Elam II

  General Description   Our Neo-Elamite II period runs from 743 BCE, when the Elamite king Humban-nikash I came to the throne (according to the Babylonian Chronicle), ^[1] to 647 BCE, the date of the invasion of Elam and sack of Susa by the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. ^[2] By that time, the Elamite civilization had occupied the highlands of the south-western Iranian plateau and the fertile lowlands of the Susiana plain for almost two millennia.
Population and political organization
The accession of King Humban-nikash I in the 8th century marks the re-emergence of Elam from the ’obscure’ phase of its history: there is an almost complete lack of written evidence for Elamite society, politics and history between c. 1100 and 743 BCE. ^{[3] [4]} During the Neo-Elamite II period, in contrast, a combination of archaeological evidence and both local and Mesopotamian written sources has provided historians with a better (if not comprehensive) understanding of Elamite political organization and key events affecting the polity.
The Elamite king exercised power from his seat at Susa through a series of high officials, most of whom were related to him. ^[5] A governmental body called the ’elders of Elam’, also attested from the Middle Elamite period, exercised independent executive power, perhaps indicating that there were institutional checks on the king’s authority. ^[6] However, the Neo-Elamite monarchy was unstable and fell prey to frequent coups d’état. ^[7] This instability was exacerbated by Neo-Assyrian interference, especially after Ashurbanipal began his Elamite campaigns in 653 BCE. ^[8] It is likely that Elam in this period sometimes functioned as a centralized state but at other times was split into smaller, autonomous kingdoms. ^[9]
Secure population estimates for the area under Elamite control in this period are lacking.

[1]: (Potts 2004, 263) Potts, D. T. 2004. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/WDUEEBGQ.

[2]: (Álvarez-Mon, Garrison and Stronach 2011, 10) Álvarez-Mon, Javier, Mark B. Garrison, and David Stronach. 2011. "Introduction." In Elam and Persia, edited by Javier Álvarez-Mon and Mark B. Garrison, 1-32. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/WF4UWMWH.

[3]: (Liverani 2014, 526) Liverani, Marco. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Translated by Soraia Tabatabai. Abingdon: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q.

[4]: (Amiet, Chevalier and Carter 1992, 13) Amiet, Pierre, Nicole Chevalier, and Elizabeth Carter. 1992. "Susa in the Ancient Near East." In The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre, edited by Prudence O. Harper, Joan Aruz, and Françoise Tallon, 1-24. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9KQATXPQ.

[5]: (Liverani 2014, 529) Liverani, Marco. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Translated by Soraia Tabatabai. Abingdon: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q.

[6]: (Henkelman 2008, 17) Henkelman, Wouter. 2008. The Other Gods Who Are: Studies in Elamite-Iranian Acculturation Based on the Persepolis Fortification Texts. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/T6UFW9CW.

[7]: (Carter and Stolper 1984, 47) Carter, Elizabeth, and Matthew W. Stolper. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SDF8S3B.

[8]: (Potts 2012, 46) Potts, Daniel T. 2012. "The Elamites." In The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History, edited by Touraj Daryaee, 37-56. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/BEAERFCW.

[9]: (Liverani 2014, 530) Liverani, Marco. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Translated by Soraia Tabatabai. Abingdon: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q.