Susa #100

Susa, called Shushan in older English translations, was one of the great capitals of the ancient Near East. It lay in the region of Elam, in what is now southwestern Iran, and under the Persian kings it became one of the principal royal residences. The Bible mentions it as the setting of most of the book of Esther and as a place where Nehemiah and Daniel each received important moments in their careers.

Biblical Significance

The book of Esther opens by saying that King Ahasuerus, generally identified with Xerxes I, reigned from India to Cush over 127 provinces from his throne in Susa, the citadel (Esther 1:1-2). Much of the story takes place there: the banquets, the removal of Queen Vashti, the elevation of Esther, the plot of Haman, and the decree against the Jews that threw the city into confusion even as the king and Haman sat down to drink (Esther 2:5-8; 3:15). Esther asked the Jews of Susa to fast on her behalf before she approached the king (Esther 4:16). Later, when Haman’s plot was reversed, the Jews of Susa were allowed to defend themselves, and the celebration of Purim marks that deliverance (Esther 8:15; 9:6-19).

Nehemiah was living in Susa in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes when his brother Hanani and others brought news that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and its gates burned. He wept and prayed for days (Nehemiah 1:1-4). As the king’s cupbearer, he was granted permission to travel to Jerusalem and rebuild the city (Nehemiah 2:1-8). Daniel writes that in a vision, he was in Susa, the citadel, in the province of Elam, beside the Ulai canal (Daniel 8:1-2). Ezra also lists people from Susa among the groups who opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:9).

Today

Susa’s ruins lie beside the modern Iranian town of Shush in Khuzestan province. It is among the oldest continuously settled places in the region, with a history reaching back to the fourth millennium BC. Darius I, who built the great palace at Susa, left inscriptions describing how materials and craftsmen from across his empire were brought to build it. French archaeologists have excavated the site since the 1880s. Among the finds taken to the Louvre in Paris was the stele bearing the law code of Hammurabi, discovered at Susa in 1901 and 1902, where it had been carried as spoil by Elamite raiders long before. A building in Shush known as the Tomb of Daniel is revered by local tradition, though the identification cannot be verified.