Figure 1.--The Elamites were an ancient civilization associated with Mesopotamia centered in the southwest of modern-day Iran. Here we can see a detail of a bas-relief from the palace of Ashurbanipal illustrating the Assyrian campaign against the kingdom of Elam (645 BC). We can see Elamite prisoners led into exile by a soldier. The adults are wearing skirts, or cloths wrapped around the waist. The child is unclothed. All of this was common in many ancient civilizations. The bas-relief is now at Louvre Museum, Paris.

Elam was an ancient civilization associated with the rise of civilization and urbanization in Mespotamiam during the Chalcolithic (Copper) Age. Proto-Elam states appear (about 4000 BC). These and other Elamite states states were located primarily east of the Tigris Euprhates in what is now southwestern Iran along the Prsian Gulf (Khuzestan and Ilam) and touching on southern Iraq. Elamite states were important political entities in the ancient world and were known by the Biblical Hebrew, Sumerians, Assyrians, Hittites, and Persians. Unfortunately there is no clear history of Elam. What we know is the result of fragmentary references in the historical record of neigboring states. Notice that the image we hve found there is an Asyrian view (figure 1). Elam in contemprary references was commonly referred to as Susiana, from its capitl at Susa. Writing first developed in Mesopotamia and shortly after writing is found in Elam (about 3000 BC). This underlies the close assiciation with Mesopotamia. The Elam language is considered a language isolate, suggesting different ethnic origins from the Summerians. Historians divide Elam history into destinct period. The Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age) finds small Elam kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, primarily around Anshan. There was a grdual centrlization and a capital developed in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands (around 1500 BC). Elam influenced the Gutian Empire (2100 BC). The Elamites finally conquered by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty (6th century BC). The Elamites were annihalated (639 BC). Elam was ravaged by the Asyrians and much pf the population exiled. The fall of Elam played an important role in the subsequent rise of the Persian Empire.