Elam - Shimashki Period

  General Description   Women in Elam
"with the rise of the nuclear family by the end of the third millennium ... daughters attained equal inheritance rights with sons. Sometimes fathers even preferred to pass on their entire estates to their daughters rather than to their sons. A wide’s share of her husband’s estate also increased considerably in the later Elamite period." ^[1]
Succession "sometimes passed from a man to his sister’s son. Succession through the sister suggests that royal women had greater political power than did royal women in Mesopotamia." ^[2]
queen Nahhunte-utu of Elam "married two of her own brothers" and passed her claim to the throne to her eldest son. Also evidence for next-of-kin marriage within the royal family." ^[2]
"Hinz argues that even after the sister’s son was no longer the major heir to the throne, brother-sister marriage did not disappear but continued until the end of the Elamite period, when ’even provincial rulers followed the "family custom" of Elamite kings in marrying their sisters." ^[2]

Data below has yet to be coded into the sheet
"The Ur III rulers imposed their suzerainty over the Elamite princes of Anshan, who were probably semi-nomadic, in the southeast, and over others, including the princes of Shimashki, in an area that is likely to have extended to the north and southeast of Susiana." ^[3]
Ur reduced to rubble. "An Elamite attack against Ur brought Ibbi-Sin to seek refuge within its walls. The city [Ur] was besieged for a long time, until it collapsed for lack of food supplies. The Elamites broke into the city and plundered it. They profaned its most sacred temples, captured Ibbi-Sin an imprisoned him in Susa. For a while, Ur became an Elamite garrison..." ^[4]
"While Isin moved from being the heir of the Third Dynasty of Ur back to a city-state, Larsa moved in the opposite direction, moving away from its position as a city-state clenched between Isin and Elam. Gungunum began his rise to power in Larsa at the end of the twentieth century, taking Ur and Lagash from Isin and Susa from Elam. He took on the title of ’king of Sumer and Akkad’, the standard title of the kings of Ur, and led a couple of campaigns against Bashime (located on the Iranian coast facing the Persian Gulf) and Anshan (modern Fars, located in the hinterland of Bashime)." ^[5]
"In Elam, the princes of the new Shimashkian dynasty, who governed a vast area to the north and southeast of Susiana, drove out the Sumerians and gained control of Susa toward 2000 B.C." ^[6]
"Anshan was soon restored as the major metropolis of the Elamite federation, and the rulers of Shimashki seem to have adopted the title "king of Anshan and Susa" sometime before 1900 B.C. That imperial title of the rulers of Elam was subsequently changed to sukkalmah, a term borrowed from the Sumerian administration and meaning "grand regent." Under the rule of the sukkalmahs, which continued until about 1500 B.C., Susa remained within the Mesopotamian cultural sphere, but local artistic traditions continued." ^[6]

Shimashki’s dynasty originated from Shimashki region, and was ruling probably in Shimashki, Anshan and Elam since at least 2094 BC, however Elam (and Susiana) stayed under control of Ur III Empire during that time. ^[7] The independence of Shimashki’s dynasty and Elam itself was associated probably with the act of direct aggression from Ur III and its king - Shu-Sin who undertook war campaign against Elam. According to some researchers, this might have stimulated Shimashkian to formation their own state, but real autonomy was achieved later, during the reign of Ibbi-Sin and rebellion of Ishbi-erra, ensi of Isin, and disintegration of Ur III Empire. ^{[8] [9]} There is also believed that Shimashkian had important contribution in collapse of Ur III as they took a part of coalitions against Ibbi-Sin, together with some people of the Zagros (e. g. Su people) attacked eastern Mesopotamia. ^[10] , ^[7] The earlier relations between Ur III and Elam based mostly on peaceful coexistence, marital alliances and allegiance. Elam was treated as very important partner and part of Ur III empire, and had his own governor. ^[11] There is very little known regarding the Shimashki dynasty, and there are found only few inscription, lists and seals with names of lugal or ensi of Elam and Anshan from this dynasty (e. g. Imazu, Idaddu I, Ebarti II). ^[12] The tradition of inter-dynastic marriages was continued in Elam, e. g. son of Indattu-In-Shushinak was married to Me-kubi, daughter of governor of Eshnunna. ^[13]

[1]: (Nashat 2003, 14-15) Nashat, Guity. Women in Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Iran. in Nashat, Guity. Beck, Lois. eds. 2003. Women in Iran: From The Rise Of Islam To 1800. University of Illinois Press. Urbana.

[2]: (Nashat 2003, 15) Nashat, Guity. Women in Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Iran. in Nashat, Guity. Beck, Lois. eds. 2003. Women in Iran: From The Rise Of Islam To 1800. University of Illinois Press. Urbana.

[3]: (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 7) Amiet, Pierre. Chevalier, Nicole. Carter, Elizabeth. in Harper, Prudence O. Aruz, Joan. Tallon, Francoise. eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[4]: (Leverani 2014, 174) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London.

[5]: (Leverani 2014, 192) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London.

[6]: (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 8) Amiet, Pierre. Chevalier, Nicole. Carter, Elizabeth. in Harper, Prudence O. Aruz, Joan. Tallon, Francoise. eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[7]: Hinz 1971, 658

[8]: Potts 1999, 142-43

[9]: Stolper 1982, 51

[10]: Bryce 2009, 642

[11]: Potts 1999, 132-135

[12]: Potts 2012, 42-43

[13]: Hinz 1971, 660