The destruction of Hamanu of Elam by Ashurbanipal, 647 BC, relief. Photo supplied by Zereshk at english wikipedia.

Description:

A tablet unearthed in 1854 by Henry Austin Layard in Nineveh, reveals Ashurbanipal as an avenger seeking retribution for the humiliations the non-semitic Elamite Empire had inflicted on the semitic (thus unrelated) Mesopotamians over the centuries. Says Ashurbanipal:

“Susa, the great holy city, abode of their Gods, seat of their mysteries, I conquered. I entered its palaces, I opened their treasuries where silver and gold, goods and wealth were amassed...the treasures of Sumer, Akkad, and Babylon that the ancient kings of Elam had looted and carried away. I destroyed the ziggurat of Susa. I smashed its shining copper horns. I reduced the temples of Elam to naught; their goods and goddesses I scattered to the winds. The tombs of their ancient and recent kings I devastated, I exposed to the sun, and I carried away their bones toward the land of Ashur. I devastated the provinces of Elam and on their lands I sowed salt.”

See pages 7-8 of Persians: Masters of Empire ISBN: 0-80949104-4 for reference.

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