pottery of Egypt. The pottery of the second neolithic stratum is much inferior. Above these strata come the remains of Elamite and early Babylonian civilization with inscribed objects, the oldest of which exhibit the pictorial characters out of which the cuneiform were evolved. Under the foundations of the temple of In-Susinak (in the north-west part of the mound) a vast quantity of bronze objects has been discovered, for the most part earlier than the 10th century B.C. Among the monuments brought to light in other parts of the mound are the obelisk of Manistusu (see Babylonia), the stela of Naram-Sin and the code of Khammurabi, along with. a great number of historically valuable boundary-stones. The upper portions of the mounds have yielded, besides Persian remains, Greek pottery and inscriptions of the 4th century B.C., numerous coins of the Kamnaskires dynasty and other kings of Elymais in the Seleucid era, and Parthian and Sassanian relics. In the Sassanian period the city was razed in consequence of a revolt, but rebuilt by Sapor (Shapur) II.; the walls were again destroyed at the time of the Mahommedan conquest, but the site, which is now deserted, was a seat of sugar manufacture in the middle ages.
Bibliography.—W. K. Loftus, Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana (1857); M. Dieulafoy, L’Art antique de la Perse (1884–85), L’Acropole de Suse (1890); A. Billerbeck, Susa (1893); J. de Morgan, Mémoires de la délégation en Perse, vols. i.–viii. (from 1899). See also Persia: Ancient History, § v. 2. (A. H. S.)
SUSA (Fr. Sousse), a city of Tunisia, on the Gulf of Hammamet, in 35° 49′ N., 10° 39′ E., 36 m. by rail E. by N. of Kairawan, of which it is the port, and 93 m. S. by E. by rail of Tunis. Susa, which occupies part of the site of the ancient Hadrumetum, is built on the side of a hill sloping seawards, and is surrounded by a crenellated wall, strengthened by towers. Recesses in the inner side of the wall are used as shops and warehouses. The kasbah, or citadel, built on the highest point within the town, was thoroughly restored by the French after their occupation of the country in 1881, and serves as military headquarters for the district, the camp for the troops being outside the walls west of the citadel. The native town has been little changed since the French occupation, but north of the port a European quarter has been created, and here are public buildings such as law courts, a museum and a town-hall. The museum contains many archaeological treasures, notable mosaics and sculptures. The most interesting buildings in the old town are the Kasrer-Ribat and the Kahwat-el-Kubba. The Kasr-er-Ribat is a square fortress with a high tower and seven bastions. Its date is uncertain, but is not later than the 9th century. The Kahwatel-Kubba (Café of the Dome) is a curious house, square at the base, then cylindrical, and surmounted by a fluted dome. It was probably a church during the Byzantine period. Another domed building, now used as oil-mills, dates from Roman and Byzantine times. In the Bab-el-Gharbi (West Gate) a Roman sarcophagus of marble has been built into the wall, and serves as a drinking fountain. The grand mosque is in the north-east part of the town. The ancient harbours are silted up, but vestiges of the Roman breakwaters may be seen. The modern port, completed in 1901, enables steamers drawing 21 ft. to lie at the quays. Exports are chiefly phosphates and other minerals, olive oil, esparto and cereals; imports: cotton goods, building material, &c. The population, less than 10,000 at the time of the French occupation, had increased in 1907 to over 25,000, of whom 1500 were French and 4000 other Europeans, chiefly Italians and Maltese.
Susa, the Arab town which succeeded Hadrumetum (q.v.), was fortified by the Aghlabite rulers of Kairawan in the 9th century A.D. It shared the general fortunes of Tunisia and became a noted haunt of pirates, who raided the coast of Italy. In 1537 it was unsuccessfully besieged by the marquis of Terra Nova, in the service of Charles V., but in 1539 was captured for the emperor by Andrea Doria. As soon as the imperial forces were withdrawn it became again the seat of Turkish piracy. The town was attacked by the French and the Knights of St John in 1770, and by the Venetians in 1764. It remained, however, in the possession of the bey of Tunis.
Some 35 m. due south of Susa, and half way on the road to Sfax is El Jem, the site of the city of Thysdrus. Of the ancient city there are scarcely any remains save the amphitheatre—a magnificent ruin scarcely inferior to that of the Colosseum in Rome. There is no record of the building of the amphitheatre, which is usually assigned to the reign of Gordian III. (A.D. 238–244). It is made of limestone brought from Sallecta, 20 m. distant, bears evidence of hasty construction, and was probably never finished. It is of four storeys—three open arcades crowned by a fourth storey with windows. The first and third arcades are Corinthian; the middle one Composite. Each of these galleries has sixty-four columns and the same number of arches. Constantly used as a fortress since the Arab invasion, the amphitheatre suffered much, and in 1697 the bey of Tunis made a great breach in its western end to prevent it being again used for defence But even in its present condition the amphitheatre—standing solitary in a desolate district—is grandly impressive. Its major axis is 488 ft., its minor axis 406 ft. (The figures of the Colosseum are 615 and 510½ respectively.)
SUSA (anc. Segusio, q.v.), a city and episcopal see of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of Turin, from which it is 33 m. W. by rail. Pop. (1901), 3607 (town), 5023 (commune). It is situated on the Dora Riparia, a tributary of the Po, 1625 ft. above sea-level, and is protected from the northern winds by the Rocciamelone. Among the medieval buildings of Susa the first place belongs to the church of San Giusto, founded in 1029 by Olderico Manfredi II. and the countess Berta, and in 1772 raised to be the cathedral. It has a fine brick campanile and brick decoration, and contains a bronze triptych of 1358 in niello, With the Virgin and Child. In the Valle di Susa, about 14 m. east of it, towards Turin, near S. Ambrogio di Torino, is the monastery of S. Michele with a Romanesque church, situated on a rocky mountain (998–1002).
After the time of Charlemagne a marquisate of Susa was established; and the town became in the 11th century the capital of Adelaide countess of Savoy, who was mistress of the whole of Piedmont. On his retreat from Legnano in 1176 Barbarossa set fire to Susa; but the town became more than ever important when Emmanuel Philibert fortified it at great expense in the 16th century. It was, however, dismantled by Napoleon I. in 1796.
SUSARION, Greek comic poet, a native of Tiipodiscus in Megaris. About 580 B.C. he transplanted the Megarian comedy (if the rude extempore jests and buffoonery deserve the name) into the Attic deme of Icaria, the cradle also of Greek tragedy and the oldest seat of the worship of Dionysus. According to the Parian Chronicle, there appears to have been a competition on this occasion, in which the prize was a basket of figs and an amphora of wine. Susarion’s improvements in his native farces did not include a separate actor or a regular plot, but
probably consisted in substituting metrical compositions for the old extempore effusions of the chorus. These were intended for recitation, and not committed to writing. But such performances did not suit the taste of the Athenians, and nothing more is heard of them until eighty years after the time of Susarion. U. von. Wilamowitz-Möllendorff (in Hermes, ix.) considers the so-called Megarian comedy to have been an invention of the Athenians themselves, intended as a satire on Megarian coarseness and vulgarity. The lines attributed to Susarion (in Meineke, Poetarum comicorum graecorum fragmenta) are probably not
genuine.
SUSO [Seuse], HEINRICH (1300–1366), German mystic, was born of good family at Uberlingen on Lake Constance on the 21st of March, in all probability in the year 1300; he assumed the name of his mother, his father being a Herr von Berg. He was educated for the Church, first at Constance, then at Cologne, where he came under the influence of the greatest of the German mystics, Meister Eckart. He subsequently entered a monastery in Constance, where he subjected himself to the severest ordeals of asceticism. In 1335 he wandered through Swabia as a preacher, and won all hearts by his gentle, persuasive eloquence; the effusive lyricism of his language made him an especial favourite among the nuns. About 1348 he seems to have settled
in Ulm, where he died on the 25th of January 1366. Suso’s first work, Das Büchlein der Wahrheit, was written in Cologne about 1329; setting out from Eckart’s doctrines, he presents the mystic faith from its speculative or theoretical side; whereas
