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, 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 of Assyria, Sennacherib, and Esar-Haddon all attacked the Elamites, but Susa fell only to Assurbanipal, 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).

History of Greater Iran
Empires of Persia · Kings of Persia
Pre-modern
Before Islam  BCE Zayandeh River Civilization prehistoric–? Sialk civilization 7500–1000 Jiroft civilization (Aratta) 3000–? Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 Bactria-Margiana Complex 2200–1700 Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th cent. Median Empire 728–550 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Seleucid Empire 330–150 Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250-125 Parthian Empire 248–CE 224 CE Kushan Empire 30–275 Sassanid Empire 224–651 Hephthalite Empire 425–557 Kabul-Shahi dynasty 565–670
After Islamic Conquest  Patriarchal Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Alavid dynasty 864–928 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid dynasty 819–999 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid Dynasty 934–1055 Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187 Ghori dynasty 1149–1212 Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Khwarezmid dynasty 1077–1231 Kartids dynasty 1231-1389 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dyansty 1337–1357 Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1506 Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508 Safavid Empire 1501–1722* Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid dynasty 1736–1802 * or 1736
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Iraq  Ottoman Empire 1632–1919 Hashimite monarchy 1920–1958 Coup and Republic 1958–2003 Republic of Iraq since 2004
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Ancient Mesopotamia
Euphrates · Tigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: Uruk · Ur · Eridu
Kish · Lagash · Nippur
Akkadian Empire: Akkad
Babylon · Isin · Susa
Assyria: Assur · Nineveh
Dur-Sharrukin · Nimrud
Babylonia · Chaldea
Elam · Amorites
Hurrians · Mitanni
Kassites · Urartu
Chronology
Kings of Sumer
Kings of Assyria
Kings of Babylon
Language
Aramaic
Sumerian · Akkadian
Elamite · Hurrian
Mythology
Enûma Elish
Gilgamesh · Marduk

Elam, lasting from around 2700 BC to 539 BC, is one of the oldest recorded civilizations. Elam was centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran (the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, which takes its name from Elam), as well as parts of southern Iraq. It was preceded by what is known as the Proto-Elamite period, which began around 3200 BC when Susa (later capital of Elam) began to be influenced by the cultures of the Iranian plateau to the east.

Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad (modern-day Iraq). In the Old Elamite period, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in the Persian Empire, especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it, when the Elamite language remained in official use. The Elamite period is considered a starting point for the history of Iran (although there were older civilizations in Iranian plateau, such as the Mannaeans kingdom in Iranian Azarbaijan and Shahr-i Sokhta (Burned City) in Zabol, and the recently discovered Jiroft civilization to the east. The Elamite language was not related to any Iranian languages, but may be part of a larger group known as Elamo-Dravidian.

Etymology

The Elamites called their country Haltamti (in later Elamite, Atamti), which the neighboring Akkadians rendered as Elam. Elam means "highland". Additionally, the Haltamti are known as Elam in the Hebrew Old Testament, where they are called the offspring of Elam, eldest son of Shem (see Elam in the Bible).

The high country of Elam was increasingly identified by its low-lying later capital, Susa. Geographers after Ptolemy called it Susiana. The Elamite civilization was primarily centered in the province of what is modern-day Khuzestan, however it did extend into the later province of Fars in prehistoric times. The modern provincial name Khuzestān may be derived^{[citation needed]} from the Old Persian Ūvja (Old Persian:

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