Susa , ancient city, capital of Elam. The site is 15 mi (23 km) SW of modern Dizful, Iran. It is the biblical Shushan,
and its inhabitants were called Susanchites. From the 4th millennium
B.C., Elam was under the cultural influence of Mesopotamia. Excavations at Susa uncovered
the stele of Naram-sin and the code of Hammurabi, which were among the
many art objects carried off by the Elamites from Babylonia. Destroyed
in the 7th cent. B.C. by Assurbanipal, Susa was revived in the empire of the Achaemenid rulers of
Persia. Darius I and Artaxerxes I built magnificent winter palaces in
the city. Susa was later thoroughly Hellenized and continued prominent
in the Roman Empire.
