647 BCE military engagement between Assyria and Elam
Battle of Susa
Part of the Assyrian conquest of Elam
City of Hamanu in Elam, sacked by the Assyrians. Ashurbanipal's brutal campaign against Susa in 647 BC is triumphantly recorded in this relief. Here, flames rise from the city as Assyrian soldiers topple it with pickaxes and crowbars and carry off the spoils.
Date
647 BC
Location
Mesopotamia, Elam
Result
Assyrian victory;
Looting and total destruction of Susa
Belligerents
Assyria
Elam
Commanders and leaders
King Assurbanipal
King Humban-haltash III
Strength
Unknown
Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown
Unknown
v
t
e
Campaigns of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
Rise of Neo-Assyria
Campaigns of Ashurnasirpal II
Suru
Campaigns of Shalmaneser III
Qarqar
Campaigns of Shamshi-Adad V
Dur-Papsukkal
Campaigns of Tiglath-Pileser III
Gezer
Conquest of Aram
War with Urartu
Campaigns of Sargon II
Campaigns of Sennacherib
Sennacherib's campaign in the Levant
Azekah
Lachish
Jerusalem
Diyala River
Halule
1st Babylon
Campaigns of Esarhaddon
Conquest of Elam
Egypt
Campaigns of Ashurbanipal
Ulai
Susa
Ashdod
Egypt
Medo-Babylonian conquest
2nd Babylon
Arrapha
Tarbisu
Assur
Nineveh
Fall of Harran
The 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.[1]
In 647 BC, 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:
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[2]
^The Elamite Empire – All Empires Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^Persians: Masters of Empire" ISBN 0-8094-9104-4 p. 7-8
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