📷 Saeedhamedian · Wikimedia Commons

Where in the world

Iran

Susa

Persian (Achaemenid) · Iran

Field notes

civilizations: Persian (Achaemenid)
types: City
built: 4,000 BCE
occupied: 4,400 BCE — 1,218 CE
country: Iran

The site

Susa is one of the great cities of the Ancient Near East, set in the lower Zagros foothills of Iran and occupied from around 4400 BCE deep into the medieval era. It served as the capital of Elam and later the winter capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, its palace anchoring imperial power. The site remained a strategic center through the Parthian and Sasanian periods, and survives today beneath the town of Shush.

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