It's the Ancients on History Hit, Untristened Hughes Your Host, and in today's podcast

we are continuing our discussion all about the urban centres of ancient achaemenid Persia

with the legendary Fantastic Speaker, that is Professor Lloyd Lohel and Jones from Cardiff

University.

Now in the previous part we focused in on Persepolis, the jewel of ancient Persia, and in this part

we're going to be focusing in on other key centres, particularly the centre of Susa,

further west, west of the Zagros Mountains, but we're also going to be looking at other

places such as Ekbetana further north and Pasagaday.

So without further ado, here's Lloyd.

So let's go to Susa now, because it's just sort of imagining that trek of the whole Royal

Achaemenid baggage train, the Royal Court, is made its way from Persepolis to Susa that

way or the other way.

It's so interesting Lloyd, if we now focus on Susa and cross reference it to Persepolis,

because Susa, unlike Persepolis, it is constructed long before the rise of the Persian Empire.

It's got a long and rich history, but it becomes incredibly significant for the Ekbetana

Persians.

Yes, so in Susa, modern day Shush is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on

Earth.

That's an incredible feeling when you go there, has a river that runs right the way through

it, is built on the very, very flat plains of Elam.

These of course nowadays are the oil rich fields, that straddle, iraq, and iran, and therefore

very desirable, much fought over.

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