Iran - Andrew Burke [170]
TRAIN
The train station (Taleqani St) is handily central, one short block west of Sa’at Sq (two blocks north then one west from Beheshti Sq). Arrive way before the 5.30am departure if you want a seat on the brilliantly scenic but appallingly overcrowded day train to Dorud via Bisheh (Click here). A 9pm train originating in Andimeshk runs overnight to Tehran (14 hours).
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SHUSH
0642 / pop 44,000
Shush (Susa) was once among the greatest cities of ancient Persia. Now it’s a pleasantly small, relatively new town with a vast archaeological site, splendid castle, enigmatic Tomb of Daniel and bustling market. Across the square from Hotel Nazr is Paradise Coffeenet ( 522 0780; Haft-e Tir Sq; per hr IR8000; 10am-midnight).
History
An important Elamite city from about the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, Susa was burnt around 640 BC by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, but regained prominence in 521 BC when Darius I set it up as the Achaemenids’ fortified winter capital. At that time it was probably similar in grandeur to Persepolis.
The palace survived the city’s fall to Alexander the Great in 331 BC, and indeed Alexander married one of Darius III’s daughters here. Still prosperous in the Seleucid and Parthian eras, Susa re-emerged as a Sassanian capital. During Shapur II’s reign (AD 310–379) it regained renown as a Jewish pilgrimage site and became a centre of Nestorian Christian study. Evacuated in the face of Mongol raids Shush disappeared into the sands of time, only re-emerging after 1852 when the British archaeologist WK Loftus became the first to survey the site. His work was continued by the French Archaeological Service from 1891 more or less continuously until the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Sights
ANCIENT CITY
Entered from YaZahra Sq on Khomeini Blvd, the archaeological site (admission IR4000; 8am-7pm, closes after heavy rain) occupies the whole southern flank of modern Shush. To the right as you enter, the landscape is entirely dominated by the Chateau de Morgan. On the site of an Elamite acropolis, this crenellated masterpiece looks like an Omani desert fortress but was in fact built by the French Archaeological Service between 1897 and 1912 to defend researchers from raids by local Arab and Lurish tribesmen. Notice a cuneiform-inscribed brick incorporated into the castle’s west doorway.
Turning left at the top of the site’s main entry ramp, you can walk through the site of the 521 BC Palace of Darius. That is now just a muddy rise on which a 30cm-high labyrinth of brick-and-wattle wall fragments marks the former room layout. At the northern rim are the massive stone bases of what was once an apadana, of six by six 22m-high columns topped with animal figures. A couple of double-horse capitals are partly preserved on the paved terrace.
To the east, beyond the partly paved Royal Gate, the Royal City is a misleading name for barren, lonely undulations stretching to the far horizon. It’s more sensible to loop back towards the castle amid muddy gullies, pottery shards and thorn thickets alive with darting desert foxes. At the western side of the castle there’s an earthen watchtower above ancient caves and niches.
SHUSH MUSEUM
Some tourists visit this bright new museum (Susa Park, Khomeini St; admission IR3000; 7.30am-1pm & 3.30-7pm, Tue-Sun) quite by mistake, thinking that they’ve actually entered the archaeological site (whose access track is right beside it). The museum’s five rooms display seriously ancient stone- and pottery-work from regional archaeological sites. Highlights include a giant bullhead capital from Shush’s apadana, a lion-hugging Hercules statue from Masjid-i Soleiman and some spooky clay masks from Haft Tappeh (opposite).
TOMB OF DANIEL
As in a typical imamzadeh, Muslim pilgrims crowd