Elam

The Elamites were an ancient nation that lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad. They fought a number of wars with the states of Babylonia and were occasionally conquered. The Babylonians were defeated by the Kassites in 1460 BC and in 1150 BC the Elamites defeated the Kassites. Their main city was Susa, in what is now the southwestern part of Iran.

Elamite served as one of the official languages of the Persian Empire, and was never displaced for official use by Old Persian[?]. It has been hypothesized that the Elamite language was genetically related to the Dravidian languages, but this theory is still controversial.

External Links

• The History of the Ancient Near East
• http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Elam_Susiana (http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Elam_Susiana)