Ashurbanipal's destruction of Susa in 647 BC marked the effective end of the Elamite civilization as a major Near Eastern power.
Key Facts
- Date
- 647 BC
- Assyrian King
- Ashurbanipal
- City destroyed
- Susa, capital of Elam
- Tablet discovered
- 1854, by Austen Henry Layard at Nineveh
- Action taken on temples
- Reduced to naught; gods scattered
- Land treatment after conquest
- Provinces devastated, sown with salt
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, had grown weary of repeated Elamite incursions against Mesopotamian peoples. Centuries of humiliations inflicted by Elam on Mesopotamia, documented in a cuneiform tablet found at Nineveh, motivated Ashurbanipal to seek decisive retribution against the Elamite heartland.
In 647 BC, Assyrian forces under Ashurbanipal besieged and captured Susa, the great holy city of Elam. The city's palaces, temples, and ziggurat were systematically demolished. Royal tombs were desecrated, the bones of Elamite kings were carried off to Assyria, and the provinces of Elam were laid waste.
The sack of Susa effectively dismantled Elamite political and religious infrastructure, scattering its gods and exposing its royal dead. The Elamite state ceased to function as an independent power in the ancient Near East, paving the way for subsequent Persian dominance of the region.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Ashurbanipal.
Side B
1 belligerent