Near East Kingdoms

Susa (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.

One of Elam's oldest city state kingdoms, Susa arose as a major regional city around 2600 BC but little is known of its origins. It was located on the Khuzestan plain, with the much later city of Untash-Napirisha plotted on a site which lay forty kilometres to the south-east. The contemporary settlement of Chogha Mish lay a short way to the east, while in the second millennium BC the city of Kabnak was founded about twenty kilometres away.

Culturally, Elamite states 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.

Susa was the 'mother city', located in the lowlands of the region's western edge. It was established around 7000 BC, although Chogha Mish was initially more advanced, until the later fourth millennium BC at least. The only evidence of occupation in Susa's earliest period (often referred to as the 'Susa I' period), occurs in two discrete areas which early French excavators named the 'Acropole', ('acropolis' - the site of a French late-nineteenth century chateau), and the 'Apadana' mound, named as such thanks to the Achaemenid palace of Darius 'the Great'.

Apart from these two areas the rest of Susa - and districts with modern names such as the 'Ville Royale', the 'Donjon', and the 'Ville des Artisans' - was apparently unoccupied in the site's earliest phase of settlement. The Apadana mound has a suggested coverage of about 6.3 hectares, while trenches on the Acropole reached 'Susa I' levels wherever they were put down, suggesting that its original extent was on the order of seven hectares.

The Apadana was encircled by a packed mud wall of six metres in width at its base. Possibly the Acropole also had a local wall, and the entire site was surrounded by a greater wall, but further archaeology is required to confirm this. The city changed in terms of use at the start of the 'Susa II' period, briefly expanding, then contracting, and then massively expanding. This period ended in massive regional change when a 'proto-Elamite' population apparently moved in and took over.

Sometimes Elamite cities soon had rival kingships, mostly poorly-recorded, and sometimes they seemed to combine into one kingdom or perhaps acted as a loosely-joined coalition. Sometimes they even attacked and/or invaded one another's territories, and sometimes the lands of Elam were united under the control of a single king. Potentially also included at various times in various events were smaller cities or groups which included Aratta, Harshi, Itnigi, Sapum, Shig(i)rish, Zabshali, and Zitanu.

Following Elam's eventual unification as a single state the city of Susa also largely served as the capital prior to conquest by the Persians. By the time Alexander the Great was established there, in the late fourth century BC, it was better known as Susiana.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, Gwendolyn Leick (Penguin Books, 2001), 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 Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), 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 Archaeological findings may push back Susa's history by millennia (Tehran Times).)

c.7000 BC

From about this period onwards the first traces of civilisation appear in the Elamite region of what today is western Iran. Later to be a great regional city, Susa now shows traces of early settlement. The nearby settlement at Chogha Mish is initially more advanced, however.

The only evidence of occupation in Susa's earliest 'Susa I' period occurs in two discrete areas which modern French excavators name the 'Acropole', or acropolis and the 'Apadana' mound, named as such thanks to its Achaemenid palace of Darius 'the Great'.

Little contact of note exists with western areas which are about to start the Pottery Neolithic. Settlement in the adjacent Sumer does not really take off for a further two or three millennia, after irrigation techniques have been perfected. Occupation may possibly be dominated by an Elamite highlands-originated population of PPNB agriculturalists.

c.5000 BC

A re-inhabited Jericho of the Wadi Rabah culture begins to display a degree of influence from developments which have been taking place in the north as part of the Pottery Neolithic. There, in contemporary Syria, an ever-increasing number of villages have already appeared. These are still Neolithic but are now marked by the use of pottery, as is the settlement at Susa.

c.4500 BC

The settlement of Chogha Mish has grown to a size of seventeen hectares. Around the early-to-middle part of the fifth millennium BC the settlement's main monumental building is destroyed. To modern archaeologists this is the 'Burnt Building'. The building's destruction coincides with several settlements in the eastern half of the Susiana plain being fully abandoned while, in the western half, Susa is expanded.

c.4200 BC

The monumental buildings in Susa are destroyed.

c.3900 BC

Susa emerges as an important regional centre at the start of the Uruk IV period in Sumer. This period lasts between about 3900-3100 BC, during which the city of Uruk flourishes as the only real urban centre in Sumer. It sits at the heart of a great trading and cultural centre.

During its 'Susa II' phase, the city thoroughly absorbs Sumer's material culture and soon begins using it with an Elamite twist. In fact, it is likely that this cultural infusion also comes with an Uruk population, as with many Mesopotamian locations. This apparently enthusiastic embracing of urban construction is carried far and wide across much of the Near East at this time.

The city of Susa grows in size, perhaps at the cost of denuding surrounding villages of their populations, and almost certainly denuding Chogha Mish of its population. Susa's reconstruction would seem to be managed and planned, perhaps even as a more viable replacement for the nearby abandoned towns and villages.

The bevelled-rim bowl begins appearing across a wide geographical area in Iran. Examples are later discovered as far afield as coastal Pakistan and at Miri Qalat near the Gulf of Oman. In the Elamite highlands the city of Anshan also now emerges as a rival urban centre.

However, the 'Susa I' building on the Apadana and the haute terrasse are destroyed by fire at the end of the 'Susa I' period. The haute terrasse appears to remain abandoned, exposed to the open air and somewhat moss-covered, well into the middle of the fourth millennium BC when late Uruk IV ('Susa II') material appears on the site.

The 'Susa I' building on the other hand seems quickly to be filled in with domestic debris of the middle Uruk IV period, suggesting that there is no hiatus of occupation on the Apadana overall, and that building work continues.

c.3500 - 3400 BC

The initial burst of enthusiasm in terms of expanding and building Susa had initially faded, and the early city had retracted to a site of about five hectares (a reduction of about two hectares). By the middle of the millennium this trend has reversed, and the city now covers a site of about twenty-five hectares.

Neighbouring sites such as Chogha Mish and Abu Fanduweh (the latter of which is very close to the Sumerian alluvium, and neither of which has been fully abandoned) also enjoy something of a resurgence, if relatively minor by comparison. Like Susa, they have developed residential 'lower town' areas away from the central mound (the initial settlement site).

The presence of door and jar seals at the rural hamlet of Tepe Sharafabad suggests that small settlements are linked up with a central administration at one of the larger sites - quite possibly Susa or Chogha Mish.

The size differentiation of sites in the area at this time can be interpreted as the reflection of a hierarchy of settlements which may participate in a network of local, inter-regional exchange and yet still sometimes come into conflict with one another. This network has been dubbed the 'Susiana polity'.

fl c.3500s? BC

Unnamed 'priest-king' of Susa and surrounding regions?

At a point around the middle of the fourth millennium BC, there appear several cylinder seal impressions in Uruk, Susa, and Chogha Mish. They show a bearded male figure who, it has been suggested, is a priest-king, perhaps one of the earliest as this institution has yet to emerge with any certainty in Sumer.

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 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.

A new political entity emerges which discards Uruk IV cuneiform and language to replace it with 'Proto-Elamite', a precursor to the usage of all later Elamite city states.

This ends the 'Susa II' period for the city and begins 'Susa III'. It also destroys the 'Susiana polity' and, for quite some time, the spirit of regional unity which previously seemed to predominate in the surrounding villages and towns, such as Abu Fanduweh, Chogha Mish, and Tepe Sharafabad.

The proto-Elamite period witnesses the development of a semi-pictographic writing system for the east. Susa begins to be influenced by the cultures of the Iranian plateau to the east (see feature link), and it dominates the lowlands to the west of the Zagros mountains.

It also cuts off these access points from post-Uruk IV Sumer, enforcing new trading connections which go through Susa itself. Susa develops new ruling traditions, and a priestly class which gradually evolves into a city leadership role in line with trends in Sumer.

Approximately four hundred kilometres to the south in the modern province of Fars, the city of Anshan becomes prominent and expands in size, dominating the highlands of the southern mountain range.

c.2700 BC

Curiously, and perhaps not coincidentally, it is about this time that the lands of the Elamites and even those to the east of it, become more hostile to Sumer's kings. The reign of Enmerkar of the 'First Dynasty' city of Uruk is notable for an expedition against Aratta.

c.2600 BC

According to the Sumerian king list, Enmebaraggesi of Kish subdues the Elamites, although this is not an historically provable event. Enmebaraggesi also becomes the dominant ruler in Sumer, in place of Uruk, and constructs the temple of Enlil at Nippur. He is the earliest king whose existence has been archaeologically confirmed, and it is around this time that the Elamite city of Awan also appears, as a direct rival.

c.2560s? BC

The name Û-húb of Kish comes from a vase which is excavated at Nippur, but this can be matched favourably to the name Enna-ill (or En-na-il - both are valid here). This king claims to be responsible for having smashed Elam (or at least Awan), following which he dedicates the inscribed vase to Inanna at Nippur.

c.2350 BC

Elam is reputedly conquered by Alusarsid of Akkad. At the same time a kingdom or confederation known as Marhashi is emerging to the east, on the Iranian plateau which is becoming increasingly important to Elamite power and Elamite trading outside of Sumer.

c.2300 BC

Marhashi appears to become a dominant force to the east of Elam, but it is conquered by Sargon 'the Great' of Akkad after he has destroyed Urua (URUxA) and rampaged through Elamite lands.

An inscription hails Sargon as 'king of the totality, slayer of Elam [which is dominated by Awan] and Barahshum [Marhashi]'. Elam appears to remain tributary to Akkad for the subsequent century - with a governor at Susa - so it seems likely that Marhashi does too.

fl c.2300 BC

Ensi (governor) in Susa. Vassal of Akkad?

Two inscriptions mention what would appear to be consecutive rulers of Awan, and therefore dominant rulers in Elam, while another probably places Akkad's governor in Susa: 'Sanamshimut, ensi (governor) of Elam', and 'Luhishan, son of Hishibrashini, lugal (king) of Elam'.

Of those, Luhishan would appear to match Lukh-Ishshan / Luhhiššan of Awan. His father, Hishibrashini, matches Khishep-Ratep / Hishep-rashini, shown on the Awan king list after his son.

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.

The Akkadian presence in Elam is maintained in Susa though 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.

c.2240? BC

Both Marhashi and Kutik-Inshushinnak of Awan declare independence from Akkad - although perhaps not immediately as it seems that Elam is re-conquered for a time. When they do succeed though, they eventually throw off Akkadian language influences.

fl c.2240 BC

Unnamed ruler in Susa. Vassal of Akkad?

Before that, Susa's rulers do retain some autonomy. Naram-Sin of Akkad concludes a treaty with an unnamed ruler or high official there, and the document is written in Elamite, not Akkadian. It specifies no submission to Akkad but does confirm that Akkad's enemies are Susa's enemies.

The treaty could be a reaction to building events in the region which result in Kutik-Inshushinnak's take-over. From Awan he also conquers Susa and Anshan, forming a centralised and unified kingdom which is entirely outside Akkad's control. He still seems to retain Susa's Akkadian titles alongside his claim of kingship of Awan.

fl c.2230 - 2210 BC

Son. Governor and general of Susa & king of Awan.

c.2210 BC

Marhashi overruns Elam for a time, and unites eastern efforts in fighting against the Akkadian empire. A battle is fought between the two states near Akshak, at the confluence of the Diyala and Tigris rivers. The Akkadian name for the following year suggests that Shar-kali-sharri of Agade claims the victory.

One of the daughters of the ruler of Marhashi is married either to Shar-kali-sharri of Agade or his son, perhaps as a consequence of the battle, and as a sign of renewed ties of peace.

c.2193 BC

Elam is overthrown by the Gutians as they sweep through southern Mesopotamia from the Zagros highlands, also destroying the Akkadian empire as they go. The Gutians largely concentrate across upper southern Mesopotamia.

They govern the southernmost cities from a distance and seemingly exercise little direct control over Elamite lands. There, the Simashki rulers eventually come to power across Elam in the wake of this period of instability.

c.2050 BC

Shulgi of Ur extends his father's empire to include all of the Assyrian city states and their at-present non-Assyrian neighbours such as the Lullubi. He also re-conquers Susa from Elam and its Simashki rulers, and may be responsible for finishing off rebuilding work at Nippur.

c.2017 BC

The over-production of cereal around Ur has led to an increased strain being placed on the soil and a fall in productivity. The tax system has placed an increasing burden on an increasingly larger share of the population. An official under the ruler, Ibbi-Sin, is implored by the king to acquire grain in the north at whatever price is necessary.

On top of all of this, new waves of immigration into the region by Amorites add an extra layer of confusion and conflict. Ibbi-Sin's official, Ishbi-Erra, now takes the opportunity to move to the subject city of Isin and create his own city state there.

fl c.2004 BC

Seized Elam and then Susa. Defeated Ur.

c.2004 BC

Long oppressed by the 'Third Dynasty' city of Ur, Kindattu, together with the people of Susa, sacks the city and leads its king into captivity, ending the third dynasty and Sumerian civilisation.

With this threat removed, the land of Elam becomes a powerful kingdom, although it is pushed out of southern Mesopotamia six years later by the Amorite city state of Isin. However, it does appear to hold on to Kish.

fl c.1990s? BC

Simashki ruler of a united Elam?

Simashki ruler of a united Elam?

Simashki ruler of a united Elam?

Simashki ruler of a united Elam?

fl c.1970? BC

Simashki ruler. Replaced by the Eparti kings?

c.1970? BC

Under the stronger Eparti kings the Elamites swiftly rise to become a regional power, one which is contemporaneous with the Old Babylonian empire. They often threaten conquest both against it and the other Amorite city states of Mesopotamia, such as Isin.

Elam is more closely involved in Mesopotamian affairs than at any other time in its history. It incorporates the lowlands which surrounded Susa and also the Zagros highlands around Anshan, a bipolar domain which is reflected in the ruler's joint title of 'king of Anshan and Susa'.

fl c.1970 BC

Eparti ruler of Susa & Anshan. Superseded the Simashki kings?

c.1920? BC

Isin suddenly and rapidly begins to decline. The precise events are not known but, around this time, Gungunum, Isin's governor of the province of Lagash (and apparently based at Larsa), seizes Ur. This move cuts Isin's vital trade route, economically crippling the city. It also loosens Isin's previously iron control over the entire region.

Susa (Kidinuid Dynasty of Elam) (Western Iran)

The land of Elam neighboured Sumer along that region's eastern flank. Its first city state (Awan) arose by around 2700 BC, located on an alluvial plain below the Zagros mountains like many Elamite cities. The later 'Middle Elamite' period began in the mid-second millennium BC 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 Elamite ascendancy into an empire under three dynasties of kings from the city of Anshan. Although Elamite lands were late to arrive on the international scene, and had limited influence outside of Babylonia and Assyria, they could not 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 to mention 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 rulers of 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. However, this is the most obscure of the three 'Middle Elamite' dynasties.

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?

? c.1400 BC

King of Anshan & Susa, based largely at Kabnak.

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

With Elam in general decline, Kabnak (Haft Tepe) 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

Susa (Unified Elam) (Western Iran)

The ancient land of Elam neighboured Sumer, with its earliest advanced city state - Awan - arising by around 2700 BC. The later 'Middle Elamite' period began in the mid-second millennium BC with poor records and plenty of gaps in modern knowledge of people and events, thanks largely to the Kassite rule of Babylonia.

The Elamite dynasties from Anshan 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. However, this was the most obscure of the three 'Middle Elamite' dynasties. It did begin a period of Elamite unification which remained in place for some centuries, with the Igehalkid kings succeeding the Kidinuids.

c.1250 BC

The largest project to be 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.1230 BC

Kiddin-Khutran of the Igehalkid dynasty 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 under the Shutrukids.

c.1125 BC

The presence of some inscribed bricks and glazed wall knobs from the reign of the Shutrukid king, 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.1120 - 760 BC

'Neo-Elamite Period I' sees Elam's capital, Susa, sacked by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadrezzar. The Elamite kingdom is badly damaged, and is absorbed into Babylonia. The early Parsua begin to arrive to the immediate east of Elam by the middle of the ninth century BC.

c.760 - 644 BC

'Neo-Elamite Period II' sees Elam, under its Babylonian masters, controlling the Parsua to the east of Elam. They have settled in increasing numbers to provide a sizable force which in part makes itself available to Elam. In this period Elam and Babylonia often fight side by side against external threats, especially that posed by the Assyrians.

644 BC

'Neo-Elamite Period III' begins as Elam is devastated by Assyria, although not as badly as had previously been believed from inscriptions left by the Assyrians themselves. The populace suffers greatly, but it is not massacred. Instead, fragmented and weakened Elamites rule an increasingly shrinking domain which soon passes into the hands of the Medes and then the Parsua.

539 BC

The Parsua assume full control of Elam as part of their increasing dominance of the region, leading to the Elamites fading from history as a recognisable people and culture - although they clearly do survive.

The Achaemenid Persians preserve later Elamite culture for at least the period of their first dynasty, although what seems to be a semi-independent fragment of Elamite civilisation does seem to persist for several centuries in the form of Elymais, its people known as Elymaeans.

On the Behistun inscription of Darius 'the Great' in the later years of the sixth century BC the land of Elam is known as Uwja or Ūja. This is part of the satrapy of Persis, while Susa forms the capital of its own eponymous satrapy.