Nadene Goldfoot
Elam was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of southern Iraq. The earliest kings in the Old Elamite period may date to approximately 2700 BCE. Already conflict with Mesopotamia, in this case apparently with the city of Ur, was characteristic of Elamite history. These early rulers were succeeded by the Awan (Shustar) dynasty.
During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, against Elam, Abram's nephew, Lot, was taken prisoner along with his entire household by the invading Elamite forces. The Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodom's armies. Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target.
Elam was also known as Susiana a name derived from its capital Susa. Another name for Susa is the name we are familiar with: Shusan, home of Queen Esther who was married to King Ahasueros. This is the Persian capital, home of Haman, the King's emissary who wanted to kill all the Jews because he didn't like their attitude.
The Elamites practised polytheism. Due to scarcity of sources, past scholars assumed that Elamite religion must have been characterized by the "ill-defined character of the individual gods and goddesses. ...Most of them were not only ineffable beings whose real name was either not uttered or was unknown, but also sublime ideas, not to be exactly defined by the human race." Worship also varied between localities. However, more recent scholarship shows that Elamite deities most likely were not any less defined than these of their Sumerian, Akkadian and Hurrian neighbors.
Inscriptions of many Elamite kings indicate that a concept of a supreme triad consisting of Inshushinak (originally the civic protector god of Susa, eventually the leader of the triad and guarantor of the monarchy), Kiririsha (an earth/mother goddess in southern Elam), and Napirisha existed. In the Neo-Elamite period Humban, previously a deity of limited relevance in known sources, emerged as a divine source of royal power.
Another significant deity was Pinikir, an astral goddess of love, similar to Ishtar. Some researchers, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, saw her as a mother goddess, and possibly originally chief deity, in northern Elam, later supplanted by or identified with Kiririsha, but this view is no longer supported by scholars.
There were also imported deities, such as Beltiya, Nergal or Nanaya; some native Elamite deities had Akkadian or Sumerian names as well (ex. Manzat, Inshushinak and his attendants), indicating a long history of interchange. Some Elamite deities were also venerated outside Elam: Pinikir was known to the Hurrians and Hittites, Simut appeared in Babylonian personal names, and an Assyrian text mentions Khumban, Napirisha and Yabru (Jabru) as protectors of the king.
Elam was involved with 3 other kings in war against 5 different kings of the area. (Gen. 14) Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and the kings of Shinar, Amraphel, Eliasar, and Golim had made war on the kings of Canaan: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Bela (Zoar). They fought in the Valley of Siddim (Salt Sea), now called Dead Sea. They were defeated by Abram.
Lot lived in Sodom. Abram was an Ivri, meaning: the other side. He came from the other side of the Euphrates River, Ur. He and only his people spoke Hebrew.
Elamites were involved in Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem in 704 BCE (Is.22:6). and Ashurbanipal transferred part of the population of Elam to Samaria after 639 BCE. Jews may have lived in Elam from the period of the Babylonian Exile. Under Persian rule, their numbers were considerable; they were still of importance several centuries later and remained significant in and after the Gaonic Period.
The Elamites were never a cohesive ethnic group but rather a federation of disparate peoples living in a specific region under the leadership of different cities such as Awan, Anshan, Shimashki, and Susa. Artifacts, primarily from Susa, give evidence of extensive trade relations as far east as India, and the Elamites were the conduit for trade between Mesopotamia and all points east. Elam reached its height during the Middle Elamite Period when it expanded its political power to establish the Elamite Empire.
The Assyrians had utterly destroyed the Elamite nation, but new polities emerged in the area after Assyrian power faded. Among the nations that benefited from the decline of the Assyrians were the Iranian tribes, whose presence around Lake Urmia to the north of Elam is attested from the 9th century BCE in Assyrian texts. Some time after that region fell to Madius the Scythian (653 BC), Teispes, son of Achaemenes, conquered Elamite Anshan in the mid 7th century BCE, forming a nucleus that would expand into the Persian Empire.
Remember, it was in 721 BCE that the Assyrians took the 10 tribes of Israelites captive. Israelites were captives, but the others were largely regarded as vassals of the Assyrians, and the Medes, Mannaeans, and Persians paid tribute to Assyria from the 10th century BCE until the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BCE. After his death, the Medes played a major role in the destruction of the weakened Assyrian Empire in 612 BCE.
A long period of darkness separates the Middle and Neo-Elamite periods. In 742 BCE a certain Huban-nugash is mentioned as king in Elam. The land appears to have been divided into separate principalities, with the central power fairly weak.
The next 100 years witnessed the constant attempts of the Elamites to interfere in Mesopotamian affairs, usually in alliance with Babylon, against the constant pressure of Neo-Assyrian expansion. At times they were successful with this policy, both militarily and diplomatically, but on the whole they were forced to give way to increasing Assyrian power. Local Elamite dynastic troubles were from time to time compounded by both Assyrian and Babylonian interference.
Meanwhile, the Assyrian army whittled away at Elamite power and influence in Luristan. In time these internal and external pressures resulted in the near total collapse of any meaningful central authority in Elam. In a series of campaigns between 692 and 639 BCE, in an effort to clean up a political and diplomatic mess that had become a chronic headache for the Assyrians, Ashurbanipal's armies utterly destroyed Susa, pulling down buildings, looting, and sowing the land of Elam with salt.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elam
https://www.worldhistory.org/elam/
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
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