The biblical name of a hilly country, east of the River Tigris (Hiddekel) bordered by Assyria and Madai on the north, the Persian Gulf on the south and Persia on the east and southeast. Its capital was Susa (Shushan). Most of our knowledge of it derives from Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian sources. There was a constant state of war between Elam and the kingdoms of Lagash and Assyria. By the end of the 2nd millennium B.C. the Elamites had succeeded in deposing the Sumerian Dynasty of Ur. According to Genesis chapter 14, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, ruled over all the countries which were formerly under the yoke of Babylon, and the countries on the Jordan were his tributaries. At the beginning of the 12th century B.C. the Elamites invaded Babylon, and the stone on which Hammurabi wrote his code of laws was captured by them and taken to Susa, where it was found in 1902. The rise of Assyria in the 8th-7th centuries B.C. led to clashes between the two kingdoms. Sargon II, Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal conducted continuous military campaigns against Elam. Susa fell in 645 B.C. Elamites then took part in the Assyrian campaigns against Judah (Is 22:6), and after the fall of Nineveh Elam regained its freedom. Isaiah prophesied the unification of Elam and Media, which was to bring about the conquest of Babylon (Is 21:2, 9). The fall of Elam was foretold by Jeremiah (49:34-39) and by Ezekiel (32:24-25). During the period of the Persian empire Elam was one of the satrapies, with Susa as its capital. Elamites settled in Samaria impeded the Jews who returned from the Babylonian Exile (Ezra 4:8-9).
Concordance
Gen 14:1, 9. Ezra 4:9. Is 11:11; 21:2; 22:6. Jer 25:25; 49:34-39. Ezek 32:24. Dan 8:2. Acts 2:9
