Semites of the same stock as those of Chaldæa pushed forward as far as the east bank of the Tigris, and settling mainly among the marshes led a precarious life by fishing and pillaging.* The country of the plain was called Anzân, or Anshân,** and the mountain region Numma, or Ilamma, “the high lands:” these two names were subsequently used to denote the whole country, and Ilamma has survived in the Hebrew word Elam.*** Susa, the most important and flourishing town in the kingdom, was situated between the Ulaî and the Ididi, some twenty-five or thirty miles from the nearest of the mountain ranges.
* From the earliest times we meet beyond the Tigris with
names like that of Durilu, a fact which proves the existence
of races speaking a Semitic dialect in the countries under
the suzerainty of the King of Elam: in the last days of the
Chaldæan empire they had assumed such importance that the
Hebrews made out Elam to be one of the sons of Shem (Gen. x. 22).
** Anzân, Anshân, and, by assimilation of the nasal with the
sibilant, Ashshân. This name has already been mentioned in
the inscriptions of the kings and vicegerents of Lagash and
in the Book of Prophecies of the ancient Chaldæan
astronomers; it also occurs in the royal preamble of Cyrus
and his ancestors, who like him were styled “kings of
Anshân.” It had been applied to the whole country of Elam,
and afterwards to Persia. Some are of opinion that it was
the name of a part of Elam, viz. that inhabited by the
Turanian Medes who spoke the second language of the
Achæmenian inscriptions, the eastern half, bounded by the
Tigris and the Persian Gulf, consisting of a flat and swampy
land. These differences of opinion gave rise to a heated
controversy; it is now, however, pretty generally admitted
that Anzân-Anshân was really the plain of Elam, from the
mountains to the sea, and one set of authorities affirms
that the word Anzân may have meant “plain” in the language
of the country, while others hesitate as yet to pronounce
definitely on this point.
*** The meaning of “Nunima,” “Ilamma,” “Ilamtu,” in the
group of words used to indicate Elam, had been recognised
even by the earliest Assyriologists; the name originally
referred to the hilly country on the north and east of Susa.
To the Hebrews, Elam was one of the sons of Shem (Gen. x.
22). The Greek form of the name is Elymais, and some of the
classical geographers were well enough acquainted with the
meaning of the word to be able to distinguish the region to
which it referred from Susiana proper.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after a plate in Chesney.
Its fortress and palace were raised upon the slopes of a mound which overlooked the surrounding country:* at its base, to the eastward, stretched the town, with its houses of sun-dried bricks.**
* Susa, in the language of the country, was called Shushun;
this name was transliterated into Chaldæo-Assyrian, by
Shushan, Shushi.
** Strabo tells us, on the authority of Polycletus, that the
town had no walls in the time of Alexander, and extended
over a space two hundred stadia in length; in the
VIII century B.C. it was enclosed by walls with bastions,
which are shown on a bas-relief of Assurbanipal, but it was
surrounded by unfortified suburbs.
Further up the course of the Uknu, lay the following cities: Madaktu, the Badaca of classical authors,* rivalling Susa in strength and importance; Naditu,** Til-Khumba,*** Dur-Undash,**** Khaidalu.^—all large walled towns, most of which assumed the title of royal cities. Elam in reality constituted a kind of feudal empire, composed of several tribes—the Habardip, the Khushshi, the Umliyash, the people of Yamutbal and of Yatbur^^—all independent of each other, but often united under the authority of one sovereign, who as a rule chose Susa as the seat of government.
* Madaktu, Mataktu, the Badaka of Diodorus, situated on the
Eulaaos, between Susa and Ecbatana, has been placed by
Rawlinson near the bifurcation of the Kerkhah, either at
Paipul or near Aiwân-i-Kherkah, where there are some rather
important and ancient ruins; Billerbeck prefers to put it at
the mouth of the valley of Zal-fer, on the site at present
occupied by the citadel of Kala-i-Riza.
** Naditu is identified by Finzi with the village of
Natanzah, near Ispahan; it ought rather to be looked for in
the neighbourhood of Sarna.
*** Til-Khumba, the Mound of Khumba, so named after one of
the principal Elamite gods, was, perhaps, situated among the
ruins of Budbar, towards the confluence of the Ab-i-Kirind
and Kerkhah, or possibly higher up in the mountain, in the
vicinity of Asmanabad.
**** Dur-Undash, Dur-Undasi, has been identified, without
absolutely conclusive reason, with the fortress of Kala-i-
Dis on the Disful-Rud.
^ Khaidalu, Khidalu, is perhaps the present fortress of Dis-
Malkan.
^^ The countries of Yatbur and Yamutbal extended into the
plain between the marshes of the Tigris and the mountain;
the town of Durilu was near the Yamutbal region, if not in
that country itself. Umliyash lay between the Uknu and the
Tigris.