History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent DiscoveryKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C.; History, Ancient
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 Dûr-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.
Such are the main facts which until recently had been ascertained
with regard to the influence of early Babylonian rulers in Elam. The
information is obtained mainly from Babylonian sources, and until
recently we have been unable to fill in any details of the picture
from the Elamite side. But this inability has now been removed by M.
de Morgan’s discoveries. From the inscribed bricks, cones, stelæ, and
statues that have been brought to light in the course of his excavations
at Susa, we have recovered the name of a succession of native Elamite
rulers. All those who are to be assigned to this early period, during
which Elam owed allegiance to the kings of Babylonia, ascribe to
themselves the title of _patesi_, or viceroy, of Susa, in acknowledgment
of their dependence. Their records consist principally of building
inscriptions and foundation memorials, and they commemorate the
construction or repair of temples, the cutting of canals, and the like.
They do not, therefore, throw much light upon the problems connected
with the external history of Elam during this early period, but we
obtain from them a glimpse of the internal administration of the
country. We see a nation without ambition to extend its boundaries, and
content, at any rate for the time, to owe allegiance to foreign rulers,
while the energies of its native princes are devoted exclusively to the
cultivation of the worship of the gods and to the amelioration of the
conditions of the life of the people in their charge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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