This is where the events reported in
the Book of Esther took place.

 

Some have raised doubts over the authenticity of the account while at the same time remarking that ‘the setting of the scene is accurate and striking in terms of local colour’.   ^A210

It is said that “there is no event described in the Old Testament whose structural surroundings can be so vividly and accurately restored from actual excavations as ‘Shushan the Palace’”.

 

Discoveries made by French archaeologists have confirmed the accuracy of the writer’s details concerning the administration of the Persian kingdom and the construction of the palace. The Bible confirms the greatness of the empire; it calls Xerxes I, the successor of Darius, ‘the A·has·u·e´rus who was ruling as king from In´di·a to E·thi·o´pi·a, [over] a hundred and twenty-seven jurisdictional districts.’ - Esther 1:1.

Susa, or Shushan, the capital of ancient Elam and administrative centre of the Persian Empire,

was located between Babylon

and Persepolis.

 

It was the stage of one of the Prophet Daniel’s visions,

and “the ram possessing the two horns [which stands for] the kings of Me´di·a and Persia”.

- Daniel 8:2-3, 20.

‘ Shushan the castle, ’ was also the place where Nehemiah served his cup-bearer duties under the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus.

 

In 455 BCE, this king authorised the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Bible scholars have put forward the hypothesis that ‘from the going forth of the word to restore Jerusalem’ started the countdown of 70 prophetic weeks which resulted in the appearance of the Messiah. - Nehemiah 2:3-8; Daniel 9:25. ^A238