Editing Susa (section)

=== Sassanid period ===

Suzan was conquered and destroyed in 224&nbsp;AD by the Sassanid [[Ardashir I]], but rebuilt immediately thereafter, and perhaps even temporarily a royal residence. According to a later tradition, [[Shapur I]] is said to have spent his twilight years in the city, although this tradition is uncertain and perhaps refers more to [[Shapur II]].

Under the Sassanids, following the founding of [[Gundeshapur]] Susa slowly lost its importance. Archaeologically, the Sassanid city is less dense compared to the Parthian period, but there were still significant buildings, with the settlement extending over 400 hectares.
Susa was also still very significant economically and a trading center, especially in gold trading. Coins also continued to be minted in the city. The city had a Christian community in a separate district with a Nestorian bishop, whose last representative is attested to in 1265. Archaeologically a stucco panel with the image of a Christian saint has been found.

During the reign of Shapur II after Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire in 312, and the identification of Christians as possible collaborators with the enemy Christians living in the Sasanian Empire were persecuted from 339 onwards.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Neusner |first= Jacob |title=  Babylonian Jewry And Shapur Ii's Persecution of Christianity From 339 to 379&nbsp;CE |journal= Hebrew Union College Annual |volume= 43 |pages=  77–102 |publisher=  Hebrew Union College Press |year = 1972 }}</ref> Shapur II also imposed a double tax on the Christians during his war campaign against the Romans.  Following a rebellion of Christians living in Susa, the king destroyed the city in 339 using 300 elephants.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Harper |first1= Prudence |last2= Aruz |first2= Joan |last3= Tallon |first3= Frangoise |title= The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre |location= New York |publisher= The Metropolitan Museum of Art |year= 1993 | pages= 162 |url= https://archive.org/stream/RoyalCityofSusaAncientNearEasternTreasuresintheLouvre/RoyalCityofSusaAncientNearEasternTreasuresintheLouvre_djvu.txt }}</ref> He later had the city rebuilt and resettled with prisoners of war and weavers, which is believed to have been after his victory over the Romans in Amida in 359.  The weaver produced silk brocade.<ref>Potts: ''Elam'', pp. 429.</ref> He renamed it ''Eran-Khwarrah-Shapur'' ("Iran's glory [built by] Shapur").<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |article= SHAPUR II |last= Daryaee |first= Touraj | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shapur-ii |encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica | year= 2009 }}</ref>