Anshan (
Elamite cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...
: ; sux, , ) modern Tall-e Malyan ( fa, تل ملیان), was an
Elamite and
ancient Persian city. It was located in the
Zagros Mountains in southwestern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, approximately north of
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...
and west of
Persepolis in the
Beyza
Beyza ( fa, , also Romanized as Beyzā, Bayḍā, Beyẕā, and Bayzâ; also known as Tall-e Beyẕā, Tal-e Baiza, Tol-e Beyẕā, and Sepīdān) is a city and capital of Beyza County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population ...
/
Ramjerd plain, in the province of
Fars.
It was one of the earliest urban states to exist, and one of the earliest capitals of
Elam from the late 4th millennium BC. It fell under the rule of the Persians in the 7th century BC and then became one of the early capitals of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
Most of what is known about Anshan has been discovered through ancient artifacts discovered in archaeological digs at Tall-e Malyan and passages in early Elamite texts.
History
Anshan is considered to be the origin of one of the world's oldest known civilizations. It was occupied consistently from before 4000 BC to 1000 BC and was politically tied to the
Elamites at Susa, as well as the
Mesopotamians. Its exact location was unknown to scholars until 1973 when artifacts, uncovered through archaeological digs at Tall-i Malyan, confirmed its location.
Prior to that scholars only knew of it to be somewhere in the central
Zagros mountain range.
During the
Proto-Elamite
The Proto-Elamite period, also known as Susa III, is a chronological era in the ancient history of the area of Elam, dating from . In archaeological terms this corresponds to the late Banesh period. Proto-Elamite sites are recognized as the old ...
period (late fourth millennium BC), it became one of the main cities of the Elamite region, thanks to its location on important trade routes. During the '
Banesh period' (3400-2800), at , it was 5 times the size of
Susa
Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
.
The
Marv Dasht
Marvdasht ( fa, مرودشت, also romanized as Marv Dasht) is a city and the capital of Marvdasht County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 123,858, in 29,134 families.
Name
Some historians hold that Marvdasht was ...
area, where the highland city of Anshan is located, is a complex of several interconnected valleys and plains. During the mid-late Banesh Period (3100-2800 BC) Anshan also had a walled area of 200 hectares. It also featured a number of subsidiary villages and campsites.
[Henry Wright]
The Earliest Bronze Age in Southwest Asia (3100-2700 BC)
According to G. Wright:
The Elamite city makes an appearance in the early Sumerian epic ''
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'' is a legendary Sumerian account, preserved in early post-Sumerian copies, composed in the Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 21st century BC).
It is one of a series of accounts describing the conflicts between Enmerkar, ...
'' as being ''en route'' between
Uruk
Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Muthanna Governorate, Al ...
and the legendary
Aratta, supposedly around the time writing was developed. At various times, Anshan provided, in its own right, the source for a number of Elamite dynasties that sometimes competed for extent and influence with other prominent Elamite cities.
The earliest evidence of Anshan can be found in the ''
Sumerian King List'' where many references are made to rulers of
Awan
Awan may refer to:
Places
* Awan (ancient city), a city-state in Elam in the 3rd millennium BCE
* Awan (region), a town in Guna district, Madhya Pradesh, India
* Awan, Bhulath, a village in Kapurthala district, Punjab, India, Punjab, Pakistan ...
.
Manishtushu claimed to have subjugated Anshan, but as the
Akkadian empire
The Akkadian Empire () was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long-lived civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad () and its surrounding region. The empire united Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one r ...
weakened under his successors, the native governor of
Susa
Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
,
Kutik-Inshushinak, a scion of the
Awan dynasty, proclaimed his independence from Akkad and captured Anshan. Following this,
Gudea of
Lagash claimed to have subjugated Anshan in 2200 BC and the
Neo-Sumerian rulers
Shulgi and
Shu-Sin of
Ur are said to have maintained their own governors over the place. However their successor,
Ibbi-Sin, seems to have spent his reign engaged in a losing struggle to maintain control over Anshan, ultimately resulting in the Elamite sack of Ur in 2004 BC, at which time the statue of
Nanna, and Ibbi-Sin himself, were captured and removed to Anshan.
In the Old Babylonian period, king
Gungunum
Gungunum ( akk, , Dgu-un-gu-nu-um) was a king of the city state of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia, ruling from 1932 to 1906 BC. According to the traditional king list for Larsa, he was the fifth king to rule the city, and in his own inscriptions h ...
of
Larsa dated his 5th regnal year after the destruction of Anshan.
During the early Elamite period, the rulers were known as the kings of Awan, but later on, they are referred to as the kings of Anzan, Susa, and Elam. There is also evidence that suggests Awan may have been a political district that was a part of a larger Anshan. Particularly since it has been discovered that Anshan was politically and culturally advanced.
From the 15th century BC, Elamite rulers at Susa began using the title "King of Anshan and Susa" (in Akkadian texts, the toponyms are reversed, as "King of Susa and Anshan"), and it seems probable that Anshan and Susa were in fact unified for much of the "Middle Elamite period". The last king to claim this title was Shutruk-Nahhunte II (ca. 717-699 BC).
Cradle of Achaemenid Persia
Anshan fell under
Persis Achaemenid
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
rule in the 7th century BC, having been captured by
Teispes (675–640 BC), who was an ancestor of
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
and styled himself "the great king, king of Anshan".
For another century during the period of Elamite decline, Anshan was a minor kingdom, until the Achaemenids in the 6th century BC embarked on a series of conquests from Anshan, which became the nucleus of the
Persian Empire. The most famous conqueror who rose from Anshan was
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
.
Evidence of the connection to the Achaemenid Empire can be linked through writings on the Cyrus Cylinder which trace the lineage of
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
. Cyrus is referred to as the "king of the city of Anshan" and his ancestors as "the great king, king of the city of Anshan"
Anshan continued to be inhabited through the Achaemenid period, but its importance declined greatly in favor of
Pasargadae
Pasargadae (from Old Persian ''Pāθra-gadā'', "protective club" or "strong club"; Modern Persian: ''Pāsārgād'') was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (559–530 BC), who ordered its construction and the locatio ...
and
Persepolis; it was merely a minor village by
Parthian and
Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
times.
Archaeology
The site of Anshan covers around 200 hectares. It dates back over 6,000 years and is considered a landmark in both an Elamite studies and Iranian architecture. The main feature is a low flat-topped mound of about 130 hectares running in height. On three sides are the remains of a city wall, in length, which dates from the Late Banesh and Kaftari periods. Finds at Tall-i Malyan included primarily
Proto-Elamite
The Proto-Elamite period, also known as Susa III, is a chronological era in the ancient history of the area of Elam, dating from . In archaeological terms this corresponds to the late Banesh period. Proto-Elamite sites are recognized as the old ...
and Middle Elamite
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...
tablets, seals, and a pottery sequence important to dating the chronology of the region.
The site was first worked by
Fereidoon Tavallali of the Archaeological Service of Iran in 1961. No records or publications of that effort appear to exist, though some artifacts ended up in the Persepolis Museum.
Scientific excavation began in 1971 with a team, led by William Sumner, from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
and
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
after a survey in 1968. The dig continued for several seasons, until 1978, when the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
intervened. Most recently, Tal-i Malyan was excavated by Kamyar Abdi in 1999. A further six week dig was conducted in 2004 by the
Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran and
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
.
[John R. Alden et al., Fars Archaeology Project 2004: Excavations at Tal-e Malyan, Iran, vol. 43, pp. 39-47, 2005]
The most notable find was that of a building brick found at an unspecified location in Iran in 1971. A photograph was discovered in a French archaeological publication which contained inscriptions from this brick that were key to identifying the lost city. These inscriptions were written in Elamite and believed to be part of a temple built by the Elamite kings to the gods at Anshan. After translating a group of tablets that were found at the Tall-i Maylan site the following fall, Erica Reiner, from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, was able to match these writings to those on the brick. They also matched the writings on tablets discovered by the Pennsylvania team which did, specifically, name Anshan. In 1973, it was confirmed that this site was the lost city of Anshan.
Three separate groups of tablets were found by the Pennsylvania team at the site. The oldest group contains seven tablets made of unbaked clay that date back to the third millennium BC. That set of tablets has not been translated because the writing is Proto-Elamite or possibly a script version of Elamite. The next set of tablets are inscribed in Sumerian and date back to 1800 BC. These tablets signify a Mesopotamian influence. The third set of tablets are the ones used by Erica Reiner to positively identify Anshan's location. An agreement was made between the researchers and the Iranian government that the Iranian government could choose ten artifacts and the remaining items would be divided between evenly between the two parties. The Iranian government chose to take several of the tablets in their choice of the original ten items.
See also
*
Prehistory of Iran
*
Cities of the Ancient Near East
*
Short chronology timeline
*
History of Iran
*
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
*
List of kings of Persia
*
List of rulers of Elam
References
Sources
*
*Ilene M. Nicholas, The Proto-Elamite Settlement at Tuv, Malyan Excavation Reports Volume 1,
University of Pennsylvania Museum Publication, 1991,
*Elizabeth Carter and Ken Deaver
''Excavations at Anshan (Tal-E Malyan): The Middle Elamite Period'' Malyan Excavation Reports Volume 2, University of Pennsylvania Museum Publication, 1996,
*William M. Sumner, Malyan Excavation Reports III: Early Urban Life in the Land of Anshan, Excavations at Tal-e Malyan in the Highlands of IranUniversity of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Monograph 117, 2003,
''The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State''by D. T. Potts, Cambridge University Press, 1999,
*Matthew W. Stolper, Texts from Tall-i Malyan Vol. 1: Elamite Administrative Texts (1972–74), University of Pennsylvania Museum Publication, 1984, {{ISBN, 0-934718-61-X
*William M. Sumner, Tall-i-Malyan and the Chronology of the Kur River Basin, American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 77, no. 3, pp. 288–290, 1973
*William M. Sumner, Malyan Excavation Reports III: Early Urban Life in the Land of Anshan, Excavations at Tal-e Malyan in the Highlands of Iran, 2003
*F. Desset, An Architectural Pattern in Late Fourth-Millennium BC Western Iran: A New Link Between Susa, Tal-I Malyan, and Godin Tepe, Iran, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, vol. 52, iss. 1, 2014
External links
"Anshan" ''
Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encyc ...
''
Digital Images of Tall-i Malyan tablets at CDLI
Populated places established in the 6th millennium BC
1961 archaeological discoveries
Elamite cities
Former populated places in Iran
Archaeological sites in Iran
Geography of Fars Province
Former kingdoms