Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Department of History, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran.
10.22059/jhss.2024.379629.473730
Abstract
The Elamite pantheon underwent significant changes in the course of long history of Elam, since the treaty between Akkadian king, Narām-Sin and Hitta, king of Awan dynasty in the late 3rd millennium BC until the Achaemenid era, when tablets were still written in Elamite language. The examination of the causes and factors influencing the rise and fall of the status and importance of various deities in Elamite religion has often been a secondary and implicit topic in studies of the Elamite religion. This paper takes a geographical approach to understanding the Elamite pantheon. In the Elamite kingdom, Susa, -located in the lowlands of Khuzestan and influenced by the of Mesopotamian culture- was the most important city and political capital. As a result, the kings of Elam frequently invoked Inšušinak, the patron deity of the city, for political purposes. With the rise of larger Elamite dynasties, especially during the middle Elamite period, the deities of the mountainous regions also gained prominence and respect in Susa. Among them, the sacred Anshanite couple, Napiriša (the Great God) and Kiririša (the Great Goddess), stand out, and their significance relation as heaven/father and earth/mother is symbolically represented in the Kurangan bas-relief. Consequently, the association of these three deities at the head of the Elamite pantheon aligns with the royal title "King of Anshan and Susa", reflecting the central elements of Elam’s political and cultural structure.
Keywords
Main Subjects
Alizadeh, A. 2008. Formation of Tribal and Mountainous State of Ancient Elam, Tehran: Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts. [In Persian].
Álvarez-Mon, J. 2019. Monumental Reliefs of the Elamite highlands, Pensilvania.
Álvarez-Mon, J. 2020. The Elamite Art ca. 4200-525 BC, Routledge.
Amiet, P. 1979. “Archaeological discontinuity and ethnic duality in Elam,” Antiquity 53, pp.195–204.
Carter E. and Stolper, M. W. 1984. Elam. Surveys of Political History and Archaeology, Near Eastern Studies 25, Berkeley and Los Angeles.
Constantopoulos, G. 2020. “The bitter sea and the waters of death: the sea as a conceptual border in Mesopotamia,” Journal of Ancient Civilizations 35/2, pp. 171-91.
Cooper, J. 2000. “Assyrian Prophecies, the Assyrian Tree, and the Mesopotaian Origins of Jewish Monotheis, Greek Philosophy, Christian Theology, Genosticism and Much ore,” JAOS 120/3, pp. 430-444.
Dara, M. 2016. “The Importance of Judgement in Afterlife According to the Elamite Texts” Journal of Religious Studies 9 (18), pp. 1-27. [In Persian].
Eliade, M. 1949. Traité d’histoire des religions, Paris.
Foster B. 1981 ‘A new look at the Sumerian temple state,’ JESHO 24, pp. 225-41.
Garrison, M. B., 2009, “Visual representation of deities and demons in Achaemenid Iran: old problems, new directions,” In C. Uehlinger, F. Graf (Eds.), Iconography of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Vol. 1: Pre‐Hellenistic Periods, Introductory Essays. Leiden.
Ghirshman, R. 1966. Tchogha Zanbil (Dur-Untash), Vol. 1, La Ziggurat, MDP 39, Geuthner.
Giovinazzo, G. 2015. “Elamite Religion,” translated by Askar Bahrami, Comprehensive History of Iran, Vol. 4, pp. 335-315. [In Persian].
de Graef, K. 2006. De la dynastie Simashki au Sukkalmahat: les documents fin PE IIb – début PE III du chantier B à Suse, Cultura.
Grillot, F. 1986. “Kiririša”, in L. de Meyer, H. Gasche et F. Vallat, Fragmenta Historiae Elamicae, Mélanges offerts à M. J. Sreve, Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, Paris, pp. 175-180.
Grillot, F. and Vallat, F. 1984. “Dédicace de Šilhak-Inšušinak à Kiririša”, Iranica Antiqua 19, pp. 21–29.
Gropp, G. 1989. “Eine elamischer Baderitus,” Archaeologia Iranica et Orientalis 1: Gent, pp. 239-272.
Harper, P. O., J. Aruz and F. Tallon.1992. The Royal City of Susa, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Henkelman, W. 2008. The Other Gods Who Are. Studies in Elamite-Iranian Acculturation Based on the Persepolis Fortification Texts, (Achaemenid History XIV) Leiden.
Henkelman, W. 2021. “The Heartland Pantheon,” in Bruno Jacobs and Robert Rollinger (Eds.) A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Blackwell, vol. II, pp. 1221-1242.
Herrero, P and Glassner, J-J. 1990; 1991; 1993; 1996. “Haft-Tépé: Choix de textes”, Iranica Antiqua 25, pp. 1-45; 26, pp. 39-80; 28, pp. 97-135; 31, pp. 51-82.
Herzfeld, E. 1941. Iran in the Ancient East, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hinz, W. 1967. “Elams Vertrag mit Narâm-Sîn von Akkade,” ZA 24, 66–96.
Hinz, W. 1964. Das Reich Elam, Stuttgart.
Hinz, W. 1967. “Kiririša”, Reallexikon der Assyriologie 5, pp. 605-606.
Hinz, W. 1971. “Religion in ancient Elam”, In: Cambridge Ancient History (CAH) I/2, chapter XXIII, Persia c. 2400-1800 B.C. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 662-673.
Hinz, W. 1972.“Humban”, Reallexikon der Assyriologie 4, pp. 491-492
Koch, H. 1995. “Theology and Worship in Elam and Achaemenid Iran,” in Jack M. Sasson (Ed.) Civiliation of the Ancient Near East. Vol. II1, New York: Simon and Schuste MacMillian. pp. 1050-1069.
Kong, L. 1990. “Geography and Religion: trends and prospects,” Progress in Human Geography 14, Issue 3, pp. 355-371.
König F. W. 1965. Die elamischen Königsinschriften. Archiv für Orienfonchungen, l6, Graz.
Labat, R. 1971. “Elam III. Religion”, In: Cambridge Ancient History (CAH) II/2, chapter XXIX, Elam c. 1600-1200 B.C. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 399-416.
Lambert, M. 1972. “Hutélutush-Insushnak et le pays d’Anzan”, RA 66, pp. 61-76.
Hinz, W. 1987. “Manzi’at/Mazzi’at/Mazzât/Mazzêt,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 7, pp. 344-346.
Malbran-Labat, F. 1995. Les inscriptions royales de Suse. Paris.
Miglus, P. A. 2013. “Tempel. B. I. Archäologisch. In Mesopotamien, Levante, Anatolien und Iran,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 13 (7-8), pp. 530–576.
de Miroschedji, P. 2003. “Susa and the highlands: Major Trends in the History of Elamite Civilization,” In N. Miller and K. Abdi (Eds.) Yeki bud, Yeki nabud: Esays on the Archaeology of Iran in Honor of William M.Sumner, Los Angeles: Costen Institute of Archaeology, pp. 17-38.
Mofidi-Nasrabadi, B. 2010. “Herrschaftitulatur der Könige von Susa und Anšan,” Akkadica 131, pp. 109-119.
Park, C. 2004. “Religion and geography,” in Hinnells, J. (ed.) Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, London: Routledge, pp. 439-455.
Parpola, S. 1997. Assyrian Prophecies. State Archives of Assyria, vol. 9. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press.
Peighambari, H. and Makvandi, L. 2022. "Revisiting the Early History of the Persian Gulf besed on the Role of the Elamite Confederation," Journal of Iranian Studies 12/1, pp. 151-168. [In Persian].
Petrie, C. A., M. Djamali, and M. D. Jones. 2018. “Physical geography and environment of Elam,” in Javier Álvarez-Mon, Gian Pietro Basello, and Yasmina Wicks (Eds.), The Elamite World, Routledge, pp. 99-117.
Pézard, M. 1914. Mission à Bender-Bouchir, Mission archéologique de Perse 15, Paris.
Porter, B. Nevling (Ed.).2000. One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World. Chebeagueو Casco Bay Assyriological Institute.
Potts, D. T. 2016. The Archaeology of Elam, formation and transformation of an Iranian state. Cambridge, second edition.
Potts, D. T. 2013. “In the Shadow of Kurangun: Cultural Developments in the Highlands between Khuzestan and Anšan”, in Katrien de Graef and Jan Tavernier (ed.) Susa and Elam. Archaeological, Philological, Historical and Geographical Perspectives Proceedings of the International Congress Held at Ghent University, December 14–17, 2009 (MDP 58), Brill, pp. 129-137.
Quintana, E. 2018. “Elamite religion and ritual,” in Javier Álvarez-Mon, Gian Pietro Basello, and Yasmina Wicks (Eds.), The Elamite World, Routledge, pp. 729-740.
Sarrāf, M. 2005. Religion of the Elamite People, Tehran: Samt. [In Persian].
Stolper, M. 1984. Texts from Tall-i Malyan I. Philadelphia: Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund.
Shokouei, H. 1993. "Geography and Religion," Geographical Research 30, pp. 353-335. [In Persian].
Tavernier, J. 2004. “Some Thoughts on Neo-Elamite Chronology,” ARTA 2004.003., 1-45.
Tavernier, J. 2013. “Elamite and Old Iranian Afterlife Concept,” in Susa and Elam: Archaeological, Philological, Historical and Geographical Perspective, Katrien de Graef and Jan Tavernier (eds.), (MDP 58), Brill: pp. 471- 492.
Tavernier, J. 2018, “The Elamite Language,” in Javier Álvarez-Mon, Gian Pietro Basello, and Yasmina Wicks (Eds.), The Elamite World, Routledge, pp. 416-449.
Vallat, F. 1983) “Les briques élamites de Deylam,” AMI, Ergänzungsbd. 10, pp. 11-18.
Vallat, F. 1991. “La geographie de 1'Elam d'apres quelques textes mesopotamiens”, In Mesopotemia et Elam, Actes de la XXXVIeme, Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 1989, pp. 11- 22.
Vallat, F. 1998. “Elam vi. Elamite Religion”, EIr, Vol. VIII/3, pp. 335-336 and VIII/4, p. 342.
)