Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

ELAM AND SUSA, THE CAPITAL 63
rapid strides ; alleys were made in it, paths kept up with
great care.*' ^ The Elamite king, surprised when about
to take his outdoor exercise, was slain and the heroes
returned in triumph to Erech, the
well-protected. Here,
apart from the extraordinarily modern habit of the Elamite
monarch in
taking exercise in a
well-kept pleasaunce and
the evident wonder and joy shown in the sacred grove,
we note that Elam, as in the earliest historical times,
raided the rich lowlands.
A second Elamite sovereign, Khumbastir, also appears,
but merely as a name. Kudur-Kuku-Mal, yet a third
Elamite monarch, whose name is also preserved to us, was
more successful, as he defeated the Babylonian forces and
ravaged their country. No details are forthcoming, nor
is it
possible to fix even an approximate date for these
monarchs but ; there is no doubt that, in these
delightful
in which
legends, we obtain glimpses of the great struggle
Elam was probably the aggressor for many generations,
but which ended in her subjection to the higher organiza-
tion of Babylonia.
^
Haupt, Das babylonhche Nimrodepos, p. 24.