Elamite

Elamite refers to the language and the people of ancient Elam, a region in southwestern Iran along the Susiana Plain. The Elamite state and civilization emerged in the third millennium BCE, with major urban centers at Susa, Anshan, and later Chogha Zanbil. Elamite political power persisted in various forms into the early first millennium BCE, and the Neo-Elamite period ended after the rise of the Achaemenid Persians in the late 6th century BCE. The Elamites maintained extensive contact with Mesopotamia through trade, diplomacy, and conflict.

Language and writing: Elamite is generally treated as a language isolate, not demonstrably related to Semitic or other regional language families, though the precise connections are uncertain. It is known from Old, Middle, and Neo-Elamite phases and a large body of inscriptions and administrative texts. The Elamites used multiple scripts. Proto-Elamite, an early script of the late 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, is largely undeciphered. From around 2000 BCE onward, Elamite texts were written in a cuneiform script adapted from Mesopotamian Akkadian; this script was used for a broad range of documents, including royal inscriptions and administrative records.

Legacy: The Elamite language and literature contributed to the understanding of early Iranian history and Near Eastern interactions. The major center of Susa became a major hub in the region, and Elamite archives illuminate political and cultural networks across southwestern Iran and Mesopotamia. After the Achaemenid conquest, Elamite political independence declined, and the language gradually ceased to be used in administration, though it continued to be attested in inscriptions for several more centuries.