classical geographers were well enough acquainted with the
meaning of the word to be able to distinguish the region to
which it referred from Susiana proper.

[Illustration: 048.jpg THE TUMULUS OF SUSA, AS IT APPEARED TOWARDS THE
MIDDLE OF THE XIXth CENTURY]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after a plate in Chesney.

Its fortress and palace were raised upon the slopes of a mound which
overlooked the surrounding country:* at its base, to the eastward,
stretched the town, with its houses of sun-dried bricks.**

* Susa, in the language of the country, was called Shushun;
this name was transliterated into Chaldæo-Assyrian, by
Shushan, Shushi.

** Strabo tells us, on the authority of Polycletus, that the
town had no walls in the time of Alexander, and extended
over a space two hundred stadia in length; in the
VIII century B.C. it was enclosed by walls with bastions,
which are shown on a bas-relief of Assurbanipal, but it was
surrounded by unfortified suburbs.

Further up the course of the Uknu, lay the following cities: Madaktu,
the Badaca of classical authors,* rivalling Susa in strength and
importance; Naditu,** Til-Khumba,*** Dur-Undash,**** Khaidalu.^--all
large walled towns, most of which assumed the title of royal cities.
Elam in reality constituted a kind of feudal empire, composed of several
tribes--the Habardip, the Khushshi, the Umliyash, the people of Yamutbal