Elam (ē`ləm), ancient country of Asia, N of the Persian Gulf and E of the Tigris, now in W Iran. A civilization seems to have been established there very early, probably in the late 4th millennium B.C. The capital was Susa Susa (s
`zə, –sə), ancient city, capital of Elam .
..... Click the link for more information. , and the country is sometimes called Susiana. The land included a hot, rich plain and hill country to the east. In historical times the Elamites were known as a warlike people who rivaled and threatened Babylonia. The population was neither Sumerian nor Semitic. Their language survives in a copious cuneiform literature. The Elamites seem to have maintained their independence steadily, despite invasions and counterinvasions. At the beginning of the 2d millennium the Elamites invaded Babylonia and founded a dynasty at Larsa. Shortly thereafter they became masters of Uruk, Babylon, and Isin. In the 18th cent. B.C., Hammurabi was able to keep the Elamites from expanding. A century later an Elamite king, Kutir-Nahunte, revived a kingdom that flourished. However, the golden age of Elam came in the 13th and 12th cent. B.C. The Elamite civilization grew strong; there was a literary renaissance and great development of architecture and sculpture. Elam drew much of its artistic inspiration from Mesopotamia and carried back to Susa such important monuments as the stele of Naram-Sin and the code of Hammurabi. Tchoga-Zanbil, excavated in 1952, was the Elamite religious center with its great ziggurat. By the 7th cent. B.C., however, the rising power of Assyria threatened Elam. Sargon Sargon, d. 705 B.C., king of Assyria (722–705 B.C.), successor to Shalmaneser V. He completed Shalmaneser's siege of Samaria in 721 B.C., thus destroying the northern Israelite kingdom forever. In 720 he defeated a coalition of enemies at Raphia.
..... Click the link for more information. of Assyria, Sennacherib Sennacherib (sĕnăk`ərĭb) or Senherib, d. 681 B.C., king of Assyria (705–681 B.C.).
..... Click the link for more information. , and Esar-Haddon Esar-Haddon (ē'sär-hăd`ən), king of ancient Assyria (681–668 B.C.), son of Sennacherib .
..... Click the link for more information. all attacked the Elamites, but Susa fell only to Assurbanipal Assurbanipal (ä's
..... Click the link for more information. , who sacked the city. Possibly the house that in the person of Cyrus the Great took over the rule from the Medes and created the Achaemenid empire was originally Elamite. At any rate Susa became a favored provincial capital of Persia as is revealed by its great palace of the Achaemenid kings. Mention is made of Elam in Isa. 22.6; Jer. 49.34–39.
Elam
`zə, –sə), ancient city, capital of Elam ...... Click the link for more information. , and the country is sometimes called Susiana. The land included a hot, rich plain and hill country to the east. In historical times the Elamites were known as a warlike people who rivaled and threatened Babylonia. The population was neither Sumerian nor Semitic. Their language survives in a copious cuneiform literature. The Elamites seem to have maintained their independence steadily, despite invasions and counterinvasions. At the beginning of the 2d millennium the Elamites invaded Babylonia and founded a dynasty at Larsa. Shortly thereafter they became masters of Uruk, Babylon, and Isin. In the 18th cent. B.C., Hammurabi was able to keep the Elamites from expanding. A century later an Elamite king, Kutir-Nahunte, revived a kingdom that flourished. However, the golden age of Elam came in the 13th and 12th cent. B.C. The Elamite civilization grew strong; there was a literary renaissance and great development of architecture and sculpture. Elam drew much of its artistic inspiration from Mesopotamia and carried back to Susa such important monuments as the stele of Naram-Sin and the code of Hammurabi. Tchoga-Zanbil, excavated in 1952, was the Elamite religious center with its great ziggurat. By the 7th cent. B.C., however, the rising power of Assyria threatened Elam. Sargon Sargon, d. 705 B.C., king of Assyria (722–705 B.C.), successor to Shalmaneser V. He completed Shalmaneser's siege of Samaria in 721 B.C., thus destroying the northern Israelite kingdom forever. In 720 he defeated a coalition of enemies at Raphia.
..... Click the link for more information. of Assyria, Sennacherib Sennacherib (sĕnăk`ərĭb) or Senherib, d. 681 B.C., king of Assyria (705–681 B.C.).
..... Click the link for more information. , and Esar-Haddon Esar-Haddon (ē'sär-hăd`ən), king of ancient Assyria (681–668 B.C.), son of Sennacherib .
..... Click the link for more information. all attacked the Elamites, but Susa fell only to Assurbanipal Assurbanipal (ä's
..... Click the link for more information. , who sacked the city. Possibly the house that in the person of Cyrus the Great took over the rule from the Medes and created the Achaemenid empire was originally Elamite. At any rate Susa became a favored provincial capital of Persia as is revealed by its great palace of the Achaemenid kings. Mention is made of Elam in Isa. 22.6; Jer. 49.34–39.
Bibliography
See W. Hinz, The Lost World of Elam (1964, tr. 1973).
Elam
Ancient country of the Middle East. It was located in what is now southwestern Iran, at the head of the Persian Gulf and east of ancient Babylonia; its capital was Susa (the country, thus, is sometimes known as Susiana). It had close cultural ties to Mesopotamia and was in conflict with Sumer and Akkad from c. 2700 BC. In the 13th century BC, it became a dominant power that included most of Mesopotamia east of the Tigris and reached almost to Persepolis. Its domination ended when Nebuchadrezzar I of Babylon (r. 1124–03 BC) captured Susa. Later, Elam formed a satrapy of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty, and Susa became one of its capitals.
Elam
an ancient kingdom east of the River Tigris: established before 4000 bc; probably inhabited by a non-Semitic people
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