Bible Synapse
Palace of Darius at Susa
Site · c. 520–358 BC · Persian period · also called Shushan the palace, Apadana of Susa
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. 520–358 BC (the palace, from Darius I’s building to its restoration by Artaxerxes II)
- Found
- Shush, Khuzestan Province, Iran, 1885. W. K. Loftus dug at Susa in the early 1850s. The palace of Darius was first uncovered by the French mission of Marcel and Jane Dieulafoy (1884–1886), and was excavated and studied again under Jean Perrot (1969–1979).
- Now
- At the site, Shush, Iran
- Passages
- Nehemiah 1:1, Esther 1:2, Daniel 8:2
What it is
The royal residence and columned audience hall (apadana) that Darius I built on a raised platform at Susa, the old Elamite capital, early in his reign. His foundation inscription lists materials and craftsmen brought from across the empire. The columns were crowned with paired bulls, and the walls carried glazed-brick reliefs of archers and lions, many now in the Louvre. After a fire in the reign of Artaxerxes I, Artaxerxes II rebuilt part of it.
How it connects to the Bible
The Bible calls the city “Shushan the palace”. Nehemiah was serving there as cupbearer to Artaxerxes I when news came from Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1–2), the book of Esther is set at its royal court, and in a vision Daniel finds himself at Shushan (Daniel 8:2). The excavated palace was a residence of the Persian kings in whose reigns these books are set.
What scholars debate
Many scholars treat Esther as a story set at the Persian court rather than a record of events, so its descriptions are not a guide to the ruins.