Elamite National Borders

What Regions did the Elamites Settle?

So far we have discussed the region and kingdom of Elam in the ancient world, but we have not discussed who exactly were the Elamites? As previously covered, the Elamites were located in a territory wedged between Sumeria and ‘Persis’ (the homeland of the Persians). The heartland of their state was the southern highland region around the Zagros mountains often known as Anshan, with the lowland fertile region of Susa centered around the Karun river. In the Tanakh this river was known as the “Ulai אוּלָֽי” river, from Daniel 8:2 “And I saw in the vision, and it came to pass when I saw-and I was in Shushan the capital, which is in the province of Elam-and I saw in the vision that I was beside the river Ulai.” Clearly delineated in Daniel, the territory of Elamian Susa is explicitly stated - but lacking an explicit inclusion of Anshan due to its long dissolution and reinclusion in ‘Persis’ as a province.

However, a few curious references to the Elamites spread across the later literature might actually present an alternative narrative for an expanded identity of the Elamites beyond this limited provincial designation. It is first from the Torah, the Book of Genesis that we learn of a much larger ‘territory’ for the Elamites during the reign of Chedorlaomer, who formed something like a primitive empire - the same empire later Persians model their empire upon.¹ From the Sefer HaYashar, a medieval book of Midrash, it is explained that this war was actually a struggle for territory between the sons of Ham and Elam. “At the same time there was a war ‎between the families of the sons of Ham, who dwelt in the land that they built up for themselves. For Chedorlaomer king of Elom, one of the families of Ham, went forth and made ‎war upon the other families of Ham, and he vanquished them under his hand, and he also ‎subdued the five cities of the plain, and all were under his hands in dependence and servitude ‎for twelve years, paying him tribute year after year.”² Importantly, we see that the families were not only struggling over territories that were often in flux, but also helps confirm what we learn from Rabbinic sources, that the exact borders and territories of the 70 nations had already begun to blur shortly after the Dispersion. Ancient territories, and their associated local ethnic groups, were often in constant flux. Where families settle are not fixed locations. While the classical territory of Elam is certainly located around Susa and Anshan, Elamites colonized and expanded all over the world in a similar way to the Indo-Europeans (Japhethites), who ended up settling an entire tribe of their people in Persia.

Now that we have established Elamites did in fact colonize a much broader territory, what additional locations might the Elamites have colonized and what other regions are explicitly mentioned as being “Elamite” - either in traditional scholarship, or ancient sources? First, we turn our attention to pseudepigraphic sources, notably the Book of Jubilees which was written by a Jew, with access to Rabbinic records and traditions.

1. Genesis 14

2. Sefer HaYashar Noach 18