Near East Kingdoms

Pashime / Bashime / Mishime (City State) (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.

Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was subjected to permanent settlement during the Pottery Neolithic and, by the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states, by which time other regions were emerging as population centres in their own right. Elam was located to the east of Sumer, with its own selection of city states at its core (and see feature link).

This region was located on an alluvial plan below the Zagros mountains, and its remoteness meant that it took some time for it to assimilate Sumer's groundbreaking social, agricultural, and administrative inventions. Access to Sumer was in the Zagros foothills, circling the marshes, but this meant difficulties in communication, and a feeling in Sumer of there being comparative barbarians on their eastern flank.

Culturally, Elamite kingdoms achieved less than their more advanced neighbours, and imported much of what they needed, including writing from Sumer and architecture from the later city and empire of Babylon. Elamite records are also extremely sparse in recording local events, and large areas of its history are almost totally unknown except through Sumerian records.

Pashime is more accurately shown as Pašime (sometimes Pasime), while also being known by the variations Bašime (Bashime - the Akkadian pronunciation) and Mišime (Mishime - the Sumerian pronunciation). It was long thought to have been a Persian Gulf coastal territory which bordered Huhnuri during its 'Old Elamite' peak.

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(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 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, and Tell Abu Sheeja/Ancient Pašime: Report on the First Season of Excavations, Ayad Mohammad Hussein et al (UCL 2007).)

c.3100 - 2700 BC

The Uruk IV influence suddenly fades around 3100 BC (or 3200 BC in some modern sources) for reasons unknown. Older traditions re-emerge in places which had previously taken on board Uruk influences.

The archaeological mound of Tell Abu Sheeja (ancient Pashime) covers an area of about eighteen hectares and is made up of eight mounds, rising to a maximum of six metres above the plain

The Uruk-inspired centre at Susa in Elam seems to be taken over by immigrants from the Zagros mountains (or at least it witnesses an indigenous return to pre-Uruk political and cultural controls).

This coincides with Mesopotamian centres diminishing in size or - like Shakhi Kora - being abandoned altogether, while others are created such as Pashime (pottery finds in AD 2007 confirm a founding date during the Uruk IV and perhaps as early as the Ubaid).

c.2450 BC

Eannatum of Lagash annexes virtually all of 'Post-Diluvian' Sumer, including Kish, Nippur, Umma, Uruk (briefly), Ur, and Larsa. In addition, he extends his realm to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf, apparently using terror as a matter of policy.

Elamite cities on the plain to the east of Sumer benefited from direct contact, but cities with more easterly locations also swiftly caught up, connected into a network of trading routes which stretched east to the Indus and north to Hissar and the BMAC (click or tap on map to view at an intermediate size)

'Elam "the high mountain" was smitten with weapons; mounds of corpses were piled up. Arawa, whose ensi had raised its standard, was smitten with weapons, mounds of corpses were piled up. Umma was smitten with weapons, twenty mounds of corpses were piled up. Uruk was smitten with weapons. Uru'aza was destroyed. Mishime was destroyed.'

c.2278 - 2270 BC

It is Abalgamash of Marhashi who is responsible for leading the forces of Elam, Kupin, Zahara, and Meluhha, (a settlement of the Indus Valley civilisation) in a coalition against the Akkadian empire. This force invades the western reaches of Elam (no doubt involving Susa) to free it of late Sargon-period occupation and await retribution from his successor, Rimush.

After this rebellion, Elam has to be re-conquered by Rimush, and genuine Elamite history can be traced from this point. The state of Marhashi is clearly now a cohesive entity, one which borders Anshan to the east.

Sargon 'the Great', the warrior king of apparently humble origins, unified Sumer for (perhaps) the first time in recorded history through a series of campaigns and the defeat of the current holder of Sumer's equivalent of a high kingship

fl c.2260s? BC

Ensi (governor) for Manishtushu of Akkad.

The renewed Akkadian presence in Elam is maintained in Susa through the official language of bureaucracy, while local rulers carry Sumerian titles which reveal full Akkadian dependence - often ensi (governor) of Susa or shagina (general) of Elam, or both. Pashime has its own installed ensi in the form of Ilshu-rabi.

c.2048 BC

Year 46 (circa 2048 BC) of the reign of Shulgi of Ur is named the year 'Shulgi, the mighty man, king of Ur, king of the four quarters, destroyed Kimash [Simashki], Hu'urti, and their lands in a single day'. Ambassadors from Marhashi are received at Puzrish-Dagan.

The Zagros mountains in the vicinity of the modern city of Istfahan and the ancient city state of Simashki offer a wide variety of living environments

fl c.2046 BC

Ruler of Pashime, m daughter of Shulgi of Ur.

c.2046 BC

The conquest of Simashki carries such weight that two years later the Ur year name is 'Harshi [Marhashi], Kimash [Simashki], and U'urti and their lands were destroyed in a single day' - not a repeat destruction but the continued recognition of a major event. It is in this year that Shulgi's daughter, Taram-Shulgi, is mentioned as wife of Shudda-bani, king of Pashime.

c.2030 BC

The seventh year of the reign of Shi-Sin of Ur is named as the year 'Shu-sin, the king of Ur, king of the four quarters, destroyed the land of Zabshali'.

He also dedicates a statue of himself for the god Enlil, with it being made from gold which has been taken as booty from the lands of the Su people, and the lands of Zabshali, Shigrish, Iabulmat, Alumiddatum, Karta, Shatilu, Bulma, and Nushushmar (and possibly other equally vague and little-known Elamite territories, but the dedication is cut short). The suggestion here is that he no longer controls or dominates much of Elam.

The ruins of the once-vast city of Ur were excavated in 1922 by Sir Leonard Woolley, which is when the 'Royal Tombs' were discovered (External Link: Creative Commons Licence 4.0 International)

c.1929 - 1927 BC

For reasons unknown and pursuing a more aggressive foreign policy than that of his predecessors, Gungunum of Larsa attacks and destroys Pashime in his third year (circa 1929 BC) and Anshan in his fifth year (circa 1927 BC). He may also be in control of Susa in his sixteenth year (circa 1916 BC), depending upon how a Susa text is interpreted.

644 BC

'Neo-Elamite Period III' begins as Elam under Khumma-Khaldash III (sometimes shown as Ummanaldash) is devastated by Assyria, although not as badly as had previously been believed from inscriptions left by the Assyrians themselves.

Crossing the River Idide, Khumma-Khaldash prepares his forces for battle using the river as a line of defence. City after city is falling to Assurbanipal's forces, however, sending Khumma-Khaldash once more into flight towards the mountains.

Ashurbanipal is illustrated during a lion hunt, almost a ritual in the Assyrian royal search for order amidst the seemingly everyday chaos of life

The Assyrians press eastwards as far as the border of Hidalu, and along the coast of the upper Persian Gulf to Pashime, destroying cities and towns, smashing some cult statues and seizing others as booty, and laying waste to an enormous area around six hundred kilometres in length. Then they turn back to focus on Susa.

The populace suffers greatly, but it is not massacred. Instead, the fragmented and weakened Elamites rule an increasingly shrinking domain. An example is probably the city of Untash-Napirisha which seems to be abandoned around this time and may even be a direct casualty of Assyria's attack. The land of Elam eventually passes into the hands of the Parsua.