Palace of Darius in Susa

The Palace of Darius at Susa is the archaeological remains of an Achaemenid royal palace complex in southwestern Iran near the modern town of Shush. It was constructed under Darius I during the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE and served as one of the empire’s major administrative centres.

On site visitors see foundations, platform remains and fragments of glazed bricks and reliefs that mark the scale of imperial construction; the surviving fabric is archaeological rather than a standing palace building. The site is visited for its archaeological importance to Achaemenid architecture and imperial administration.

Darius I commissioned the complex as a royal residence and administrative centre of the Achaemenid Empire; the palaces at Susa were used and modified by subsequent Achaemenid rulers. The city and its palaces were captured and looted in the campaigns of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BCE, after which the historic complex fell out of imperial use.

The ruins sit at the archaeological site of ancient Susa in Khuzestan province, Iran, within the modern landscape around the town of Shush.

• Date and builder: Constructed under Darius I, who reigned 522-486 BCE, as part of the Achaemenid royal complex at ancient Susa.
• Site condition: Located within the archaeological site near modern Shush in Khuzestan province; visible remains include foundations, wall fragments and relief fragments from the Achaemenid period.