Near East Kingdoms

Middle Elamite Period (Elam) (Western Iran)

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The city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture.

Elam was one of the oldest named regions in history, being located in one of the oldest civilised areas in the world, now within Iran (see feature link). With a small but important selection of city states at its core it also provided history with one of its longest-surviving states, or at least a series of states which, for outsiders, can barely be distinguished apart from one another.

The 'Middle Elamite Period' began with poor records and plenty of gaps in modern knowledge of people and events, thanks largely to the Kassite rule of Babylonia. This hazy beginning was followed by a slow ascendancy into an empire under three dynasties of kings from the city of Anshan to succeed the former Eparti dynasty of rulers. The Marhashi state on Elam's eastern border seems to have disappeared, as had the Simashki state inside Elam's eastern edge.

Although Elam was a late arrival on the international scene, and had limited influence outside of Babylonia and Assyria, it cannot be ignored as a significant force. An international system was soon in place during this period, with rulers of equal status referring to one another as 'brother' in their frequent correspondence.

The lack of international correspondence which relates to Elam is probably due to the fact that it only became a significant domain after the period in which the Egyptian Amarna archive was laid down, along with its distance from Syria. To be able date any of the Elamite rulers in this period, events have to be relied upon which are noted in Babylonia.

The Anshanite dynasties of Elam began with the Susa-based Kidinuids who oversaw the 'Elamisation' of that city while continuing to use the Akkadian language on their inscriptions. The kings of this period were titled 'king of Anshan and Susa', indicating a renewed political unity within Elam, or at least a claim to it. This first part of the three middle period dynasties, 'Middle Elam Period I' (covering about 1500-1400 BC), is the most obscure of them.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, Samuel Noah Kramer ('List 1' of Sumerian rulers, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1963), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from The Ancient Near East, c.3000-330 BC, Amélie Kuhrt (Routledge, 2000, Vol I & II), from Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Road (Facts on File, 2000), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), from The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, S Lloyd (Revised Ed, London, 1984), from Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J N Postgate (Routledge, 1994), from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from The Archaeology of Elam, D T Potts (Cambridge University Press, 1999), from The Elamite World, Javier Álvarez-Mon, Gian Pietro Basello, & Yasmina Wick (Eds, Routledge, 2018), and from External Links: Some Thoughts in Neo-Elamite Chronology, Jan Tavernier (PDF), and the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, and Early Kings of Kish, Albrecht Goetze (Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol 15, No 3, 1961, pp 105-111 and available to read via University of Chicago Press Journals), and Archaeology.org.)

c.1500 - ? BC

King of Anshan & Susa, based at Susa.

King of Anshan & Susa. Some lists place him last.

King of Anshan & Susa, based at Susa.

King of Anshan & Susa, based at Susa.

fl c.1400 BC?

King of Anshan & Susa, based at Susa.

The best-attested act of this period is Tepti-ahar's building of a new settlement (actually a monumental rebuild), called Kabnak, approximately twenty kilometres from Susa. The Kidinuid kings leave no mark outside of the western lowlands though.

With Elam in general decline, Kabnak also declines. Some of its temples and palaces are abandoned, and their materials are reused to build simple dwellings. The remains of several hundred massacre victims of this period are found by archaeologists in AD 2014-2015, piled on top of one another behind one of the city's internal walls.

Several hundred people were massacred in this period and their bodies piled into a mass grave behind one of Kabnak's city walls, for archaeologists to find in 2014-2015, although the circumstances surrounding the massacre are unknown

Igehalkid Kings

Ige-Halki ruled a newly independent, and certainly reunified Elam, with the lowlands of Susa in the west once more united with the highlands of Anshan in the east. Elamite language continued to increase in importance during this period. However, under the rule of the Igehalkids the kingdom seems to have remained fairly inactive. Ten rulers are known, but there may be more. The succession of kings was unusual for the period in that the throne moved back and forth between the descendants of two sons of Ige-Halki.

c.1350 - 1330 BC

Or from c.1400 BC.

c.1330 - 1310 BC

Son.

c.1320 BC

Elam is temporarily occupied by the Kassites.

c.1310 - 1300 BC

Brother.

c.1300 - 1275 BC

Son.

c.1275 - 1240 BC

Son. Built a new city in his own name.

The largest project undertaken by the Igehalkid dynasty of Elamite kings is the construction of a new city which is located forty kilometres from Susa. The city of Untash-Napirisha is named after its founder, Untash-Naprisha (using a variation of the spelling for Naprisha). It is devoted to Napirisha, the great god of Elam, and Inshushinak, the patron deity of Susa. Following the king's death his city assumes secondary status to Susa.

c.1240 - ? BC

Descendant of Pakhir-Ishshan.

Brother.

Descendant of Attar-Kittakh.

? - c.1220 BC

Son.

c.1220 - 1200 BC

Son?

c.1230 BC

Kiddin-Khutran twice enters Babylonia to attack Assyria's puppet rulers there. On the first campaign, Nippur is taken, while on the second Isin is attacked. When Kiddin-Khutran dies there is a change of dynasty in Elam.

Shutrukid Kings

It is not known how this new dynasty came to replace the previous one. Under the Shutrukids the kingdom again became a powerful force within Mesopotamia, even being able to reach out and conquer Babylon. Unfortunately, that expansion brought about the destruction of Elam and four hundred years of direct Babylonian rule. Dates are extremely uncertain, and do not entirely align with known events in Babylonia.

c.1210 - 1190 BC

c.1190 - 1160 BC

Rebuilt the kingdom. Based at Susa.

c.1190 -1160 BC

Shutruk-Nahhunte I states in one of his inscriptions that he brings to Susa several stelae which King Untash-Naprisha of the Igehalkid dynasty had previously placed in the city of Untash-Napirisha.

Several such items have been discovered through archaeology and are presumed to be those which originally stood in Untash-Napirisha. Other inscriptions mention further objects which have come to Susa from Anshan, and Tikni. Shutruk-Nahhunte's passion for collecting monuments in his capital city results in the gathering of a vast number of them there, including many which have come from Mesopotamia.

c.1158 - 1155 BC

With Elam once again a rising power, Shutruk-Nahhunte marries the eldest daughter of the Babylonian king Melishipak, and appears to claim Babylonia as his own. He and his eldest son are able to push out the Kassites, forming a short-lived empire which encompasses Mesopotamia, with that eldest son on the Babylonian throne.

c.1160 - 1155 BC

Son. King of Babylon (1158-1155).

c.1155 BC

It is Kutir-Nahhunte III who claims to have descended on Babylonia 'like a flood' and turned Babylon itself - along with other cities - into a 'ruin heap'. He abducts the city's statues of Marduk and other gods, while also capturing and exporting to Elam the last of the Kassite rulers, Enlil-nadin-ahhe.

An Isin dynasty soon takes control in Babylonia, probably because the Elamites are overstretched when trying to control both ends of their extended domains. However, that does not stop the Elamite raids.

c.1155 - 1125 BC

Brother.

c.1155 - 1135 BC

While his brother is later accused by Babylonian sources of having plundered the country, Shilkhak-In-Shushinak (or Shilkhak-Inshushinak) claims to raid Babylonia and Assyria repeatedly, and to control the area east of the Tigris as far north as Nuzi, until being expelled by the new Isin kings of Babylonia.

c.1125 - 1115 BC

Result of probable relationship between his father & sister.

c.1125 BC

The presence of some inscribed bricks and glazed wall knobs from the reign of Khutelutush-In-Shushinak (otherwise shown as Khutelutush-Inshushinak or Hutelutush-Inshushinak) at Susa and Anshan give evidence for this king’s building activities in both major Elamite centres, but not in Untash-Napirisha.

c. 1115 - ? BC

Brother.

c.1120 BC

Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia puts an end to Elamite prosperity by sacking the capital and kingdom, partially having been forced to do so in order to end the continual Elamite raiding. The kingdom falls (straight away or following some resistance by Shilhana-Hamru-Lagamar?). Possibly this event is also responsible for the slaughter at Kabnak.

Elam becomes part of Babylonia's territories, while the statues of Marduk and other gods are returned to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also claims to subdue the 'land of Lullubi' in the north, while the 'Neo-Elamite Period' commences in a subjugated land.