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ELAM
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ELAM , the name given in the See also:Bible to the See also:province of See also:Persia called Susiana by the classical geographers, from See also:Susa or Shushan its See also:capital. In one passage, however (See also:Ezra iv, 9), it is confined to Elymais, the See also:north-western See also:part of the province, and its inhabitants distinguished from those of Shushan, which else-where (See also:Dan. viii. 2) is placed in Elam. See also:Strabo (xv. 3. 12, &c.) makes Susiana a part of Persia proper, but a comparison of his See also:account with those of See also:Ptolemy (vi. 3. 1, &c.) and other writers would limit it to the mountainous See also:district to the See also:east of Babylonia, lying between the Oroatis and the See also:Tigris, and stretching from See also:India to the See also:Persian Gulf. Along with this mountainous district went a fertile See also:low See also:tract of See also:country on the western See also:side, which also included the marshes at the mouths of the See also:Euphrates and Tigris and the north-eastern See also:coast See also:land of the Gulf. This low tract, though producing large quantities of See also:grain, was intensely hot in summer; the high regions, however, were cool and well watered. The whole country was occupied by a variety of tribes, speaking agglutinative dialects for the most part, though the western districts were occupied by Semites. Strabo (xi. 13. 3, 6), quoting from See also:Nearchus, seems to include the Susians under the Elymaeans, whom he associates with the Uxii. and places on the frontiersof Persia and Susa; but See also:Pliny more correctly makes the Eulaeus the boundary between Susiana and Elymais (N.H. vi. 29-31). The Uxii are described as a robber tribe in the mountains adjacent to See also:Media, and their name is apparently to be identified with the See also:title given to the whole of Susiana in the Persian See also:cuneiform See also:inscriptions, Uwaja, i.e. " See also:Aborigines." Uwaja is probably the origin of the See also:modern Khuzistan, though Mordtmann would derive the latter from j y " a See also:sugar-See also:reed." Immediately bordering on the Persians were the Amardians or Mardians, as well as the See also:people of Khapirti (Khatamti, according to Scheil), the name given to Susiana in the Neo-Susian texts. Khapirti appears as Apir in the inscriptions of Mal-See also:Amir, which See also:fix the locality of the district. Passing over the Messabatae, who inhabited a valley which may perhaps be the modern Mah-Sabadan, as well as the level district of Yamutbal or Yatbur which separated Elam from Babylonia, and the smaller districts of Characene, Cabandene, Corbiana and Gabiene mentioned by classical authors, we come to the See also:fourth See also:principal tribe of Susiana, the Cissii (Aesch. Pers. 16; Strabo xv. 3. 2) or Cossaei (Strabo xi. 5. 6, xvi. IL 17; Arr. Ind. 40; Polyb. v. 54, &c.), the Kassi of the cuneiform inscriptions. So important were they, that the whole of Susiana was sometimes called Cissia after them, as by See also:Herodotus (iii. 91, v. 49, &c.). In fact Susiana was only a See also:late name for the country, dating from the See also:time when Susa had been made a capital of the Persian See also:empire. In the Sumerian texts of Babylonia it was called Numma, " the See also:Highlands," of which Elamtu or Elamu, " Elam," was the Semitic See also:translation. Apart from Susa, the most important part of the country was Anzan (Anshan, contracted Assan), where the native See also:population maintained itself unaffected by Semitic intrusion. The exact position of Anzan is still disputed, but it probably included originally the site of Susa and was distinguished from it only when Susa became the seat of a Semitic See also:government. In the lexical tablets Anzan is given as the See also:equivalent of Elamtu, and the native See also:kings entitle them-selves kings of " Anzan and Susa," as well as " princes of the Khapirti."
The principal mountains of Elam were on the north, called Charbanus and Cambalidus by Pliny (vi. 27, 31), and belonging to the Parachoathras See also:chain. There were numerous See also:rivers flowing into either the Tigris or the Persian Gulf. The most important were the Ulai or Eulaeus (See also:Koran) with its tributary the Pasitigris, the Choaspes (Kerkhah), the Coprates (See also:river of Diz called Itite in the inscriptions), the Hedyphon or Hedypnus (Jerrahi), and the Croatis (Hindyan), besides the monumental Surappi and Ukni, perhaps to be identified with the Hedyphon and Oroatis, which See also:fell into the See also:sea in the marshy region at the mouth of the Tigris. Shushan or Susa, the capital now marked by the mounds of Shush, stood near the junction of the Choaspes and Eulaeus (see SUSA); and Badaca, Madaktu in the inscriptions, See also:lay between the See also:Shapur and the river of Diz. Among the other See also:chief cities mentioned in the inscriptions may be named Naditu, Khaltemas, Din-sar, Bubilu, See also:Bit-imbi, Khidalu and Nagitu on the sea-coast. Here, in fact, lay some of the See also:oldest and wealthiest towns, the sites of which have, however, been removed inland by the silting up of the See also:shore. J. de See also:Morgan's excavations at Susa have thrown a See also:flood of See also:light on the See also:early See also:history of Elam and its relations to See also:Babylon. The earliest See also:settlement there goes back to See also:neolithic times, but it was already a fortified See also:city when Elam was conquered by See also:Sargon of See also:Akkad (3800 B.C.) and Susa became the seat of a Babylonian See also:viceroy. From this time onward for many centuries it continued under Semitic See also:suzerainty, its high-priests, also called " Chief Envoys of Elam, See also:Sippara and Susa," bearing sometimes Semitic, some-times native " Anzanite " names. One of the kings of the See also:dynasty of Ur built at Susa. Before the rise of the First Dynasty of Babylon, however, Elam had recovered its See also:independence, and in 2280 B.C. the Elamite See also: The monuments of many of his successors have been discovered by de Morgan and their inscriptions deciphered by v. Scheil. One of them was defeated by Ammi-zadoq of Babylonia (c. 2100 B.C.); another would have been the Chedor-laomer (Kutur-Lagamar) of See also:Genesis xiv. One of the greatest builders among them was Untas-GAL (the See also:pronunciation of the second See also:element in the name is uncertain). About 1330 B.C. Khurba-tila was captured by Kuri-galzu III., the Kassite king of Babylonia, but a later See also:prince Kidin-Khutrutas avenged his defeat, and Sutruk-Nakhkhunte (1220 B.C.) carried See also:fire and See also:sword through Babylonia, slew its king Zamama-sum-iddin and carried away a stela of Naram-See also:Sin and the famous See also:code of See also:laws of Khammurabi from Sippara, as well as a stela of Manistusu from Akkuttum or Akkad. He also conquered the land of Asnunnak and carried off from Padan a stela belonging to a refugee from See also:Malatia. He was succeeded by his son who was followed on the See also:throne by his See also:brother, one of the See also:great builders of Elam. In 750 B.C. Umbadara was king of Elam; Khumbanigas was his successor in 742 B.C. In 720 B.C. the latter prince met the Assyrians under Sargon at Dur-See also:ili in Yamutbal, and though Sargon claims a victory the result was that Babylonia recovered its independence under Merodach-baladan and the See also:Assyrian forces were driven north. From this time forward it was against See also:Assyria instead of Babylonia that Elam found itself compelled to exert its strength, and Elamite policy was directed towards fomenting revolt in Babylonia and assisting the Babylonians in their struggle with Assyria. In 716 B.C. Khumbanigas died and was followed by his See also:nephew, Sutruk-Nakhkhunte. He failed to make See also:head against the Assyrians; the frontier cities were taken by Sargon and Merodach-baladan was See also:left to his See also:fate. A few years later (704 B.c.) the combined forces of Elam and Babylonia were overthrown at Kis, and in the following See also:year the See also:Kassites were reduced to subjection. The Elamite king was dethroned and imprisoned in 700 B.C. by his brother Khallusu, who six years later marched into Babylonia, captured the son of See also:Sennacherib, whom his See also:father had placed there as king, and raised a nominee of his own, See also:Nergal-yusezib, to the throne. Khallusu was murdered in 694 B.C., after seeing the maritime part of his dominions invaded by the Assyrians. His successor Kudur-Nakhkhunte invaded Babylonia; he was repulsed, however, by Sennacherib, 34 of his cities were destroyed, and he himself fled from Madaktu to Khidalu. The result was a revolt in which he was killed after a reign of ten months. His brother Ummanmenan at once collected See also:allies and prepared for resistance to the Assyrians. But the terrible defeat at Khalule See also:broke his See also:power; he was attacked by See also:paralysis shortly afterwards, and Khumba-Khaldas II. followed him on the throne (689 B.C.). The new king endeavoured to gain Assyrian favour by putting to See also:death the son of Merodach-baladan, but was himself murdered by his See also:brothers Urtaki and Teumman (681 B.C.), the first of whom seized the See also:crown. On his death Teumman succeeded and almost immediately provoked a See also:quarrel with See also:Assur-bani-See also:pal by demanding the surrender of his nephews who had taken See also:refuge at the Assyrian See also:court. The Assyrians pursued the Elamite See also:army to Susa, where a See also:battle was fought on the See also:banks of the Eulaeus, in which the Elamites were defeated, Teumman captured and slain, and Umman-igas, the son of Urtaki, made king, his younger brother Tammaritu being given the district of Khidalu. Ummanigas afterwards assisted in the revolt of Babylonia under Samassum-yukin, but his nephew, a second Tammaritu, raised a See also:rebellion against him, defeated him in battle, cut off his head and seized the crown. Tammaritu marched to Babylonia; while there, his officer Inda-bigas made himself See also:master of Susa and drove Tammaritu to the coast whence he fled to Assur-banipal. Inda-bigas was himself overthrown and slain by a new pretender, Khumba-Khaldas III., who was opposed, however, by three other rivals, two of whom maintained themselves in the mountains until the Assyrian See also:conquest of the country, when Tammaritu was first restored and then imprisoned, Elam being utterly devastated. The return of Khumba-Khaldas led to a fresh Assyrian invasion; the Elamite king fled from Madaktu to Dur-undasi; Susa and other cities were taken, and the Elamite army almost exterminated on the banks of the Itite. The whole country was reduced to a See also:desert, Susa was plundered and razed to the ground, the royal sepulchres were desecrated, and the images of the gods and of 32 kings " in See also:silver, See also:gold, See also:bronze and See also:alabaster," were carried away. All this must have happened about 64o B.C. After the fall of the Assyrian empire Elam was occupied by the Persian Teispes, the forefather of See also:Cyrus, who, accordingly, like his immediate successors, is called in the inscriptions " king of Anzan." Susa once more became a capital, and on the See also:establishment of the Persian empire remained one of the three seats of government, its See also:language, the Neo-Susian, ranking with the Persian of See also:Persepolis and the Semitic of Babylon as an See also:official See also:tongue. In the reign of See also:Darius, however, the Susianians attempted to revolt, first under Assina or Atrina, the son of Umbadara, and later under Martiya, the son of Issainsakria, who called himself Immanes; but they gradually became completely Aryanized, and their agglutinative dialects were supplanted by the See also:Aryan Persian from the See also:south-east. Elam, " the land of the See also:cedar-See also:forest," with its enchanted trees, figured largely in Babylonian See also:mythology, and one of the adventures of the See also:hero Gilgamesh was the destruction of the See also:tyrant Khumbaba who dwelt in the midst of it. A See also:list of the Elamite deities is given by Assur-bani-pal; at the head of them was In-Susinak, " the See also:lord of the Susians,"—a title which went back to the See also:age of Babylonian suzerainty,—whose image and See also:oracle were hidden from the eyes of the profane. Nakhkhunte, according to Scheil, was the See also:Sun-goddess, and Lagamar, whose name enters into that of Chedorlaomer, was borrowed from Semitic Babylonia. See W. K. See also:Loftus, See also:Chaldaea and Susiana (1857); A. Billerbeck, Susa (1893) ; J. de Morgan, Memoiees de la Delegation en Perse (9 vols., 1899-1906). (A. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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