When Alexander and his men took the city of Shushan, or Susa - the winter capital of the Persian empire - in late 331BC, Alexander sat on the great throne of the Persian king Darius, complete with the low bench that the king would rest his feet on. But Alexander was a short man, and his feet wouldn't reach the bench.

Accordingly one of Darius' tables was brought for him instead, and Alexander placing his feet on the table of Darius was take as a good omen. Just a few months later in the summer of 330BC, pursued relentlessly by the invading Macedonians, Darius' own people arrested and subsequently killed him, in an effort to save their own positions. (Politics, eh - what can you do?) And the rest, as they say, is history.

So, let's hear it for the Little Bench of Susa - just one of the many benches that have shaped our history.