Esther 1:2

Shushan the palace i.e. Susa. Ecbatana, Babylon, Persepolis, and Susa were all places of sojourn for the Persian court for longer or shorter periods.

-Shushan the palace," which is to be distinguished from -Shushan the city" (Esther 9:13-15) was built by Darius, father of Xerxes, on the same plan as the palace at Persepolis. The city of Susa was cut in two by a wide river, anciently called the Choaspes, and now known under the name of Ab-Kharkha. The populous quarters on the right bank are now marked by hardly perceptible undulations of the plain; on the left, the royal city, the citadel, and the palace. "Three huge mounds, forming a rhomboidal mass, 4500 feet long from N. to S., and 3000 feet broad from E. to W., are a standing witness to the size and magnificence of the buildings which formed the ancient citadel or acropolis," Driver in Camb. Bibleon Daniel 8:27.

M. Dieulafoy, a French architect and engineer, in 1884 6 carried out important excavations at Susa, and brought to light many interesting features, recovering the plan of the citadel, and extensive remains of the buildings of which it consisted. "Artaxerxes, in an inscription found on one of the columns, says: -My ancestor Darius built this Apadânain ancient times. In the reign of Artaxerxes, my grandfather, it was consumed by fire. By the grace of Ahuramazda, Anaïtis, and Mithras, I have restored this Apadâna." An Apadânawas a large hall or throne-room. The Apadânaof Susa stood on the N. of the Acropolis: it formed a square of about 250 feet each way. The roof (which consisted of rafters and beams of cedar, brought from Lebanon) was supported by 36 columns in rows of six; the sides and back were composed of walls of brick, each pierced by four doors; the front of the hall was open. The columns were slender shafts of limestone, delicately fluted, and topped by magnificently carved capitals. In front of the hall, on each side, was a pylon or colonnade, with a frieze at the top 12 feet high, formed of beautifully enamelled bricks, the one decorated by a procession of lions, the other by a procession of -Immortals," the armed life-guards of the Persian kings. A garden surrounded the Apadâna, and in front of it on the south, was a large square for military manœuvres, etc. Adjoining it, on the east, was a large block of buildings forming the royal harem (the -house of the women" of Esther 2:3, etc.): south of this was the royal palace, with a court in the centre (Esther 4:11; Esther 5:1). The entire acropolis covered an area of 300 acres. [55] "

[55] Driver, ibid.who also points out that in one of the galleries of the Louvre, Paris, several rooms are devoted to sculptures, etc., brought from Susa, and to a restoration of parts of the Apadâna. He refers, among other works, to Dieulafoy, L'Acropole de Suse, Mme Dieulafoy, A Suse, Journal des Fouilles, and La Perse, la Chaldée, et la Susiane, Chap. xxxix., all with illustrations and maps.

The word bîrâhtranslated -palace" (marg. castle) probably includes the idea of a stronghold as well as a royal residence, and in fact seems to have a still wider application in Esther 9:6, where see note. The king's place of residence is indicated by a different expression in Esther 1:5; Esther 2:8; Esther 4:13; Esther 7:7-8. Benjamin of Tudela, a Spanish-Hebrew traveller in the East in the 12th century (ed. Asher, London and Berlin, 1840, i. 117), mentions visiting the ruins of Xerxes" palace, adding that even at that time 7000 Jews lived at Susa.