Susa lay in the southwest of what is now Iran, in the ancient region of Elam. It was already an important city long before the biblical period, one of the oldest in the Middle East. It was the Elamite capital for centuries and later one of the capitals of the Persian Empire, alongside Persepolis, Ecbatana, and Babylon.
The citadel of Susa housed the royal palace, surrounded by walls. There the Persian king received guests, governed a territory stretching from India to Ethiopia, and kept a great harem, the setting described in detail in the book of Esther.
It was in Susa that the young Jewish woman Esther became queen and, years later, risked her life to save her people from a decree of extermination. In the same palace, Nehemiah served as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes before setting out to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Also in Susa, the prophet Daniel received, in a vision, a revelation about empires yet to come. The book of Esther never mentions the name of God, but it shows his hand at work behind the scenes of power, even in a pagan court far from Jerusalem.
