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boar pendant | c. 3800 - 3100 CE | susa (modern day shush), iran

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Elam: The Ancient High Country

Elam was a region in the Near East corresponding to the modern-day provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan in southern Iran (though it also included part of modern-day southern Iraq) whose civilization spanned thousands of years from circa 3200 to circa 539 BCE.

The name comes from the Akkadian and Sumerian for “highlands” or “high country,” while the Elamites referred to their land as Haltami (or Haltamti), which seems to have had the same meaning. The Bible (Genesis 10:22) claims the region is named for Elam, son of Shem, son of Noah, but this has no support outside of the biblical narrative.

Their language corresponds to no other and was only recently deciphered between 2017 and 2020. Prior to this breakthrough, their early history was known from Mesopotamian sources, as their language was preserved in cuneiform script after their contact with the Sumerians.

The origin of the Elamites is considered as mysterious as their language once was, but they were most likely the indigenous people of the Iranian Plateau whose culture first began to develop during the Mesopotamian Ubaid Period (c. 5000-4100 BCE). Their civilization has been divided by scholars into the following periods:

Proto-Elamite Period (c. 3200 to c. 2700 BCE)

Old Elamite Period (c. 2700 to c. 1600 BCE)

Middle Elamite Period (c. 1500 to c.1100 BCE)

Neo-Elamite Period (c. 1100 to c. 539 BCE)

The conclusion of Elamite civilization is given to correspond to the early years of the Persian Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) after the region was conquered by the first Achaemenid king, Cyrus II (the Great, reign circa 550-530 BCE), but Elamite culture continued to exert significant influence over the Achaemenids as evidenced by later Elamite written language (given in cuneiform script) used as one of the three languages of the Behistun Inscription of Darius I (the Great, reign 522-486 BCE). The Elamite pantheon seems to have also influenced ancient Persian religion prior to the establishment of Zoroastrianism in the region.

Much of the ancient documentation regarding Elam comes from Akkadian, Sumerian, and Assyrian texts and periodic mentions in the Bible. According to the inscription of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (reign 668-627 BCE), he conquered and thoroughly destroyed the cities of Elam c. 647-646 BCE, but archeological evidence has proven that claim to be an exaggeration, as Elamite cities and culture continued afterwards.

The Elamites were never a cohesive ethnic group but rather a federation of disparate peoples living in a specific region under the leadership of different cities such as Awan, Anshan, Shimashki, and Susa. Artifacts, primarily from Susa, give evidence of extensive trade relations as far east as India, and the Elamites were the conduit for trade between Mesopotamia and all points east. Elam reached its height during the Middle Elamite Period when it expanded its political power to establish the Elamite Empire.

Among the most famous kings of the Elamites were Untash-Napirisha (reign c. 1275-1240 BCE), who built the ziggurat and temple complex of Dur Untash (Chogha Zanbil) as well as over 50 other structures, and Shutruk-Nakhkunte (reign 1184-1155 BCE), who founded the short-lived Elamite Empire. Elam declined after joining the coalition of Medes, Babylonians, and others who toppled the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which elevated Media to supremacy in the region. Median rule was then replaced by the Persians under Cyrus II, and afterwards, Elam remained a part of successive empires until the fall of the Sassanian Empire in 651 to the Arab Muslims.

Proto-Elamite Period

Little was known of the so-called Proto-Elamite Period because its history is given in the linear script, only recently deciphered. The Proto-Elamite script developed sometime around 3200 BCE and remained in continuous use until c. 2700 BCE, when contact with Sumer introduced cuneiform script. The details of this era, therefore, have been vague, and archaeologists have only now begun to clarify it by translating the Proto-Elamite script. Prior to this, as scholar F. Vallat notes:

Elamite history remains largely fragmentary. Because there are few indigenous sources, attempts at reconstruction must be based primarily on Mesopotamian documentation. By far the largest proportion of the known Elamite texts have been excavated at Susa, a city that, from its foundation c. 4000 BCE, alternated between subjection to Mesopotamian and Elamite power.

(Encyclopedia Iranica, 2)

Based on artifacts found at Susa (primarily) and elsewhere, the Elamites were already skilled artisans at this time, creating exceptional ceramics and other works that have no relation to neighboring states. Elam enters the historical record via Sumerian historical texts circa 2700 BCE, which give an account of the first war in recorded history. The Sumerian king Enemebaragesi of Kish defeated the Elamites in battle and brought back rich spoils of war to Sumer. The account of Enemebaragesi's victory is given in the Sumerian King List, and this brief mention is the beginning of known Elamite history.

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This hedgehog figurine was unearthed during excavations at the temple of Inshushinak, in ancient Susa (located in modern-day Iran). It dates back to the second Elamite period, c.1500-1100 BCE.

The hedgehog's body measures just 2.8cm (roughly 1 inch) long, and it was carved from a piece of limestone. The feet are attached to four round sockets located at the front of a wheeled platform, which was made from a bitumen compound.

Eight empty sockets are also visible toward the back of the platform. Based on the pattern/spacing of these sockets, researchers believe that two smaller hedgehogs may have originally been mounted on the cart just behind the larger one, like a pair of baby hedgehogs following their mother.

A similar figurine depicting a lion on a wheeled platform was also discovered at the site.

The original function and significance of these artifacts is still widely debated, with some experts arguing that they may have been created as toys, while others argue that they were used as votive offerings. It's important to note that those two explanations may not be mutually exclusive -- some artifacts served as both toys and ritual objects.

Toys have often been incoporated into ritual contexts (as offerings or grave goods, for example) and they have also been used to familiarize children with rituals and religious beliefs.

Regardless of why they were made, these figurines are strikingly adorable.

Sources & More Info:

The Louvre: Hedgehog Toy & Lion Toy

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Artifacts from The Royal City of Susa

Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies: Probing the Margins in Search of Elamite Children

Portrait of a Plaything: Hedgehog

 Babylonian Map of the World, 8th or 7th Century B.C.

The Babylonian Map of the World (also Imago Mundi or Mappa mundi) is a Babylonian clay tablet with a schematic world map and two inscriptions written in the Akkadian language. It includes a brief and partially lost textual description.

The tablet describes the oldest known depiction of the known world. Ever since its discovery there has been controversy on its general interpretation and specific features. Another pictorial fragment, VAT 12772, presents a similar topography from roughly two millennia earlier.

The map is centered on the Euphrates, flowing from the north (top) to the south (bottom), with its mouth labelled "swamp" and "outflow". The city of Babylon is shown on the Euphrates, in the northern half of the map. Susa, the capital of Elam, is shown to the south, Urartu to the northeast, and Habban, the capital of the Kassites, is shown (incorrectly) to the northwest. Mesopotamia is surrounded by a circular "bitter river" or Ocean, and seven or eight foreign regions are depicted as triangular sections beyond the Ocean, perhaps imagined as mountains.

The tablet was excavated by Hormuzd Rassam at Sippar, Baghdad vilayet, some 60 km north of Babylon on the east bank of the Euphrates River. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1882 (BM 92687); the text was first translated in 1889. The tablet is usually thought to have originated in Borsippa. In 1995, a new section of the tablet was discovered, at the point of the upper-most triangle.

Clay, Height: 12.2 cm (4.8 in), Width: 8.2 cm (3.2 in)