It seems that the Mesopotamians alternated between peaceful and more forcible approaches, in order to obtain the raw materials they needed. But Mesopotamian power was weakening. The Epartid or sukkalmah dynasty ca. This long period of nearly three centuries still seems one of the most confused in Elamite history, despite the greater abundance and variety of the available documentation.
The result was a theory about the division of power between the direct and collateral lines specific to Elam. Although generally early sovereigns are mentioned first in the text and the most recent ones last, within each group there are obvious contradictions with other documents. These distortions result from enumeration according to lineages; sometimes the direct line is given, then the collateral lines, but sometimes the collateral lines precede the direct line, without relation to actual chronology.
He could thus not have reigned in the 15th century B. In fact, from different documents, particularly cylinder seals q. Taking into account the corrected interpretations on these three points, it is possible today to write a coherent, though incomplete, history of the Epartid dynasty.
The last Epartid, Idaddu-temti, is known only from the king list. Rulers of several Mesopotamian states attempted to retake Susa from the Elamites.
His titles, too, are unusual. But the best-known sukkalmah of the dynasty is Siwe-palar-huppak, who for at least two years was the most powerful person in the Near East. These documents suggest that daily life in Susa and Elam was quite insular. Although no military activity is noted in the documents, it is astonishing that so many royal or princely names are attested at the same time.
These different factors raise the question whether, during the second half of this period, palace intrigues had not replaced international conflicts. This process is reflected in different spheres.
For example, the Elamites did not impose their language on the Susians; the vast majority of the documents from this period excavated at Susa, most of them juridical or economic texts related to daily life in the name of the sukkalmah or a sukkal , were written in Akkadian.
Gods of Elamite origin were rare. Finally, this semitization, or westernization, is illustrated by the titulary. The supreme power was held by the sukkalmah. It is thus necessary to set aside the theory of the division of Elamite power Cameron, pp. The succession to the throne was based on male primogeniture, with, however, an important additional element: the different degrees of legitimacy exemplified by the primacy of endogamy over exogamy.
The child born to a union of the king with an Elamite princess, that is, a foreigner, was legitimate. The child born to a union of the king with his own sister had a higher degree of legitimacy. An elder son born to the marriage of a sovereign with a princess outside the family exogamy thus had to cede the throne to a younger brother born to a later union of the king and his sister endogamy.
The supreme degree of legitimacy was accorded to the son born to a union of the king with his own daughter.
In the eventuality that a sovereign had no male heir or an heir was too young to exercise power then, as often elsewhere, power was secured by a collateral branch Vallat, It sometimes happened, however, that the king associated his children in power for practical reasons: It is probable that, as in the Achaemenid period, the court left the extreme heat of Susa in summer and took refuge on the more temperate plateau. It was thus prudent to leave a trusted man in charge of the low countries.
The Middle Elamite period was marked by a sharp reversal from the preceding period. Susa and Haft Tepe ancient Kabnak have furnished evidence Reiner, b; Herrero of a break between the period of the sukkalmah s and the Middle Elamite period. As in the preceding period, however, they continued to use Akkadian in all their inscriptions.
The Igihalkid dynasty ca. Until quite recently the Igihalkid dynasty seemed one of the best known in Elamite history. It was believed e. Combined information from a letter now in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin Van Dijk, and two fragments of a statue rediscovered in the Louvre Steve and Vallat, pp.
The letter in Berlin is a Neo-Babylonian document written in Akkadian, whereas the statue fragments contain an inscription in Elamite. In support of his claim the king mentioned the names of all the Elamite kings who had married Kassite princesses, followed by the names of the children born of these unions.
The number of kings known to have succeeded to the Elamite throne has thus been raised from seven to ten, without any certainty that the list is complete. As for the Berlin letter, only the dynasts who married Kassite princesses or their children are mentioned in it. A king who belonged in neither of these two categories would remain unknown. Finally, it can now be confirmed that Hurpatila was not an Elamite king but king of a country known as Elammat Gassan. Documents written in Akkadian are thus especially rare from their rule, and most are only curses against those who might tamper with dedicated works, as if such outrages could come only from Mesopotamia.
Finally and most important, the gods of the plateau appeared in force in Susiana. The king began by constructing a small ziggurat in the middle of a courtyard m2 surrounded by temples. But very quickly the king changed his mind and undertook construction of a large ziggurat.
The small one was destroyed, and the buildings that surrounded the square courtyard were incorporated in the first story of the new monument, which consisted of five stories, each smaller in area than the one below Ghirshman; Amiet, , pp. The primacy of the Elamite component over that of Susa was thus reflected on the divine plane. But the situation was even more complex. Sennacherib was unable to gain a decisive victory over Elam. In at least one battle the Elamites inflicted a defeat upon the Assyrians.
The struggle between the two powers continued until the later years of the reign of the Assyrian Ashurbanipal b. Ashurbanipal placed a puppet upon the throne of Elam but he proved disloyal with the result that in b. Elam as an independent nation thus comes to an end. At the rise of the Pers.
Elam was made a satrapy paying tribute to the Achaemenid kings. It was widely known for the beauty of its halls and palaces. The city was mentioned by Gr. Elam in the Bible. In Genesis Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, is described as the overlord of three other Mesopotamian kings. Cuneiform tablets discovered at Mari indicate that in this period Elamite mercenaries served in the armies of the kings of Mesopotamia and that Elamites traveled as emissaries as far as Aleppo and Hazor which may help to understand Genesis It is impossible on the basis of present knowledge to synchronize adequately the rulers of the Mesopotamian cities and the Elamite kings.
Elam is listed among those who attacked Jerusalem and is described as a land of archers Isa ; Jer It also is listed with the Medes among the attackers of Babylon under Cyrus Isa , 9. Elam is listed as one of the places to which Israelites were exiled Isa Jeremiah lists Elam with the nations that will be forced to drink the cup of the wrath of God Jer ; cf.
Ezekiel numbers Elam among the nations over whose graves a lamentation shall be chanted Ezek , The Elamites are listed among the peoples settled in Samaria by the Assyrians Ezra , Cyrus Isa ; was from the Elamite province of Anshan.
The episodes recorded in the Book of Esther occurred at Susa the ancient capital of Elam in the reign of Ahasuerus the Pers. In Acts the Elamites are said to have been present, along with Parthians, Medes, and others, in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. When the Elamites in alliance with the people of Susiana brought an end to the empire of Ur in B. The mechanics of the transformation of the line of Shimashkian kings into the line of Susian sukkalmahs is obscure but one thing is certain: under the sukkalmahs , particularly those of the late nineteenth and early eighteenth centuries BC, the prestige and influence of Elam throughout Western Asia was unprecedented Page in 2.
Drehem or ancient Puzrish-Dagan is a suburb of Nippur and is the best known city of the so-called redistribution centers of the Neo Sumerian period of Mesopotamian history. Livestock cattle -- sheep and goats of the state was centralized at Drehem and redistributed to the temples, its officials and the royal palaces of Sumer.
Akkadian and Sumerian MAR. TU or Amurru are used in texts referring to the Amorites. Dandamaev The Achaemenid period B. In the time of Cyrus the Great Susa eclipsed the other capitals like Anshan and Pasargadae ; and even Persepolis which was founded by Darius himself and Ecbatana. Elam was absorbed into the new empire which changed the face of the civilized world at that time 3.
Elymais was sometimes independent and occasionally a vassal state of the Parthians. Strabo describes Elymais as a mostly rugged country bordering on Susis and inhabited by brigands who waged war against the Susians Strabo
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