periods: PER_ELAM_CLASSICAL

56 historical periods covering all traditions, from the Predynastic Egyptian period (c. 3200 BCE) to the 20th-century occultist reception layer. Used to anchor entity classifications and relationships in time.

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period_id tradition period_name start_year end_year notes
PER_ELAM_CLASSICAL Elamite Kingdom of Elam -2200 -539 The period of the Kingdom of Elam (Elamite: haltamti; Sumerian: NIM.MA; Akkadian: Elam) from the Old Elamite period through the Neo-Elamite period, ending with the Achaemenid Persian conquest of Susa in 539 BCE. Elam was the dominant non-Mesopotamian civilisation of the ancient Near East for nearly two millennia, centered on Susa (modern Shush, Khuzestan, SW Iran) in the lowlands and Anshan (near Shiraz, Fars, SW Iran) in the highlands. The three principal phases: Old Elamite (c. 2200–1600 BCE), during which Elamite civilization interacted intensively with Ur III Mesopotamia and developed its cuneiform-based recording tradition; Middle Elamite (c. 1600–1100 BCE), the period of Elamite imperial expansion, including the sacking of Babylon (1155 BCE, when Shutruk-Nahhunte captured the stele of Hammurabi and the stele of Naram-Sin, now in the Louvre); and Neo-Elamite (c. 1100–539 BCE), the period of conflict with the Neo-Assyrian Empire culminating in Assurbanipal's destruction of Susa (647 BCE) and the subsequent Achaemenid incorporation of Elamite territory. The Elamite language (a language isolate — not related to Semitic or Indo-European families) was used in administration through the Achaemenid period; Elamite religious traditions directly influenced the emerging Achaemenid Iranian religious culture, making Elam the missing link between the Mesopotamian and Zoroastrian/Iranian layers in the DeityDB dataset. Potts (1999) and Carter & Stolper (1984) are the standard references.

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