Cyrus and Susa

Abstract

The date of Cyrus' conquest of Susa remains in the realm of conjecture. Many modern commentators date the conquest in conjunction with Cyrus' conquest of Babylon (539 BC), based on the testimony of the Cyrus Cylinder, lines 30-32. That passage of the Cylinder is open both to linguistic and to historical interpretation. Regardless of interpretation, it offers no indication in what year Cyrus conquered Susa, only that he did so sometime before the conquest of Babylon.