Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/493

 ELAM 485 was made priest of Elagabalus, the Syro-Phoe- nician sun god, .in his native city ; and the Roman soldiers, beholding the elegant figure of the young pontiff, thought they recognized in him the features of Caracalla. His grand- mother, Julia Maesa, willing to advance his fortune at the expense of her daughter's repu- tation, spread a report that he was the off- spring of an intrigue between her and the mur- dered emperor. The army, disgusted with the parsimony and rigid discipline of Macrinus, was disposed to admit his pretensions. Elaga- balus, as he was called from his sacred profes- sion, took the name of Antoninus, was received with enthusiasm by the troops of Emesa, and declared emperor under the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (218). Macrinus sent de- tachments of his army from Antioch to crush the rebellion, but the legions murdered their commanders and joined the enemy. At length Macrinus himself marched to meet the pre- tender, but was signally defeated. He was soon after captured and put to death, and the Roman senate recognized Elagabalus as empe- ror. His elevation he thought to be due to the power of the sun, which he worshipped in the form of a black conical stone, and Rome saw her hills covered with altars and her streets filled with processions in honor of the god of Emesa. The Palatine hill became the seat of a magnificent temple, where lascivious dances were performed by Syrian damsels. The Qui- rinal was occupied by a senate of women, who gravely discussed matters of toilet and cere- monial. In a mystical fancy about the sun and moon, he married the Carthaginian priestess of the moon, which was adored in Africa under the name of Astarte. He abandoned himself to the wildest pleasures, but neither a rapid succession of wives, nor a long train of concu- bines, nor the art of his cooks, could satisfy his passions or save him from satiety. Wearied at length with playing the part of a man, he declared publicly that he was a woman, wished to be dressed like the empress, chose a hus- band, and worked upon lace. His cruelties were as fantastic as his follies. Having at one time invited the patricians of Rome to a din- ner, in the midst of the repast he opened the doors and let in upon them several furious tigers and bears. The patience of the populace and soldiers being exhausted by his vices and tyranny, a sedition was about to break out, when Elagabalus was induced to adopt as his colleague his cousin Alexander Severus. Al- exander cherished the rigid manners and prim- itive usages of Rome, and quickly became the favorite of the army. "When Elagabalus sought to withdraw from him the power which he had granted, or to compass his death, the prae- torians mutinied, killed the emperor and his mother, and threw their bodies into the Tiber. ELAM, afterward Susiana (called by the Greeks Cissla and SIMM), an ancient country of S. W. Asia, bounded N. by the river Diyaleh, E. by the Kebir Kuh range, W. by the Tigris, and S. by the Persian gulf. It comprised a low and fer- tile tract, originally peopled by Turanians and descendants of Shem, who were conquered at a very early time by a Hamitic or Cushite race from Babylon. According to the Biblical ac- count, a very important power had been built up in this region by the time of Abraham. The dynasty of the Chaldean empire mentioned by Berosus after the Median or Aryan, occupying the throne from about 2300 to 2100 B. C., was probably of Elamite origin. It is certain that Chedorlaomer, who belongs to this period, was master of the whole Tigro-Euphrates basin, having as vassals Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, and Thargal, the Tidal of the Bible, "king of nations," probably no- madic tribes. He made with them an ex- pedition toward the west, temporarily subju- gated parts of Syria, plundered the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, led Lot away captive, and was at last defeated by Abraham. As- shur-bani-pal mentions in two inscriptions that he took Susa 1,635 years after Kedor-nakhunta or Kudur-nanhundi, king of Elam, had con- quered Babylonia, which would give the year 2295 B. 0. as the date of the establishment of the Elamite dynasty in Chaldea. Other names of Elamite kings of this dynasty, obtained from inscriptions recently discovered, are : Kedor- mabug and his son Zikar-Sin, Burnaburyash I. and his son Kurigalzu I., Ishmi-Dagan and his sons Gungun and Shamshi-Bin. It is certain that Elam was afterward a formidable feuda- tory of Babylonia and Assyria, and had its own monarchs and an independent government. An inscription of the 9th century includes Elam in the Assyrian empire; and others show that the Assyrian kings were continually engaged in war with Elamites, who in conjunction with Babylon attempted to assert their inde- pendence. About 790 the Elamites became again an independent state under Shutruk- Nakhunta. About 60 years after, Sargon or Saryukin defeated, as he relates in his annals, Humbanigash I., king of Elam, in the plains of Kalu. During the time of Sennacherib, 704-680, Elam revolted again under Kedor- nakhunta II. in concert with Babylon. Sen- nacherib devastated the whole southern part of the country, and captured Suzub, the Baby- lonian king, who contrived to escape, and "opened the treasure of the pyramid, the gold and silver of the temples of Bel and Zar- panit; he plundered them to give to Um- man-Minan, king of Elam," brother and suc- cessor of Kedor-nakhunta. Umman-Minan accepted the bribe and joined the invasion of Assyria. Sennacherib bribed in turn Hum- ba-undasha, the Elamite general -in-chief, and gained an easy victory over the combined army of 150,000 men. Babylon and Elam made renewed efforts, and Sennacherib, ex- asperated by these continued revolts, chas- tised them with the utmost severity, and the sacred city of Babylon, revered by the Assyr- ians as much as by the Chaldeans, was given