Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1070

 1050 USA. § .5.) Diodorus (xix. 16, xvii. C5) and Cassiodorus (vii. 15) speak of the strenj,'th and K])IeiHi(iur of its citadel; and the latter writer affirms that there was a splendid palace there, built for Cj'rus by Jlemnon. Besides this stractnre, Pliny speaks of a celebrated temple of Diana (/. c; see also Mart. Capella. vi. de India, p. 225, ed. Grotius), in all probability that of the Syrian goddess Anaitis: while St. Jerome adds, that Daniel erected a town there (Hieronym. in Da7i.), a story which Josephus narrates, with less ])robability, of Ecbatana. {Atit. x. l.') Susa was one of the capitals at which the kings of Persia were wont to spend a portion of the year. Thus Cyrus, according to Xenophon, lived there during the three months of the spring. {Cyrop. viii. 6. § 22.) Strabo oftisrs the most probable reason for tliis custom, where he states that Susiana was peculiarly well suited for the royal residence from its central position with respect to the rest of the empire, and from the quiet and orderly character of its govern- ment (J. c.) From these and other reasons, Susa appears to have been the chief treasury of the Persian empire (Herod, v. 49); and how vast were the treasures laid up there by successive kings, may be g.Athered from the narrative in Arrian, of the sums paid by Alexander to his soldiers, and of the presents made by him to his leading generals, on the occasion of his marriage at Susa with Barsine and Parysatis (Curt. vii. 4, 5): even long after Alex- anders death, Antigonus found a great amount of plunder still at Susa. (Diod. six 48.) With regard to the modern site to be identified as that of the ruins of Susa, there has been consider- able ditference of opinion in modern times. This has, however, chiefly arisen from the scarcity of travellers who have e.Namined the localities with any sufficient accuracy. The first who did so, Mr. Kinneir, at once decided that the modern Sus, situated at the junction of Kerkhah and river of jDi's, must represent the Shushan of Daniel, the Susa of profane authors. (Travels, p. 99; comp. Mal- colm, Hist. Persia, i. p. 256.) Itennell had indeed suspected as much long before (Geogr. Herodot. i. p. 302); but Vincent and others had advanced the lival claim of Skuster. (Anc. Commerce, i. p. 439.) The question has been now completely .set at rest, by the caveful excavations which have been made during the last few years, first by Colonel (now Sir W. F.) Williams, and secondly by Mr. Loftus. The results of their researches are given by iIr. Loftus in a ]iaper read to the Royal Society of Literature in November, 1855. {Transactions, vol. v. new series.) Mr. Loftus found three great mounds, measuring together more than 3.^ miles in circumference, and above 100 feet in height; and, on excavating, laid bare the remains of a gigantic colonnade, having a frontage of 343 feet, and a depth of 244, consisting of a central square of 36 columns, flanked to the N., E., and W. by a similar number — the whole arrange- ment being nearly the same as that of the Great Hall of Xerxes at Persepolis. A great nmnher of other curious discoveries were made, the most im- portant being numerous inscriptions in the cuneiform character. Enough of these has been already deciphered to show, that some of the works on the mound belong to the most reinote antiquity. Among other important but later records is an inscription, — the only memorial yet discovered of Artaxerxes Mnemon, the conqueror of the Greeks at Cunaxa, — which describes the completion of a palace, com- menced by Dareius the son of Hystaspes and SUSIANA. dedicated to the goddesses Tanaitis and Rlilhra. A Greek inscription was also met with, carved on the base of a column, and stating that Arreneides was the governor of Susiana. The natives exhibit a moiuiment in the neighbourhood, which they call and believe to be the tomb of Daniel. There is no question, however, that it is a modern structure of the Miihanniiedan times. C^.] SUSIA'NA (^ ^ovffiavT}, Ptol. vi. 3. § 1 ; Polyb. v. 46; Strab, xv. 729, &c. ; r) 'Sovais, Strab. xv. 731 ; ^ Souffias, Strab. ii. p. 134), an extensive pro- vince in the southern part of Asia, consisting i[i great measure of plain country, but traversed by some ranges of mountains. Its boundaries are vari- ously given by different writers according as it was imagined to include more or less of the adjacent dis- trict of Persis. Generally, its limits may be stated to have been, to the N., jIedia with the mountains Charbanus and Cambalidus, part of the chain of the Parachoatliras; to the E. the outlying spurs of the Parachoathras and the river Oroatis; to the S. the Persian gulf from the mouth of the Oroatis to that of the Tigris; and to the W. the plains of Jlcsopo- tainia and Babylonia. (Cf. Ptol. I. c. with Strab. /. c.jwlio, however, treats Susiana as part of Persis). As a province it appears to have been very fertile, especially in grain, but exposed along the coasts to intense heat. (Strab. xv. p. 731.) The vine, the Slacedonians are said to have introduced. (Strab. I. c.) Its principal mountains are those on the N., called by Pliny Charbanus and Cainbalidus (vi. 27. s. 31), while a portion of the Montes Uxii probably belonged to this province, as in them is a pass called rii'Aai 'SvcriS^s. (Polyaen. iv. 3. 27.) Susiana was intensccted by numerous rivers which flowed either to the Tigris or Persian gulf, from the high mountain watershed whereby it was surrounded. Of these the principal were the Eulaeus (Karun), the Choaspes (Kerkliah). the Copratcs (river of Diz), the Hedyphon or Hedypnus (Jerrdki), and the Oroatis (Tab). The inhabitants of the district apjiear to have borne indifferently the names of Susii or Susiani, and. as inhabitants of the plain country, to have been devoted to agricultural em- ployments; in the mountains, however, were tribes of robbers, who, from time to time, were strong enough to levy black mail even on their kings when travers- ing their passes. (Strab. xv. p. 728.) Another name, whereby the people were known, at least in early times, was Cissii (Aesch. Feis. 16), and the land itself Cissia (Strab. xv. p. 728; Herod, v. 49). This name is clearly connected with that of one of the chief tribes of the people, the Cossaei, who are repeatedly mentioned in ancient authors. (Strab. xi. p. 522; Arr. Ind. 40; Polyb. v. 54, &c.) There were many different tribes settled in different parts of Susiana; but it is hardly possible now to deteimine to what different races they may have belonged. Among these, the most prominent were the Uxii, a robber tribe on the mountain borders of Media; the Messabatae, who occupied a valley distiict, probably now that known as Mdh-Sahadan; the Cossaei, in the direction along the Median mountains; and the Elymaei, inhabitants of Elymais, the remnant, in all j)robability, of the earliest dwellers in this province — El.m being the name whereby this whole district is known in the sacred records. (Isaiah, xxi. 2 ; Jerem. xlix. 25.) Besides these, several sm.aller districts are noticed in different authors, as Caban- dene, Corbiana, Gabiene, and Characene. Though Ptolemy has preserved the names of several small