Power and Politics in the Neo-Elamite Kingdom (c. 1100-520 BC)

documents one of the most obscure episodes in the political history of

ancient southwestern Iran. Elam’s strategic position between the

Mesopotamian alluvial plain, the Persian Gulf and the Iranian highlands

made it a target for territorial expansion of the Neo-Assyrian empire.

However, the ability of the Neo-Elamite kings to engage in a political

alliance with the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, the flexibility of the

Neo-Elamite government system and the dynamics between the various ethnic

and social groups living within the multiple valleys of Elam protected the

Elamite heartland for centuries against the continuous military threat.

Elam became an indisputable partner in an inter-regional network of

Mesopotamian states until the emergence of the Persian empire reshaped the

political landscape of the Ancient Near East.
By re-evaluating the

dynastic lineage of Neo-Elamite kings, the geopolitical power of the

Neo-Elamite kingdom and the (trans-)formation the Elamite government

system in the 1st millennium BC through written and archaeological

evidence, this book aims to improve our understanding of the last

centuries of Elam.