Susa
Susa, historically known as Shushan, is an ancient city located in southwestern Iran, near the foot of the Zagros Mountains and alongside the river Choaspes. It served as the capital of Susiana and became a significant center during the Achaemenid Empire, particularly as the residence of Persian kings, starting with Darius I. Following the conquest by Alexander the Great, the city was refounded as Seleucia on the Eulaeus and continued to thrive under subsequent rulers, including the Seleucids. In the second century BCE, Susa achieved a degree of independence under the Kamnaskires dynasty, which minted its own coinage reflecting both local and Hellenistic influences. The city's rich cultural tapestry included elements from Persian, Babylonian, Syrian, Jewish, and Anatolian traditions, showcased in local decrees and poetry, often written in Greek. Susa maintained a unique identity, evidenced by its Greek constitution and local worship of gods like Nanaia, associated with Artemis. The historical significance of Susa lies in its role as a vibrant hub of diverse cultures and political power throughout ancient history.
Susa
Earlier Shushan, Shush (later Seleucia on the Eulaeus), the capital of Susiana (Elymais, formerly Elam), now in southwestern Iran
Susa lay at the foot of the Zagros Mountains near the river Choaspes or Eulaeus (of which part was known as the Pasitigris from at least c 400 BCE; precise identifications with the courses of the modern rivers Karkheh [or Kercha], Ab-i-Diz, Khersan and Karun are impossible owing to hydrographic changes). The place served as the chief residence of the Achaemenian Persian monarchs since Darius I (521–486), and after the suppression of their kingdom by Alexander the Great it provided the mint for a victory coinage issued by Seleucus I Nicator (c 304). The city was refounded as Seleucia on the Eulaeus by a Seleucid monarch; this colony is first heard of under Antiochus III the Great (223–187), but is probably earlier.
In about the middle of the second century Susiana achieved independence under a dynasty whose kings bore the name of Kamnaskires. The first of these monarchs, surnamed Nicephorus, struck silver coins imitating Seleucid mintages. Kamnaskires II (c 82) struck pieces with the busts of himself and his queen Anzaze, while a seated Zeus holding a figure of Nike appears on the reverse. Abundant bronze coinages, issued from the time of Kamnaskires IV (c 72) onward, bear the portraits of Parthian kings after the first century CE. Their inscriptions are in barbarously formed Greek letters or in Chaldaeo-Pahlavi script.
However, Susa-Seleucia long retained a Greek constitution and the rank of a city-state, as inscriptional evidence of 21 CE confirms. Its local decrees were framed in Greek, and its citizens produced a number of poems, including a lyric ode of the first century BCE addressed to Apollo. But the poet gives him his Syrian title of Mara; and the city goddess was the Elamite Nanaia, equated with Artemis. Traces of Persian, Babylonian, Syrian, Jewish, and Anatolian elements can be detected in records of the ancient population.
Bibliography
De Graef, Katrien, and Jan Tavernier, editors. Susa and Elam. Archaeological, Philological, Historical and Geographical Perspectives. Brill, 2013.
Harper, Prudence O., et al., editors. The Royal City of Susa. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992.
Kia, Mehrdad. The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. 2 vols. ABC-CLIO, 2016.
McDowell, Robert. Coins from Seleucia on the Tigris. U of Michigan P, 1935.
"Seleucia (Baghdad, Iraq)." Middle East and Africa. Vol. 4 of International Dictionary of Historic Places, edited by Sharon La Boda, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1996.