Iran�s Shush plans sister city partnerships with Najaf, Paris, and Athens

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
historical ties, Omid Sabripour said.Shush is overlapped with the ancient city of Susa, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.During a
meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by Ali Darabi, the deputy minister of cultural heritage, Sabripour revealed that the proposed
partnerships would focus on cultural ties with Najaf, museum and tourism cooperation with Paris, and ancient heritage collaboration with
Athens.Sabripour stressed that Shush, with its abundant and unique historical and civilizational resources, requires special attention from
the Ministry of Cultural Heritage to unlock its full potential in the global arena.Situated between the Karkheh and Dez rivers in southwest
Iran, Susa was once one of the most important and glamorous cities of the ancient world
Susa, which has been inhabited for thousands of years, embraces several layers of superimposed urban settlements from around the late 5th
millennium BC until the 13th century CE.The ancient town served as the capital of Elam (Susiana) and the administrative capital of the
Achaemenian king Darius I and his successors from 522 BC.Historically speaking, Susa was once part of the historic kingdom of Elam between
Babylon and ancient Persia as the lower Zagros Mountains of Persia descend into the Mesopotamian region.In a story published by The Travel
website on Sunday, People may be familiar with it as being the capital of the Persian Empire in the Book of Esther
According to that account, it was here that Esther was wed to the powerful Persian Emperor and managed to bravely save her Hebrew people
from annihilation.Moreover, Susa continued its magnificence and remained a strategic center during the Parthian and Sasanian periods, the
empires that ruled this region during the Roman period.Today, Susa comprises three archeological mounds and covers around a square kilometer
One may visit the excavated mounds and try to imagine what it was like during its heyday as the capital of what was then the largest Empire
in the world
Furthermore, at the archeological site, one can see Ardeshir's palace, and various excavated administrative, residential, and other
monuments.Moreover, it embraces the Tomb of Daniel, a traditional burial place of the biblical figure
Various locations have been named for the site, but the tomb in Susa is the most widely accepted site, it was first mentioned by Benjamin of
Tudela, who visited Western Asia between 1160 and 1163.AM