Babylon and Elam 1

Up to five years ago our knowledge of Elam and of the part she played in
the ancient world was derived, in the main, from a few allusions to the
country to be found in the records of Babylonian and Assyrian kings. It
is true that a few inscriptions of the native rulers had been found in
Persia, but they belonged to the late periods of her history, and the
majority consisted of short dedicatory formulae and did not supply us
with much historical information. But the excavations carried on since
then by M. de Morgan at Susa have revealed an entirely new chapter of
ancient Oriental history, and have thrown a flood of light upon the
position occupied by Elam among the early races of the East.

Lying to the north of the Persian Gulf and to the east of the Tigris,
and rising from the broad plains nearer the coast to the mountainous
districts within its borders on the east and north, Elam was one of the
nearest neighbours of Chald?a. A few facts concerning her relations with
Babylonia during certain periods of her history have long been known,
and her struggles with the later kings of Assyria are known in some
detail; but for her history during the earliest periods we have had to
trust mainly to conjecture. That in the earlier as in the later periods
she should have been in constant antagonism with Babylonia might
legitimately be suspected, and it is not surprising that we should find
an echo of her early struggles with Chald?a in the legends which were
current in the later periods of Babylonian history. In the fourth and
fifth tablets, or sections, of the great Babylonian epic which describes
the exploits of the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh, a story is told of an
expedition undertaken by Gilgamesh and his friend Ba-bani against an
Elamite despot named Khum-baba. It is related in the poem that Khumbaba
was feared by all who dwelt near him, for his roaring was like the
storm, and any man perished who was rash enough to enter the cedar-wood
in which he dwelt. But Gilgamesh, encouraged by a dream sent him by
Sha-mash, the Sun-god, pressed on with his friend, and, having entered
the wood, succeeded in slaying Khumbaba and in cutting off his head.
This legend is doubtless based on episodes in early Babylonian and
Elamite history. Khumbaba may not have been an actual historical ruler,
but at least he represents or personifies the power of Elam, and the
success of Gilgamesh no doubt reflects the aspirations with which many a
Babylonian expedition set out for the Elamite frontier.
Incidentally it may be noted that the legend possibly had a still closer
historical parallel, for the name of Khumbaba occurs as a component in
a proper name upon one of the Elamite contracts found recently by M. de
Morgan at Mai-Amir. The name in question is written _Khumbaba-arad-ili_,
"Khumbaba, the servant of God," and it proves that at the date at which
the contract was written (about 1300-1000 B.C.) the name of Khumbaba was
still held in remembrance, possibly as that of an early historical ruler
of the country.
In her struggles with Chald?a, Elam was not successful during the
earliest historical period of which we have obtained information; and,
so far as we can tell at present, her princes long continued to own
allegiance to the Semitic rulers whose influence was predominant from
time to time in the plains of Lower Mesopotamia. Tradition relates that
two of the earliest Semitic rulers whose names are known to us, Sargon
and Nar?m-Sin, kings of Agade, held sway in Elam, for in the "Omens"
which were current in a later period concerning them, the former is
credited with the conquest of the whole country, while of the latter it
is related that he conquered Apirak, an Elamite district, and captured
its king. Some doubts were formerly cast upon these traditions inasmuch
as they were found in a text containing omens or forecasts, but these
doubts were removed by the discovery of contemporary documents by which
the later traditions were confirmed. Sargon's conquest of Elam, for
instance, was proved to be historical by a reference to the event in a
date-formula upon tablets belonging to his reign. Moreover, the event
has received further confirmation from an unpublished tablet in the
British Museum, containing a copy of the original chronicle from which
the historical extracts in the "Omens" were derived. The portion of
the composition inscribed upon this tablet does not contain the lines
referring to Sargon's conquest of Elam, for these occurred in an earlier
section of the composition; but the recovery of the tablet puts beyond
a doubt the historical character of the traditions preserved upon the
omen-tablet as a whole, and the conquest of Elam is thus confirmed
by inference. The new text does recount the expedition undertaken by
Nar?m-Sin, the son of Sargon, against Apirak, and so furnishes a direct
confirmation of this event.
Another early conqueror of Elam, who was probably of Semitic origin,
was Alu-usharshid, king of the city of Kish, for, from a number of his
inscriptions found near those of Sargon at Nippur in Babylonia, we learn
that he subdued Elam and Para'se, the district in which the city of Susa
was probably situated. From a small mace-head preserved in the British
Museum we know of another conquest of Elam by a Semitic ruler of this
early period. The mace-head was made and engraved by the orders of
Mutabil, an early governor of the city of D?r-ilu, to commemorate his
own valour as the man "who smote the head of the hosts" of Elam. Mutabil
was not himself an independent ruler, and his conquest of Elam must have
been undertaken on behalf of the suzerain to whom he owed allegiance,
and thus his victory cannot be classed in the same category as those of
his predecessors. A similar remark applies to the success against
the city of Anshan in Elam, achieved by Grudea, the Sumerian ruler
of Shirpurla, inasmuch as he was a patesi, or viceroy, and not an
independent king. Of greater duration was the influence exercised over
Elam by the kings of Ur, for bricks and contract-tablets have been found
at Susa proving that Dungi, one of the most powerful kings of Ur, and
Bur-Sin, Ine-Sin, and Oamil-Sin, kings of the second dynasty in that
city, all in turn included Elam within the limits of their empire.