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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ECG-EMS |
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ELAM , the name given in the Bible to the province of Persia called Susiana by the classical geographers, from Susa or Shushan its capital . In one passage, however (Ezra iv, 9), it is confined to Elymais, the north-western part of the province, and its inhabitants distinguished from those of Shushan, which else-where (Dan. viii. 2) is placed in Elam. Strabo (xv. 3. 12, &c.) makes Susiana a part of Persia proper, but a comparison of his account with those of Ptolemy
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 Nearchus, seems to include the Susians under the Elymaeans, whom he associates with the Uxii. and places on the frontiersof Persia and Susa; but 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 Media, and their name is apparently to be identified with the title given to the whole of Susiana in the Persian cuneiform inscriptions , Uwaja, i.e. " Aborigines." Uwaja is probably the origin of the modern Khuzistan, though Mordtmann would derive the latter from j y " a sugar-reed." Immediately bordering on the Persians were the Amardians or Mardians, as well as the 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-Amir, which 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 fourth 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 Herodotus (iii. 91, v. 49, &c.). In fact Susiana was only a late name for the country, dating from the time when Susa had been made a capital of the Persian empire. In the Sumerian texts of Babylonia it was called Numma, " the Highlands," of which Elamtu or Elamu, " Elam," was the Semitic translation. Apart from Susa, the most important part of the country was Anzan (Anshan, contracted Assan), where the native 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 government. In the lexical tablets Anzan is given as the equivalent of Elamtu, and the native 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 chain. There were numerous rivers flowing into either the Tigris or the Persian Gulf. The most important were the Ulai or Eulaeus (Koran) with its tributary the Pasitigris, the Choaspes (Kerkhah), the Coprates (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 fell into the 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, lay between the Shapur and the river of Diz. Among the other chief
Chief
of Babylonia (c. 2100 B.C.); another would have been the Chedor-laomer (Kutur-Lagamar) of Genesis xiv. One of the greatest builders among them was Untas-GAL (the pronunciation of the second 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 prince Kidin-Khutrutas avenged his defeat, and Sutruk-Nakhkhunte (1220 B.C.) carried fire and sword through Babylonia, slew its king Zamama-sum-iddin and carried away a stela of Naram-Sin and the famous code of 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 Malatia. He was succeeded by his son who was followed on the throne by his brother, one of the 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-ili in Yamutbal, and though Sargon claims a victory the result was that Babylonia recovered its independence under Merodach-baladan and the Assyrian forces were driven north. From this time forward it was against 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 nephew, Sutruk-Nakhkhunte. He failed to make head against the Assyrians; the frontier cities were taken by Sargon and Merodach-baladan was left to his fate. A few years later (704 B.c.) the combined forces of Elam and Babylonia were overthrown at Kis, and in the following year the 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 Sennacherib, whom his father had placed there as king, and raised a nominee of his own, 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 allies and prepared for resistance to the Assyrians. But the terrible defeat at Khalule broke his power; he was attacked by 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 death the son of Merodach-baladan, but was himself murdered by his brothers Urtaki and Teumman (681 B.C.), the first of whom seized the crown. On his death Teumman succeeded and almost immediately provoked a quarrel with Assur-bani-pal by demanding the surrender of his nephews who had taken refuge
and the images of the gods and of 32 kings " in silver, gold, bronze and 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 Cyrus, who, accordingly, like his immediate successors, is called in the inscriptions " king of Anzan." Susa once more became a capital, and on the establishment of the Persian empire remained one of the three seats of government, its language, the Neo-Susian, ranking with the Persian of Persepolis
Elam, " the land of the cedar
list
See W. K. Loftus, Chaldaea
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