Preface:

How many times have you heard the term “2,500 Years Old History of Iran”, or even used it yourself? It is very common for Iranians to use this term in order to “prove” the antiquity of their native land. Does Iran really have 2,500 years of history? What is the basis for this number? What was there before 2,500 years ago?

The simple answer to the question is that the basis of the “2,500” year old history is the foundation of the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great. However, Iran has at least 2,000 (or even more) years of history before the Achaemenids entered its historical horizon. Many people lived all around Iran before Persians, Medes, or even their common Proto-Iranian ancestors ever came to the Plateau or its surrounding lowlands. Additionally, Proto-Iranians themselves have a long history before entering historical Iran as well. The next few chapters will try to outline the history of these pre-Iranians or Iran and also Proto-Iranians before coming to Iran. The omission of details is inevitable, due to the space limit, but best efforts would be dedicated in painting a holistic picture of these very influential and important times.

People of Early Iran

Although geologically new, the area of Iran has been inhabited from the very early times. Archaeological excavations have uncovered skeletons of early Homo erectus man in Iran and it seems that from the earliest stages of human development, Iran, as a land bridge, has been constantly inhabited.

In the Neolithic times, Iran was slowly inhabited by settled population that undertook sedentary agriculture and short distance trade, as is evident by the archaeological finds. Starting with the Eneolothic and early Bronze Age, long distance trade, covering the whole of Iranian Plateau and surrounding lowlands, became more and more influential in the life of the local inhabitants. Eventually, the long distance trade and the profit attached to it, as well as the required security, brought about the foundation of first city-states and kingdoms such as Sumer, Harrappa Civilisation, and the eventual rise of empires such as Babylonia and Assyria.

Other than these famous early civilisations, other settled populations around Iran, created local strongholds and controlled part of the trade that crossed the land in different directions. In some instances, like that of the Kassite take-over of Babylonia, the small and less sophisticated civilisations managed to take over the larger empires and rule them for long periods of time.

Other than the well known kingdom of Elam, the Urartu Empire, the Hurrians, and the civilisation of the Bactro-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) can be presented as the best examples of various civilisations in and around the Iranian Plateau. In this chapter, we will present a short survey of the Elamite civilisation, and we will continue next week with discussions on Urartu, BMAC, and the eventual impact of pre-Aryan civilisations of Iran on the Medes, Achaemenids, and the rest of Iranian history.

Elam

Elam, the most powerful and longest lasting civilisation of the Iranian plateau prior to the Aryan arrival, has a complex history. Most of the history of Elam has been recorded by their fierce enemies Babylonians and Assyrians, or by their successors, the Persians, who had a strong incentive to undermine the late Elamite kingdom. As a result, Elamite representation has not been very fair or accurate, and only due to the recent scholarship and reading of Elamite inscriptions we can have a good idea of their culture.

As far back as 4th millennium BCE, evidence of Elamite settlement in the plains of Khuz (northern Persian Gulf) exists. We might assume that Elamites, probably originally inhabitants of Zagros highlands, poured down to the Khuz Plain following the rise of Indus Valley-Mesopotamian trade, settled in Susa, and took control of the ongoing trade. Prior to their arrival, the plains of northern Persian Gulf were among the oldest civilised areas in the world history and the site of Susa was inhabited as far back as 4,200 BCE and had come under the rule of the kings of Akkad. When the ancestors of Elamites arrived, they settled in that area under the rule of the Sumerian kingdom of Ur. The proto-Elamites adopted many of the Sumerian cultural characteristics such as the cuneiform writing, which replaced their own original pictographic writing system. Still, they kept their own unique cultural peculiarities such as maternal system of succession and their own religion. Women seem to have held a very important position in the Elamite society. They inherited and willed their property, they ruled and conducted business, and as mentioned before, they were agents of succession in the government. The maternal characteristics of Elamite culture survived up to the Neo-Elamite era (around 750 BCE), around which it started to give way to the Babylonian/Semitic paternalistic system of its neighbours.

An aerial photo of the Ziggurat of Chogha-Zanbil, built during the reign of Untash Napirisha (ca. 1250 BC) to the south of Ancient Susan (courtesy of Iran Photo Album)

picture of Shush (Susa) the Lowland capital of Elam

Despite its troublesome history, Elam holds a great place in the history of civilisation, especially from the Iranian point of view. Contrary to the agricultural economy of Mesopotamian, the Elamite economy was based greatly on trade, but also on mining and export of raw material such as tin that was crucial for the powerful empires of Babylon and Assyria. They also for a long while acted as a buffer zone between Mesopotamia and the internal nomads of Iran, in the process, forming a great hybrid culture of Elamite, Babylonian, and Sumerian characteristics.

Aerial photograph of Tal-e Malyan, now recognised as the site of the ancient Elamite highland capital of Anshan (courtesy of Archaeological Excavations at Tal-e Malyan)

As far as the later civilisations of Iran are concerned, Elam was the major transmitter of the achievements of older civilisations to the Median and Achaemenid empires. The modified cuneiform that was developed by Elamites from the Sumerian models, constituted an early form of Syllabry that made it possible to create the Old Persian alphabetic cuneiform. Elamite architecture was the model of Achaemenid palaces, and the court procedure of the Persian court was completely modelled after the Elamite costumes. Also, the sciences and knowledge of Elam and Mesopotamia, mathematics and astronomy, was transmitted to the Persian Empire by the Elamite scribes who made their language one of the three official languages of the empire. Maybe the greatest tribute paid to Elam was the selection of their old capital, Susa, as the main capital of the Achaemenids. Cultural legacy of Elam has affected their successors more than many might imagine.

For Further Reading

Cameron, George G. History of Early Iran, University of Chicago Press, 1938

Fisher, W.B. (ed.). Cambridge History of Iran, Volume I: Land of Iran. CUP, Cambridge, 1968

Diakonov, I. M. “Elam” in Ilia Gershevitch ed. Cambridge History of Iran, Volume II, CUP, Cambridge, 1985

In the Internet

http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Elam_Susiana.html

http://www.iranologie.com/history/history.htm