the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Shushan
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Shushan', ]שׁוּשִׁ; Sept. Σουσάν and Σοῦσα; Vulg. Susa), or SUSA, one of the most important towns in the East, in which the kings of Persia had their winter residence (Daniel 8:2; Nehemiah 1:1; Esther 1:2; Esther 1:5). It is said to have received its name from the abundance of the lily (Shushan, or Shushanah) in its neighborhood (Athen. 12, 513). In the following account we collect the archaeological information on this subject.
I. History. — Susa was originally the capital of the country called in Scripture Elam, and by the classical writers sometimes Cissia (Κισσία ), sometimes Susis, or Susiana. (See ELAM). Its foundation is thought to date from a time anterior to Chedorlaomer, as the remains found on the site have often a character of very high antiquity. The first distinct mention of the town that has been as yet found is in the inscriptions of Asshur-bani- pal, the son and successor of Esar-haddon, who states that he took the place, and exhibits a ground plan of it upon his sculptures (Lavard. Nin. and Bab. p. 452, 453). The date of this monummesnt is about B.C. 660. We next find Susa in the possession of the Babylonians, to whom Elam had probably passed at the division of the Assyrian empire made by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar. In the last year of Belshazzar (B.C. 536), Daniel, while still a Babylonian subject, is there on the king's business, and "at Shushan in the palace" sees his famous vision of the ram and he goat (Daniel 8:2). The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus transferred Susa to the Persian dominioin; and it was not long before the Achaemenian princes determined to make it the capital of their whole empire and the chief place of their own residence. According to some writers (Xenoph. Cyrop. 8, 6, 22; Strabo, 15, 3, 2), the change was made by Cyrus; according to others (Ctesias, Pers. Exc. 9; Herod. 3, 30, 65, 70), it had at any rate taken place before the death of Cambyses; but, according to the evidence of the place itself and of the other Achaemenian monuments, it would seem most probable that the transfer was really the work of Darius Hystaspis, who is found to have been (as Pliny says, H.N. 6, 27) the founder of the great palace there — the building so graphically described in the book of Esther (Esther 1:5-6).
The reasons which induced the change are tolerably apparent. After the conquest of Babylonia and Egypt, the western provinces of the empire had become by far the most important, and the court could no longer be conveniently fixed east of Zagros, either at Ecbatana (Hamadan) or at Pasargadae (Murgaub), which were cut off from the Mesopotamian plain by the difficulty of the passes for fully one half of the year. Not only were the passes difficult, but they were in the possession of semi-independent tribes, who levied a toll on all passengers, even the Persian kings themselves (Strabo, 15, 3, 4). It was necessary to find a capital west of the mountains, and here Babylon and Susa presented themselves, each with its peculiar advantages. Darius probably preferred Susa, first, on account of its vicinity to Persia (ibid. 15, 3, 2); secondly, because it was cooler than Babylon, being nearer the mountain chain; and, thirdly, because of the excellence of the water there (Geograph. Journ. 9, 70). Susa accordingly became the metropolis of Persia, and is recognized as such by Aeschylus (Pers. 16, 124, etc.), Herodotus (5, 25, 49, etc.), Ctesias (Pers. Exc. passim), Strabo (15, 3, 2), and almost all the best writers. The court must. have resided there during the greater part of the year, only quitting it regularly for Ecbatana or Persepolis in the height of summer, and perhaps sometimes leaving it for Babylon in the depth of winter (see Rawlinson, Herod. 3, 256). Susa retained its pre-eminence to the period of the Macedonian conquest, when Alexander found there above twelve millions sterling and all the regalia of the Great King (Arrian, Exp. Alex. 3, 16). After this it declined. The preference of Alexander for Babylon caused the neglect of Susa by his successors, none of whom ever made it their capital city. We hear of it once only in their wars, when it falls into the power of Antigonus (B.C. 315), who obtains treasure there to the amount of three millions and a half sterling (Diod. Sic. 19, 48, 7). Nearly a century later (B.C. 221) Susa was attacked by Molo in his rebellion against Antiochus the Great. He took the town, but failed in his attempt upon the citadel (Polyb. 5, 48, 14). We hear of it again at the time of the Arabian conquest of Persia, when it was bravely defended by Hormuzan (Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, p. 344).
II. Position, etc. — A good deal of uncertainty has existed concerning the position of Susa. While most historians and comparative geographers (Rennel, Geog. of Herodotus; Kinneir, Mem. Pers. Empire; Porter [K.], Travels, 2, 4, 11; Ritter, Erdkunde Asiens, 9, 294; Pictorial Bible, on Daniel 8:2) have inclined to identify it with the modern Sus, or Shush, which is in lat. 320 10', long. 48° 26' east from Greenwich, between the Shapur and the river of Dizful, there have not been wanting some (Vincent, Commerce and Navig. of the Ancients; Von Hammer, in Mem. of the Geog. Soc. of Paris, 2, 320 sq., 333 sq.) to maintain the rival claims of Shuster, which is situated on the left bank of the Kuran, more than half a degree farther to the eastward. A third candidate for the honor has even been started, and it has been maintained with much learning and ingenuity that Susan, on the right bank of the same stream, fifty or sixty miles above Shuster, is, if not the Susa of the Greeks and Romans, at any rate the Shushan of Scripture (Geogr. Journ. 9, 85). But a careful examination of these several spots has finally caused a general acquiescence in the belief that Sus alone is entitled to the honor of representing at once the scriptural Shushan and the Susa of the classical writers (see Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, p. 338; Smith, Dict. of Geog. s.v.; Rawlinson, Herod. 3, 254).
The difficulties caused by the seemingly confused accounts of the ancient writers, of whom some place Susa on the Choaspes (Herod. 5, 49, 52; Strabo, 15, 3, 4; Q. Curt. 5, 2), some on the Eulaeus (Arrian, Exp. Al. 7, 7; Ptolem. 6, 3; Pliny, H.N. 6, 27), have been removed by a careful survey of the ground; and it thus appears that the Choaspes (Kerkhah) originally bifurcated at Pai Pul, twenty miles above Susa, the right arm keeping its present course, while the left flowed a little to the east of Sus, and. absorbing the Shapur about twelve miles below the ruins, flowed on somewhat east of south and joined the Karun (Pasitigris) at Ahwaz. The left branch of the Choaspes was sometimes called by that name, but more properly bore the appellation of Eulaeus (Ulai of Daniel). Susa thus lay between the two streams of the Eulaeus and the Shapur, the latter of which, being probably joined to the Eulaeus by canals, was reckoned a part of it; and hence Pliny says that the Eulaeus surrounded the citadel of Susa (loc. cit.). At the distance of a few miles east and west of the city were two other streams — the Coprates, or river of Dizful, and the right arm of the Choaspes (the modern Kerkhah). Thus the country about Susa was most abundantly watered; and hence the luxuriance and fertility remarked alike by ancient and modern authors (Athen. 12, 513; Geograph. Journ. 9, 71). The Kerkhah water was, moreover, regarded as of peculiar excellence; it was the only water drunk by the Great King, and was always carried with him on his journeys and foreign expeditions (Herod. 1, 188; Plutarch, De Exil. 2, 601, D; Athen. Deipn. 2, 171, etc.). Even at the present day it is celebrated for its lightness and purity, and the natives prize it above that of almost all other streams (Geogr. Journ. 9, 70, 89).
On this site there are extensive ruins, stretching, perhaps, twelve miles from one extremity to the other, and consisting, like the other ruins of this region, of hillocks of earth and rubbish covered with broken pieces of brick and colored tile. At the foot of these mounds is the so called Tomb of Daniel, a small building erected on the spot where the remains of that prophet are locally believed to rest. It is apparently modern; yet nothing but the belief that this was the site of the prophet's sepulchre could have led to its being built in the place where it stands (Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, 1, 255, 256); and it may be added that such identifications are of far more value in these parts, where occasion for them is rare, than among the crowded "holy places" of Palestine. The city of Shus is now a gloomy wilderness infested by lions, hyenas, and other beasts of prey.
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