Elam

Ancient region of the lower valley of Karkeh and Karun southwestern Iran, geographically an extension of the plain of southern Mesopotamia (now part of Iraq). Its capital, Susa, has been extensively excavated.

Susa was closely linked culturally with Mesopotamia: a pictographic script (related to but separate from the earliest Mesopotamian script) was in use about 3000 BC, although Akkadian cuneiform was later adopted. Politically the two areas were also closely interconnected; at times Elam was subject to southern Mesopotamia, at others it dominated the area for brief periods. For example, about 2000 BC Elam put an end to the third dynasty of Ur; in the 13th century BC the Elamites raided Babylon and the surrounding area. It played an important part in Babylonian opposition to Assyrian domination, but was eventually absorbed into the Achaemenid empire in the 6th century BC.