Ancient site · City
Susa
Also known as Shush
One of the oldest cities in the world, in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran, between the Karkheh and Dez rivers. It was founded around 4200 BCE, became the capital of Elam, and later served as a capital of the Persian kings, who built a great palace here.
The famous law code stele of Hammurabi was found at Susa in 1901, where Elamite raiders had carried it. The modern town of Shush stands on the site.
- Dates
- c. 4200 BCE – 1218 CE
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 32.19° N, 48.26° E
How we know
Excavated since the 1850s and named in Elamite, Mesopotamian, Persian and Greek writings.
Nearby sites
- Chogha Zanbil c. 1250–645 BCE
- Ur (ziggurat and Royal Cemetery) c. 3800–500 BCE; Royal Cemetery c. 2600 BCE; ziggurat 21st century BCE
- Behistun inscription carved c. 520 BCE
- Eridu c. 5400–600 BCE
- Uruk (Eanna and the White Temple) c. 5000 BCE – c. 700 CE; Eanna and White Temple c. 3500–3100 BCE
- Etemenanki, the ziggurat of Babylon origins perhaps 18th century BCE; rebuilt 7th–6th century BCE; demolished 323 BCE