But the excavations carried on since
then by M. de Morgan at Susa have revealed an entirely new chapter of
ancient Oriental history, and have thrown a flood of light upon the
position occupied by Elam among the early races of the East.
Lying to the north of the Persian Gulf and to the east of the Tigris,
and rising from the broad plains nearer the coast to the mountainous
districts within its borders on the east and north, Elam was one of the
nearest neighbours of Chaldaea. A few facts concerning her relations with
Babylonia during certain periods of her history have long been known,
and her struggles with the later kings of Assyria are known in some
detail; but for her history during the earliest periods we have had to
trust mainly to conjecture. That in the earlier as in the later periods
she should have been in constant antagonism with Babylonia might
legitimately be suspected, and it is not surprising that we should find
an echo of her early struggles with Chaldaea in the legends which were
current in the later periods of Babylonian history. In the fourth and
fifth tablets, or sections, of the great Babylonian epic which describes
the exploits of the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh, a story is told of an
expedition undertaken by Gilgamesh and his friend Ba-bani against an
Elamite despot named Khum-baba.
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