Battle of Susa

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Susa
partof=the Wars of Neo-Assyria


caption=
date=647 BC
place=Mesopotamia, Elam
result=Decisive Assyrian victory; total destruction of Susa
combatant1=Assyria
combatant2= Elam
commander1=King Assurbanipal of Assyria
commander2=King Teumann of Elam (until death in 655 BC)
strength1= Unknown
strength2= Unknown, presumed equal at first before declining
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=King Teumann, many other civilians and soldiersThe Battle of Susa was a battle involving Assyrians and Elamites. The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, had grown tired of the Elamites' attacks on the Mesopotamians, and he decided to destroy Susa as punishment. [ [http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=The_Elamite_Empire#section_2 The Elamite Empire - All Empires ] ]

In 647 BCE, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal leveled the city during a war in which the people of Susa apparently participated on the other side. A tablet unearthed in 1854 by Austen Henry Layard in Nineveh reveals Ashurbanipal as an "avenger", seeking retribution for the humiliations the Elamites had inflicted on the Mesopotamians over the centuries. Ashurbanipal dictates Assyrian retribution after his successful siege of Susa:

cquotetxt|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... I destroyed the ziggurat of Susa. I smashed its shining copper horns. I reduced the temples of Elam to naught; their gods 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.
Ashurbanipal|Persians: Masters of Empire" ISBN 0-8094-9104-4 p. 7-8] |color=silver|size=360%

ee also

*Fall of Elam

References