Suez (السويس ALA; esseˈweːs) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, and is the capital of the Suez Governorate. It has three ports: the Suez Port (Port Tewfik), al-Adabiya, and al-Zaytiya, and extensive port facilities. Together they form a metropolitan area, located mostly in Africa with a small portion in Asia.
Railway lines and highways connect the city with Cairo, Port Said, and Ismailia. Suez has a petrochemical plant, and its oil refineries have pipelines carrying the finished product to Cairo. These are represented in the flag of the governorate: the blue background refers to the sea, the gear refers to Suez's status as an industrial governorate, and the flame refers to the petroleum firms of Suez.
The modern city of Suez is a successor of the ancient city of Clysma (Klŷsma, meaning "surf, waves that break"; Peklousma; al-Qulzum), a major Red Sea port and a center of monasticism.
The city's name is derived from a Fu'ail form of a Levantine Arabic word that means liquorice (سُوس).
Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions were texts written in Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian and Egyptian on five monuments erected in Wadi Tumilat, commemorating the opening of a canal between the Nile and the Bitter Lakes, to facilitate a shipping connection between Egypt, then a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, and Persia (i.e. the greater portion of the Empire itself).
Partial transliteration and translation of the inscription:
Transliteration of the Old Persian text:
xâmanišiya \ thâtiy \ Dârayavauš \ XŠ \ adam \ Pârsa \ amiy \ hacâ \ Pâ rsâ \ Mudrâyam \ agarbâyam \ adam \ niyaštâyam \ imâm \ yauviyâ m \ katanaiy \ hacâ \ Pirâva \ nâma \ rauta \ tya \ Mudrâyaiy \ danuvatiy \ ab iy \ draya \ tya \ hacâ \ Pârsâ \ aitiy \ pasâva \ iyam \ yauviyâ \ akaniya \ avathâ \ yathâ \ adam \ niyaštâyam \ utâ \ nâva \ âyatâ \ hacâ \ Mudrâ yâ \ tara \ imâm \ yauviyâm \ abiy \ Pârsam \ avathâ \ yathâ \ mâm \ kâma\ âha
English translation:
"King Darius says: I am a Persian; setting out from Persia I conquered Egypt.