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Fig. 4: Seal from Susa, depicting a high temple; following Harper et al. 1992, fig. 28.
Manishtusu had his vassals rule over various parts of Elam. Esh-
pum was the governor of Susa and Ilshu-rabi ruled over the region
of Pashime at the Persian Gulf (Potts 1999, tabl. 4,7). The Akka-
dian language and writing was introduced into administration and
for official purpose in Elam.
The Mesopotamian rule over Elam continued during the long reign
of Manishtusus son Naram-sin. But due to the troubled situation
in the regions of the Zagros Mountains, Naram-sin preferred to
make an alliance with Elam (Hinz 1967). The struggles between
the Akkadians and the mountain peoples, particularly the Guteans,
had weakened the Akkadian kingdom. When Naram-sins son
Sharkalisharri came to the throne, the situation changed so that
now the Akkadians had to defend themselves against attacks by
the Guteans and the Elamites (Gelb & Kienast 1990, 54).
At the end of the Akkadian period, Elam had won back its inde-
pendence under Kutik-inshushinak (Akkadian: Puzur-inshushinak).
Kutik-inshushinak succeeded with gaining control of various parts
of the country and even with extending his influence as far as to
the region of Diyala and to the Eastern areas of Mesopotamia
(Potts 1999, 124). One of his inscriptions gives the names of about
80 places which he had conquered. It is even reported that the
King of Simashki had come to him to surrender (Gelb & Kienast
1990, 321-324). Under Kutik-inshushinak Elam gained renewed
self-confidence. Many official inscriptions by the king were written
in the Linear Elamite writing. How exactly this writing was de-
veloped is not known. All evidence comes from Kulik-inshushina-
ks reign (Hinz 1969; Vallat 1986). Similar signs were also found
on sherds in the East of Iran, like at Shahdad in the province of
Kerman, but they are partly different from the Elamite writing.
The inscriptions by Kutik-inshushinak mention building activities
and many donations which he had given to the main god of Susa,
Inshushinak. At Susa a stone made foundation document with
relief depictions was found (Gelb & Kienast 1990, 328-329; Harper
et al. 1992, 88, fig. 54). The depiction shows a male person on
his knees, wearing a crown of horns and holding a so called foun-
dation-nail in his hands. A praying goddess is standing behind
him. On the backside a lion was depicted. The upper part of the
foundation monument is heavily damaged. But in the relief the
remnants of a snake can be recognised. In the religion of the
Elamites the snake played an important role. Religious scenes from
various periods show snakes which are depicted together with the
Elamite gods. Often the snake was even depicted as the throne of
certain gods (Fig. 5) (see De Miroschedji 1981).
After Kutik-inshushinaks time Elam again seems to have got under
control of the Mesopotamian rulers. With the foundation of the
third dynasty of Ur in the year 2112 BC by Urnamma, Mesopota-
mia rose again to be a world power. Particularly during the long
reign of Urnammas son Shulgi, wide regions of the Middle East
were conquered. Elam was conquered, too. The region of Susiana
counted among the 40 districts of the empire and for some time it
was governed by Sumerian governors. Shulgi tried to gain the Susi-
anians goodwill by respecting their religion and their gods. He had
the temple of Inshushinak at Susa rebuilt and sacrificed several
offerings to the Elamite gods. His inscripted bricks, which had been
298
ELAM: ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY
Fig. 5: The rock relief at Kurangan, showing the god sitting on a snake; following Vanden Berghe 1986, fig. 2.
used for building the temple, were found during the French exca-
vations at Susa (Malbran-Labat 1995, 22). A bronze statue, which
Shulgi had dedicated to the Elamite god Inshushinak at Susa, also
bears an inscription (Potts 1999, pl. 5.1). The statue shows Meso-
potamian features but is supposed to have been made at Susa.
Subjugating the peoples of the Zagros Mountains was not an easy
task for the Mesopotamian ruler. To keep the different regions of
Elam under control, Shulgi tried to bind the Elamite ruling families
to himself by political marriages. Thus, he married his daughters to
the rulers of Marhashi, Anshan, and Pashime. But this policy does
not seem to have been always successful. Thus, e.g. Anshan was
conquered and destroyed four years after Shulgis daughter had
married the governor of Anshan.
Despite several risings of the Elamite towns, Shulgi and his
successors were able to keep up their rule over the Elamite territo-
ries. Only during Ibbi-sins reign, Shusins son, the Elamites under
the Kings of Simashki succeeded not only with liberating Elam
after some tries but they even conquered Mesopotamia and the
town of Ur in the year 2004 BC. Ibbi-sin is taken to Elam as a pri-
soner, together with the statue of Nanna, the main god of Ur (Potts
1999, tab. 5, 2).
The struggles between Elam and Mesopotamia also mark the
beginning of the 2
nd
millennium BC. After the dynasty of the Kings
of Simashki a period began which in literature is called the Suk-
kalmakh period. The title of Sukkalmakh is a Sumerian word and
means something like Grand Vizier. During the time of the third
dynasty of Ur, in every region of the empire a Sukkalmakh was
appointed. Under the influence of the Mesopotamian tradition, the
Elamite rulers at Susa took over this title at the beginning of the
2
nd
millennium BC and called themselves Sukkalmakh of Elam.
Several centuries of Mesopotamian rule in the Susiana had led to
the fact that several Mesopotamian cultural aspects like writing and
language had become traditional at Susa. Even the architecture
shows typical features of Babylonian planning and floor plan. The
big residential buildings from this period at Susa, which were exca-
vated by Ghirshman, follow the concept of the so called Babyloni-
an court house, according to which at one side of the central court
there was the big entrance room. It was accessible through a
door on the central axis of the excessive front of the court.
Together with the side rooms, the entrance room is the main part
of the house (Fig. 6) (Miglus 1999, 98, tab. 49, fig. 240).
Numerous texts and inscribed bricks from different parts of Elam
give evidence to building activities in the Sukkalmakh period. At
Susa, several rulers had rebuilt the temple complex of the god
Inshushinak. Kukkirmash even claims to have built a new temple
for Inshushinak by the name of Ekikuanna (Malbran-Labat 1995,
18). Also at Tal-i Malyan, the ancient Anshan, an inscribed brick
of another ruler from this period, named Siwepalarhuppak, was
found which reports the building of a temple (Stolper 1982, 60).
In the course of the 2
nd
millennium BC Elam developed to be one
of the most important political centres in the Middle East. Elams
political and economic independence was mirrored by a kind of cul-
tural self-confidence. In the 16
th
century BC the Elamite rulers did
not call themselves Sukkalmakh any more but King of Susa and
Anshan. Specialist literature speaks of a new era of the Elamite
history which is called the Middle Elamite period. The first king of
this period is said to have been Kidinu of whom only a seal impres-
sion was found (Amiet 1980, 139, No. 11). About the other kings
during this early phase of the Middle Elamite period we also do not
know very much. But about the reign of Tepti-ahar, who had
monumental buildings erected at Haft Tappeh, about 20 km south
of Susa, we have more information.
The excavations at Haft Tappeh were done from 1965 to 1978 and
brought interesting information about the Middle Elamite period
(Negahban 1991). The excavations recovered a building consisting
of two tombs made of bricks and wings of two complexes. They
were called Terrace Complex I and II by the excavators.
Remnants of wall paintings were found on the clay plaster of some
of the rooms. At some places the walls were still preserved up to
a height of 9 m. In a side room, several clay tablets were found
which seem to have come from an archive. Southwest to the first
terrace there were three small rooms belonging to a craft work-
shop, where raw materials but also ivory and metal products were
found. In one of the rooms the skeleton of an elephant was dis-
covered. Obviously, the bones and ivory of the elephant were used
as raw materials. A huge kiln consisting of two parts, which was
used for processing metal, was in the court in front of the craft
shop.
299
ELAM: ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY
Fig. 6: House at Susa from the Sukkalmakh period, following the
Babylonian pattern; following Miglus 1999, fig. 240.
calls the ritual a sit shamshi (sunrise) (Knig 1965, 56). Thus
it is suggested to interpret the scene as a ritual happening at the
time of sunrise.
In the course of the Middle Elamite period, the political power of
Elam was rising in region. In the third phase of this period, i.e. in
the time of the Shutrukide dynasty, even Babylonia was under the
political influence of the Elamite rulers. This resulted in increasing
Elamite self-confidence. Thus, the Elamite language was used more
often for writing down historic events. E.g. the inscriptions by Shu-
truk-nahhunte and his successors were mainly written in the Ela-
mite language which due to todays lack of knowledge is not
always easy to understand.
Hutelutush-inshushinak, Kutir-nahhuntes son, is known as the
last king of the Shutrukide dynasty. The Mespotamian sources
offer more detailed information about the time of his reign. In his
inscriptions, Nebukadnezzar I (1125-1104 BC) describes how by
order of Marduk he liberated the Marduk statue, which had been
taken to Elam by Kutir-nahhunte, from Elamite imprisonment.
While his first try was not successful, at a second try he succee-
ded with conquering Elam and he took the statue of Marduk back
to Babylon (Foster 1993/I, 298). Probably, Hutelutush-inshushinak
fled to the eastern mountains to Anshan but his fate stays
unknown.
After the Shutrukide dynasty the sources are silent for several
centuries until the texts from the New Assyrian period again tell
about Elamite history. Particularly, the inscriptions by Assurbanipal
(668-627 BC) report more exact details of the political situation at
this time. In the course of the Assyrian policy of expansion Elam
was conquered and looted by Assurbanipals troops. The kingdom
of Elam did not recover from this strike and was integrated into the
Persian Empire in the 6th century BC. Though Elam was not a poli-
tical power in the region, Elamite cultural features still existed. E.g.
the centralised administration of the Persian Empire was run by
Elamite writers. Thus, the Elamite language was used next to
Babylonian and ancient Persian both for administrative documents
and for royal inscriptions.
306
ELAM: ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY
Fig. 17: Fragment of a statue of Untash-napirisha; following
Spycket 1981, fig. 75.
Notes
1 For the different phases of the Middle Elamite period see Potts 1999, 188-
258.
2 The reports on the excavations and surveys are being prepared.
3 For the abbreviations see Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiati-
schen Archologie.
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