Elam
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Elam (Hebrew: עֵילָם) in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 10:22, Ezra 4:9;) was the oldest son of Shem, the son of Noah. He was the progenitor of the Elamites. His brothers were Aram, Arpachshad, Asshur, and Lud.
The Descendants of Elam
The Elamites which dwelt in south-west Persia were known to the Babylonians as the Elamtu, to the Greeks as Elymais and the Romans called them the Elymaci. But, to the Elamites, they named themselves Haltamti and subsequently in the old Persian language, the rendering of their name is h(uju) and in Middle Persian as Huz. This is the archaic form of Khuzestan which is the old land of Elam to the south-east of Babylonia.
Anthropologists describe them as being neither Nordic nor Semitic (Arabs). Walther Hinz, author of The Lost World of Elam, writes
“Any attempt to trace the Elamites ethnologically is beset with difficulties. The more you investigate available sources, the more you get the impression that the Elamites were … a race of immutable independence. No relationship with other peoples has yet emerged.”
He adds that the glazed brick reliefs depict three different races existing in Elam: white, brown and another so dark that it is almost black. These would include the original Elamites, Riphathites, and Dravidians. The White ethnic group in Elam was the original literal descendants of Elam and may be classified as Alpine racially according to an expert in the field, Taylor.
Dr. Gayre has this to say:
“Donald A. Mackenzie, citing C.H.W. Johns, asks: 'were the pre-Semitic Elamites originally speakers of an agglutinative language, like the Sumerians and the present-day Basques, who were conquered in pre-historic times by a people of Aryan speech?”
Historian, Los, concurs, maintaining that the Elamites we find depicted on the monuments are round-headed (brachycephalic) and have a receding forehead like the Sumerians and all experts are aware of the fact that they were white and definitely not brown Arabic Semites.
The Elamites came into unfortunate conflict with Assyria. The powerful Assyrians mercilessly invaded Elam, sacked Susa their capital, and slaughtered many of them. Thus they became eternal enemies. Later, Elam was destroyed by Media (c 640 BC) together with their capital, Susa. This ended the Elamite power, even though Cyrus, King of Persia, made Susa one of his capitals a century later. Those that escaped migrated to find a new homeland. Where did the Elamites eventually settle down? Who might be the modern descendants of Elam today?
The tribes of Elam were the Anzan, Uxii or Uxians, Armardians, Mardians, Khapirt, Aipir, Messadatae, Cissi, Cossaei or Cossi. In addition Elam contained the Khuzi or Huzha tribe. The Kassi or Kassite tribes were also known as the Kossai or Kashshu and thus were probably Kassite robber tribes dwelling in north-west Elam. The name may also be spelt Kissean, Kossean or Kossaioi. The Assyrians called these Kassi hill-tribes of west Elam the Kusu. These Kassi were not Elamite by race, but Indo-Europeans who dwelt within their land.
The Sarmatians
What became of the Elamites and the non-Elamite Kushu and the Massagetae who migrated with them? They migrated into southern Russian settled along the Don with Madai, being known as the Sauromatae by Diodorus and other Greek historians. Perhaps the name derives from, or partly derives from, the name of the Armardian or Armatian Elamite tribe. The word Sarmatian may also be spelt Samartian. However, some writers dispute whether they are an identical people to the Sauromatae. It may be that the Sauromatae are the descendants of Madai and the Sarmatians descend from Elam and that the two became confused by observers and ancient historians due to their close proximity and similarity. According to the Book of Jubilees (10:35-36), Madai had married a daughter of Shem, and preferred to live among Shem's descendants, rather than dwell in Japheth's allotted inheritance beyond the Black Sea; so he begged his brothers-in-law, Elam, Asshur and Arphaxad, until he finally received from them the land that was named after him, Media. Vernadsky notes the
“It is doubtful that the name 'Sarmatae' has any inner connection with 'Sauromatae'; the similarity must be accidental...the Greeks and the Romans called the 'Sarmatian' tribes ‘Sarmatae’ …”
In any event, Pliny mentions that they were part of the Scythian hordes. Amongst their tribes were the Alani, Iazyges, Roxolani, Siraces, Aorsi and Antae; not all of these were Elamites or even descendants of Madai. The Iazyges were also known as the Iaxamatae or Ixibatai and the Chinese called the Aorsi the Yentsai of Antsai (Antae) which was perhaps descended from the Elamite Anzan tribe.
In terms of their physical biology and anthropology, Professor Coon informs us that the Sarmatians were White and in no way may be considered as Mongoloid. They conquered western Scythia in Roman times and reached the Carpathian Mountains, naming them the Sarmatian Mountains and are so called throughout the ancient Book of Vles. We know that the Sarmatians were an Iranian-speaking people and that their weapons, implements and artistic objects were comparable to those of Elam and Mesopotamia. In addition, Elamite art 'influenced' the Sarmatians and both Persian and Elamite axes have been found among them. Of course - for they were the Elamites.
It is also of interest that "Sar" in Sarmatian originally meant "Prince" or "tribal chief", according to Vernadsky. In the ancient Middle East "Sar" meant "king" in Assyrian and we have all heard of the famous Persian Shahs. We also find in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance that "Sar" in Hebrew means a "headperson ... captain ... chief ... general ... governor ... prince ruler". Thus the origin of the word is clearly the Middle East.
Eventually, the proto-Slavs, came under the dominion of the Sarmatians and their culture was greatly influenced by the latter. But after the power of the Alans (and in particular their leading tribe, the Spali or Speri) was broken by the Goths, the leading role was taken over by the Anti or Antes Sarmatian tribe.
The Elamites (also called Halam) were also known as Elymais or Elymaeans. The Greeks maintained in their records that the Elimaei dwelt northwest of them in Yugoslavia. The same word was used by the ancient Greeks to refer to the Elamites. Lempriere wrote: "Elimea, or Elimiotis, a district of Macedonia, or of Illyricum according to others."
There we have it; a part of Elam dwells today in Yugoslavia. One wonders whether the name of Serbia derives from the Seropi or Surappi River in Elam and that the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, derives from the Zagreb mountain range in ancient Elam. Interestingly, the mountain range Dinara in Dalmatia and the Dinar currency may be connected to Mount Dinar of ancient Elam. It may be no coincidence that the fifth king of Elam was Tata and the word Tata means "Dad" in Serbian. Further, Strabo also has the Elimeia as dwelling in Macedonia (See Strabo: map 7).
