The palace complex was constructed by the Achaemenid king Darius I in Susa, his favorite capital.

The palace was captured and plundered by the invading Macedonians under Alexander the Great in December 330 BC.

[3] Built on an artificially raised platform 15 metres (49 ft) high, covering 100 hectares (250 acres),[1] the complex at Susa consists of a residential palace, an apadana (audience hall), and a monumental gate.

[1] The apadana at Susa is similar to that of Persepolis,[3] using the distinctive Persian column, topped by two bulls, which was probably developed here.

The Achaemenid constructions at Susa are mostly known through the royal inscriptions, which are mostly trilingual—in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.

[1] According to Gene R. Garthwaite, the Susa Palace served as Darius' model for Persepolis.

Comparing the palace to that of Pasargadae, the former Achaemenid capital, he argues that Susa even more represented Achaemenid simultaneous rulership, and "what was symbolic was actualized", such that Darius's rule "could command craftsmen and material from the breadth of the empire" to build the monument,[4] as is described in Darius' "charter of foundation" of the palace (or the DSf inscription), which enumerates the workers and the material used:[5] This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought.

And that the earth was dug downward, and that the rubble was packed down, and that the sun-dried brick was molded, the Babylonian people -- it did (these tasks).