SIIUSHAN
717.
SHUSHAN
there to the amount of three millions and a half ster- ling (Diod. Sic. xix, 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. v, 48, 14). We hear of it again at the time of the Arabian con- quest of Persia, when it was bravely defended by Hor- rouzan (Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 344).
II. Position, etc. — A good deal of uncertainty has ex- isted concerning the position of Susa. While most his- torians and comparative geographers (Rennel, Geoff. of Herodotus; Kinneir, Mem. Pers. Empire; Porter [K.], Travels, ii, 4, 11 ; Ritter, Erdkvnde Asiens, ix, 294; Pic- torial Bible, on Dan. viii, 2) have inclined to identify it with the modern Sas,oT Shush, \w\\ich is in lat. 32' 10', long. 48^ 26' east from Greenwich, between the Sha- pur and the river of Dizful, there have not been want- ing some (Vincent, Commerce and Navig. of the An- cients; Von Hammer, in Mem. of the Geo//. Soc. of Par- is, ii, 320 sq., 333 sq.) to maintain the rival claims of Shuster, which is situated on the left bank of the Ku- ran, 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 Shu- shan of Scripture {Geoff?: Jouru. ix, 85). But a careful examination of these several spots has finally caused a general acquiescence in the belief that Sus alone is en- titled to the honor of representing at once the scriptu- ral Shushan and the Susa of the classical writers (see Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 338 ; Smith, Diet, of Geoff. s. v. ; Rawlinson, Herod, iii, 254 ). The difficulties caused by the seemingly confused accounts of the ancient writers, of whom some place Susa on the Choaspes (Herod, v, 49, 52 ; Strabo, xv, 3, 4 ; Q. Curt. V, 2), some on the Euteus (Arrian, Exp, A I. vii, 7 ; Ptolera. vi, 3; Pliny, //. A', vi, 27), have been removed by a careful survey of the ground; and it thus ap- pears that the Choaspes (Kerkhah) originally bifur- cated 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 some- what east of south and joined the Karun (Pasitigris) at Ahwaz. The left branch of the Choaspes was some- times called by that name, but more properly bore the
Plan of the Ruins of Susa.
appellation of EuliEus (Ulai of Daniel). Susa thus lay between tlie two streams of the Eula3us and the Sha- pur, tlie latter of which, being probably joined to the Eulseus by canals, was reckoned a part of it; and hence Pliny says that the Euhcus 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 luxuri- ance and fertility remarked alike by ancient and mod- ern authors (Athen. xii, 513; Geograph.Journ. ix, 71), The Kerkhah water was, moreover, regarded as of pecul- iar excellence ; it was the only water drunk by the Great King, and was always carried with him on his journeys and foreign expeditions (Herod, i, 188 ; Plutarch, De Exil. ii, 601, D; Athen. Deipn. ii, 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. ix, 70, 89).
On this site there are extensive ruins, stretching, per- haps, 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 be- lieved 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 (llalcolm. Hist, of Persia, i, 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 Pales- tine. The cit}' of Shiis is now a gloom}' wilderness in- fested by lions, hyenas, and other beasts of prey.
III. (Jeneral Description of the Ruins. — The ruins of Susa cover a space about 6000 feet long from east to west, by 4500 feet broad from north to south. The cir- cumference of the whole, exclusive of outlying and com- paratively insignificant mounds, is about three miles. According to Mr. Loftus, " the principal existing re- mains consist of four spacious artificial platforms dis- tinctly separate from each other. Of these the western mound is the smallest in superficial extent, but consid- erably the most lofty and important. ... Its highest point is 1 19 feet above the level of the Shaour (Shapur). In form it is an irregular obtuse-angled triangle, with its corners rounded off and its base facing nearly due east. It is apparently con- structed of earth, gravel, and sun-dried brick, sec- tions being exposed in nu- merous ravines produced by the rains of winter. The sides are so perpendicular as to be inaccessible to a horseman except at three places. The measurement round the summit is about 2850 feet. In the centre is a deep, circular depression, probably a large court, sur- rounded by elevated piles of buildings, the fall of which has given the present con- figuration to the surface. Here and there are exposed in the ravines traces of brick walls which show that the present elevation of the mound has been at- tained by much subsequent superposition" ( Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 343). Mr. Loftus rearards this mound