7. Ttuins of Susa.
2. The higU mound or citadel (?)
3> The palace.
4.' The ^TOftt platform.
5. Rains of the dtjr.
SHUSIIAN^
718
SIIUSHAN
as indubitably the remains of the famous citadel (aKpa or aKfjoTToXic) of Susa so freiiuently nieiitioned by the ancient writers (Herod, iii, 0?^; Polyb. v, 4!S, 14; Strabo, XV, o. "2; Arrian, Krp. Al. iii. IG, etc.). "'Separated from the citadel on tlie west by a channel or ravine, the bottom of which is on a level with the external desert, is the great central platform, covering upwards of sixty acres (No. 3 on the plan). The higiiest point is on tiie south side, where it presents generally a perpendicular escarpment to the ]ilain and rises to an elevation of about 70 feet ; on the east and north it iloes not exceed 40 or 50 feet. The east face meas- ures 3000 feet in length. Enormous ravines penetrate to the very heart of the mound" (Loftus, p. 34.5). The tlnrd platform (No. 2 on the plan) lies towards the north and is "a considerable scpiare mass," about 1000 I'eet each way. It abuts on the central platform at its north-western extremity, but is separated from it by "a slight hollow," which was, perhaps, an ancient road- way (^ibid.). These three mounds form together a lozenge-shaped mass, 4500 feet long and nearly 3000 feet broad, i>ointing in its longer direction a little west of north. East of them is the fourth platform, which is very extensive, but of much lower elevation than the rest (No. 4 on the plan). Its plan is very irregu- lar: in its dimensions it about equals all the rest of the ruins put together. Beyond this eastern platform a number of low mounds are traceable, extending near- ly to the Dizful river; but there are no remains of walls in any direction, and no marks of any buildings west of the Shapur. All the ruins are contained with- in a circumference of about seven miles (^Geor/raph. Joiirn. ix, 71). See Plumptre, Bible Educator, iii, 105. lY. Architectural Character. — The explorations un- dertaken by general, now Sir Fenwick, Williams of Kars in the mounds at Susa, in the year 1^!51, resulted in the discovery of the bases of three columns, marked 5, 6, 7 on the following plan. These were found to be twenty-seven feet six inches apart from centre to centre; and as they were very similar to the bases of the great hall known popularly as the Chel Minar at Persepolis, it was assumed that another row would be found at a like distance inwards. Holes were accord- ingly dug, and afterwards trenches driven, without any successful result, as it happened to be on the spot where the walls originally stood, and where no columns, con- sequently, could have existed. Had any trustworthy restoration of the Persepolitan hall been published at that time, the mistake would have been avoided; but ns none then existed, the op])ortunity was nearly lost for our becoming ac<iuainted with one of the most in- teresting ruins connected with IJible history which now exist out of Syria. Fortunately, in the following year Mr. Loftus resumed the excavations with more success, and ascertained the position of all the seventy-two col- umns of which the original building was composed. Only one l)ase had been entirely removed, and as that was in the midst of the central phalanx its absence threw no doubt on any part of tlie arrangement. On the bases of four of the columns thus imcovered (shaded darker on the plan, and innnbered 1,'2, 3, 4) were found trilingual inscrifitions in the languages adopted bj' the Acliasmenian kings at Hehistun and elsewhere, but all were so mucli injured by the fall of the superincum- bent mass tliat not one was complete, and, unfortunate- ly, the PiTsian text, wiiich could have been read with most (•eriainty, was the least perfect of any. Notwith- standing this, Mr, Edwin Norris, with his usual ingenu- ity, l)v a careful comfiarisou of the whole, ma<tc out the meaning of the first part certaiidy, of the latter half with ver\' tolerai)le precision. As this inscription con- tains nearly all we know of the history of this building, we (luoie it entire fnmi .loiirii. As. iSac. xv, l(>2 : '■ Says Artaxerxes (^Inemon), the great king, the king of kings, the king of the country, the king of the earth, the son of king Darius — Darius was the son of king Artaxerxes— Artaxer.xes was the son of Xerxes — Xer.x-
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Plan of the Great Palace at Susa.
es was the son of king Darius — Darius was the son of Hvstaspes the Acha?menian — Darius my ancestor an- ciently built this temple, and afterwards it was repair- ed by Artaxerxes my grantlfatber. By the aid of Or- mazd I placed the effigies of Tanaites and Mithra in this temple. May Ormazd, Tanaites, and Mithra pro- tect me, with the other gods, and all that I have done." The bases uncovered by Mr. Loftus were arranged as on the second plan above, and, most fortunately, it is found on examination that the building was an exact counterpart of the celebrated Chel Minar at Persepolis. They are, in fact, more like each other than almost any other two buildings of antiquity, and consequently what is wanting in the one may safely be supplied from the other, if it exists there. Their age is nearly the same, that at Susa having been commenced by Darius Hystas- pis, that at Persepolis — if one may trust the inscription on its staircase {.loui-n. As. Sue. x, 32G) — was built entirely bv Xerxes. Their dimensions are practically identical, the width of that at Susa, according to Mr. Loftus, being 345 feet, the depth north and south 244. The corre- sponding dimensions at Persepolis, according to Flandin and Coste's survey, are 357.6 by 254.6, or frorn 10 to 12 feet in excess; but the dif- ference may arise as much from imperfect surveying as from any real discrepan- cy. The number of columns and their arrangement are identical in the two build- ings, and the details of the architecture are practically the same so far as they can be made out. But as no yiil- lar is standing at Susa, and no capital was found entire or nearly so, it is not easy to feel quite sure that the an- nexed restoration is in all re- spects correct. It is reduced from one made l)y!Mr.("hurch- ill, who accompanied Mr. Loftus in his ex])lorations. If it l)e correct, it appears that the great difference be- tween the two buildings was that doidile l)ull capitals were used in the interior of the ccnir.'d square hall at Susa, while their use was appropri- ately coutined to the p<irti-