Elam, "the land of the cedar-forest," with its enchanted trees, figured largely in Babylonian mythology, and one of the adventures of the hero Gilgamesh was the destruction of the tyrant Khumbaba who dwelt in the midst of it. A list of the Elamite deities is given by Assur-bani-pal; at the head of them was In-Susinak, "the lord of the Susians,"--a title which went back to the age of Babylonian suzerainty,--whose image and oracle were hidden from the eyes of the profane. Nakhkhunte, according to Scheil, was the Sun-goddess, and Lagamar, whose name enters into that of Chedor-laomer, was borrowed from Semitic Babylonia.

ABOUT