uncertain and might refer to Shapur II. Following the foundation of Gundeshapur, Susa slowly lost its importance under the Sassanians. It became less densely populated than it had been under the Parthians, but there were still significant bldg.s and the settlement extended > 400 ha.s in area. The city's importance as a centre of trade, particularly in gold, continued, and coins continued to be minted there. The city was home to a Christian community in a separate district, and was made a Nestorian bishopric in the 4th cent., the last representative of which is attested to in 1265. But with the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in 312 during the reign of Shapur II, Christians came to be regarded with suspicion as potential collaborators with the Romans and then the Byzantines. Shapur II (r 309-379) imposed a double tax on them during his campaign against the Romans, which led to a rebellion by local Christians at Susa. The first occupant of the see, a Mede named Miles, met with such opposition from the locals that he was forced to leave Susa, having called down the wrath of the Almighty upon them. 3 mos. later in 339, having received word of the Christian revolt at Susa, the king sent an army accompanied by 300 elephants to subdue them, which razed the walls and most of the bldg.s. He later had the city rebuilt and resettled with prisoners of war and weavers following his victory over the Romans at Amida in 359. The city became a centre for the production of silk brocade, and Shapur II renamed it Eran-Khwarrah-Shapur ('Iran's glory [built by] Shapur').

- During the Muslim conquest an Arab army invaded Khuzistan under the command of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari. After taking most of the smaller fortified towns the army captured Tustar [Shustar] in 642 and then laid siege to Susa. There are 2 accounts in Muslim sources as to how the city fell. In the first, a Persian priest proclaimed from the walls that only a dajjal (an Al-Masih ad-Dajjal, a false messiah analogous to the Antichrist in Christianity, or a 'deceiver' or 'imposter' in common usage) was fated to capture the city. Siyah, a Persian general who had defected to the Muslim side, claimed that by converting to Islam he had turned his back on Zoroastrianism and was thus a dajjal. He had a plan to which Abu Musa agreed. Soon after sunrise one morning, the sentries saw a man in a Persian officer's uniform covered in blood and lying on the ground before the main gate. Thinking he had been left there following the fighting the previous day, they opened the gate and some came out to collect him, but as they approached Siyah jumped up and slew them. Before the other sentries had time to react, Siyah and a small group of Muslim soldiers hidden nearby charged through the open gate and held it open long enough for Muslim reinforcements to arrive and pass through to take the city.

- In the 2nd account, again the Muslims were taunted from the city walls that only an Al-Masih ad-Dajjal could capture the city, and as there were none in the besieging army then they may as well give up and go home. One of the Muslim commanders was so angry and frustrated at this taunt that he went up to one of the gates and kicked it. Instantly the chains snapped, the locks broke and it fell open. Following their entry into the city, the Muslims slew all the Persian nobles.

- Susa recovered following its capture by the Army of Islam and remained a regional centre, > 400 ha.s in area. A mosque was built, but Susa remained a diocese of the Church of the East until the 13th cent. (which it had been since the 4th) with a significant Christian population in the metropolitan province of Beth Huzaye (Elam), and home to a Jewish community with its own synagogue, and remained a manufacturing centre of luxury fabrics and rich ceramics during this period. But the city was razed by the rampaging Mongols in 1218 and never regained its prior stature. Most of its populace moved to Dezful in the 15th cent.

- The foundations of one of the oldest or earliest mosques in Iran were discovered at Susa (which I don't recall), with a plan based upon that of the mosque at Medina. Coins found on-site indicate that it was built in the 1st century of the hijra.

 

- There's a small but interesting archaeological museum in Shush today but no one mentioned it, nor did my LP guide, so I think it might've been closed for repairs and renovation in 2000, having been so since the Iran-Iraq war 11 yr.s earlier, like the one at Haft Tappeh.

- Another miss, the "remains of another Achaemenid palace [which] came to light during ploughing in 1969, across the river [from the Susa site and NW of the tomb of Daniel], ... an apadana of 64 columns, likely constructed on the orders of Artaxerxes II Mnemon (r. 404-359 BC)", Milton's 'Memnonia palace high', with clearly visible foundations and low column bases, but cerebral today.

Done