SUSA (Gr. ῥά Σούσα), called in the Bible SHUSHAN (Heb. שושן), an ancient city of the Persian empire, capital of the province of Susiana, and one of the residences of the court. There has been some difficulty in the exact identification of the site of this celebrated city, on account of the brief and sometimes obscure notices of ancient writers, and our imperfect knowledge of the geography of these regions. It stood, according to the testimony both of profane writers and of the prophet Daniel (ch. viii. 2-16), on the river Eulæus or Ulai (אֱלֵיָהּ); but this river itself cannot be very certainly identified. The Choaspes, which flowed to the west of Susa, is generally believed to be the modern Kerkhab. The Coprates is identified with the river of Diz, and the Pasitigris with the Kuran, into which the former falls; but about the Eulæus modern investigators have differed considerably. Major Rawlinson supposes it to be the upper part of the Kuran, above its confluence with the river of Diz; and he thinks that the Hebrew Shushan was different from Susa, and identical with the modern Susan on the Kuran. Others hold that the Eulæus is the small river Shapur, an affluent of the river of Diz, and that the ruins of Shush, near the former stream, mark the site of Susa or Shusan. A third opinion is, that, while Shush represents the ancient Susa, the Eulæus does not correspond with any of the present rivers, but was a branch of the Choaspes flowing past Susa into the Coprates. (On this question see a number of papers in the Royal Geographical Society's Journal, vols. iii., ix., xii., xvi., and xxvii.) It is pretty certain that the ruins of Shush are those of the ancient Susa; for by recent excavations, there have been discovered there the remains of two palaces, one of which has a magnificent colonnade, similar in size and structure to that of Persepolis; and the columns have inscriptions in three languages, stating that the building was begun by Darius Hystaspes, who, according to Pliny, was the founder of Susa. The name of the city is said to have been derived from a Persian word signifying a lily, on account of the abundance of those in the neighbourhood. It
was about 120 stadia, or about 15 miles in circumference, and was surrounded with a wall of brick. The climate of Susa was very salubrious, and the Persian monarchs used to make it their residence during the spring months. It was also the seat of the principal treasury of the empire, and vast sums of money were found here by Alexander, and some treasures were still left in subsequent times, even after they had been plundered by him. There is a monument in the neighbourhood, said to be the tomb of Daniel, but manifestly of modern origin.