Susa, << SOO sah, >> called Shush in the Farsi language, was once a capital of the ancient Kingdom of Elam and of the Persian Empire. Its partly uncovered ruins lie in the province of Khuzestan, in southwestern Iran.
Susa was founded around 4000 B.C. It is mentioned many times in Mesopotamian texts and in the Bible, where it is called Shushan. The Old Testament story of Esther took place in Susa. The tomb of the Biblical figure Daniel is said to be there. French archaeologists unearthed a famous group of Babylonian laws, called the Code of Hammurabi, in Susa’s ruins in 1901 and 1902.
The Assyrians plundered Susa in 640 B.C. Around 520 B.C., Darius I built a palace in Susa and made it a capital of the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great conquered Susa in the late 300’s B.C. One of his successors, Seleucus I, refounded Susa as Seleucia-on-the-Elaios. The city declined after the A.D. 300’s.
