Sajun.org
'''Susa''' was an ancient city of the
Babylonian,
Persian and
Parthian empires, located about 150 miles east of the
Tigris River in the southeastern portion of the modern nation of
Iran. Today, the ancient city is a massive field of ruins, but a modern city sharing its name (
Shush) is located nearby.
Susa, derived from the word ''shushan'', meaning "
lily" in the ancient
Semitic tongues, is one of the oldest known settlements of the
Mesopotamian civilization, probably founded about 4000 BC. It is frequently mentioned in the
Old Testament of the
Christian Bible and in the
Jewish Tanakh. The Hebrew prophets
Daniel and
Nehemiah lived in Susa during the
Babylonian captivity of Judah of the sixth century BC.
Esther became queen there and saved the Jews from genocide.
Prior to that, Susa had been the capital of the ancient
Elamite Empire before passing under control of Babylon. It was part of both Babylonian empires as well as the
Assyrian Empire and was captured by the
Achaemenid Persians under
Cyrus the Great in
538 BC. Under Cyrus' son
Cambyses II, the capital of the empire moved from
Pasargadae to Susa.
The city lost some of its importance when
Alexander the Great conquered it in
323 BC and destroyed the first Persian Empire, but after Alexander's vast empire collapsed upon his death, Susa became one of the two capitals (along with
Ctesiphon) of Parthia. Susa became a frequent place of refuge for Parthian and later the Persian
Sassanid kings, as the
Romans sacked Ctesiphon five different times between AD
116 and
297. Typically, the Parthian rulers wintered in Susa and spent the summer in Ctesiphon.
The Roman emperor
Trajan captured Susa in
116, but soon was forced to withdraw due to revolts in his rear areas. This advance marked the greatest eastern penetration by the Romans.
Susa was destroyed at least twice in its history. In
647 BC, the Assyrian king
Assurbanipal leveled the city during the course of a war in which the people of Susa apparently participated on the other side. The second sack of Susa took place in
639, when the
Saracens conquered Persia in the name of
Islam. The ancient city was gradually abandoned in the years that followed.
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'''Susa''' is also the name of a city in
Piedmont,
Italy. It is situated on a tributary of the
Po, at the foot of the
Cottian Alps, 51
km (32
mi) west of
Turin. Its cathedral dates back to 1029, and a triumphal arch was erected by the Romanized Sugusian chief to
Augustus in 8 BC.
de:Susa ja:スーサ pl:Suza
