And I saw in a vision
The following things: and it came to pass, when I saw, that
I was at Shushan in the palace,
which is in the province of Elam;
not in reality, but so it seemed to him in the vision; as
Ezekiel, when in Babylon, seemed in the visions of God to be at
Jerusalem, ( Ezekiel 8:3 ) . This
city Shushan, or Susa, as it is called by other writers, and
signifies a "lily", was so called from the plenty of lilies that
grew about it, or because of the pleasantness of it; it was the
metropolis of the country Susiana, which had its name from it,
and was afterwards the royal seat of the kings of Persia. This
was first made so by Cyrus; for Strabo F1 says,
that he and the Persians having overcome the Medes, observing
that their own country was situated in the extreme parts, and
Susa more inward, and nearer to other nations, being, as he says,
between Persia and Babylon, set his royal palace in it; approving
both the nearness of the country, and the dignity of the city.
Here the kings of Persia laid up their treasures, even prodigious
large ones; hence Aristagoras told Cleomenes, that if he could
take that city, he would vie, and might contend, with Jupiter for
riches F2; for hither Cyrus carried whatever
money he had in Persia, even forty thousand talents, some say
fifty F3. Alexander F4, when
he took this city, found a vast quantity of riches in it. It is
called here a palace; and so it is spoken of by Herodotus
F5, Diodorus Siculus F6,
Pausanius F7, Pliny F8, and others, as a royal
city, where were the residence and palace of the kings of Persia;
but the royal palace was not in it at this time; the kings of
Babylon had their palace and kept their court at Babylon, where
Daniel was; but in vision it seemed to him that he was in
Shushan, and which was represented to him as a palace, as it
would be, and as the metropolis of the kingdom of Persia, which
he had a view of in its future flourishing condition, and as
destroyed by Alexander; for, as before observed, it was Cyrus
that first made it a royal city; whereas this vision was in the
third year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. Some versions render
it, a "tower" or "castle"; and so several writers, as Strabo
F9 Plutarch F11 and
Pliny F12, speak of the tower or castle in
it. Diodorus Siculus F13 says, when Antigonus took the tower
of Susa, he found in it a golden vine, and a great quantity of
other works, to the value of fifteen thousand talents; and out of
crowns, and other gifts and spoils, he made up five thousand
more. And Polybius F14 relates, that though Molon took the
city, yet could not take the fortress, and was obliged to raise
the siege, so strong it was. It must be a mistake of Pliny
F15 that this city was built by Darius
Hystaspes; he could only mean it was rebuilt, or rather enlarged,
by him, since it was in being long before his time, and even a
royal city in the times of Cyrus. Strabo F16 says
it was built by Tithon the father of Merenon, was in compass a
fifteen miles, of an oblong figure, and the tower was called
after his father's name Mernnonia; and Shushan itself is called,
by Herodotus F17, Susa Memnonia. At this day, with
the common people, it goes by the name of Tuster F18. The
east gate of the mountain of the house, which led to the temple
at Jerusalem, was called Shushan. Some say F19 there
was a building over this gate, on which the palace of Shushan was
portrayed, from whence it had its name. The reason of this
portrait is differently given; the Jewish commentators on the
Misnah F20 commonly say that this was ordered
by the kings of Persia, that the people of Israel might stand in
awe of them, and not rebel against them. Their famous
lexicographer F21 says, that this was done, that the
Israelites, when they saw it, might remember their captivity in
it. But a chronologer F23 of theirs gives this as the reason,
that the children of the captivity made this figure, that they
might remember the miracle of Purim, which was made in Shushan;
and this, he says, is a good interpretation of it. This city was
in the province of Elam; that is, Persia, as it is also called, (
Isaiah 21:6 )
for Josephus F24 says the Persians had their
original from the Elamites, or Elameans; and Pliny F25
observes, that Elymais joined to Persia; and the country of
Susiane, so called from Susa its chief city, was, according to
Strabo F26 and Ptolemy F, a part
of Persia: and here Daniel in vision thought himself to be; and a
very suitable place for him to have this vision in, which so much
concerned the affairs of Persia. And I saw in a vision, and
I was by the river Ulai;
that is, in vision; it seemed to the prophet that he was upon the
banks of the river Ulai; the same with the Eulaeus of Strabo
F, Pliny F, Ptolemy F, and
others, which ran by, and surrounded, the city of Shushan, or
Susa; the water of which was so light, as Strabo F
observes, that it was had in great request, and the kings of
Persia would drink of no other, and carried it with them wherever
they went. Herodotus F and Curtius F make
mention of the river Choaspes, as running by Susa, and say the
same things of its water; from whence it might be concluded it
was one and the same river, called by different names; though
Strabo takes notice of them together, as if they were distinct;
yet he, from Polycletus F, makes them, with Tigris, to
disembogue into the same lake, and from thence into the sea. The
river which runs by Shushan, now called Souster, according to
Monsieur Thevenot F, is Caron, and comes from the hills
about it, and is thought to be the Choaspes of the ancients; near
to which, as he was told, is a hill that now goes by the name of
Choasp; so that, upon the whole, they seem to be one and the same
river {k1}. Josephus says F, that Daniel had this vision
in the plain of Susa, the metropolis of Persia, as he went out
with his friends, that is, out of the city: and the Vulgate Latin
version renders it, "by the gate Ulai"; a gate of the city of
Shushan so called: and so Saadiah Gaon interprets it a gate; but
the former sense is best.