Elam—highland, the son of Shem (Gen. 10:22), and the name of the country inhabited by his descendants (14:1, 9; Isa. 11:11; 21:2, etc.) lying to the east of Babylonia, and extending to the shore of the Mediterranean, a distance in a direct line of about 1,000 miles. The name Elam is an Assyrian word meaning “high.” “Mam was itself a translation of the Accadian Numma, under which the Accadians included the whole of the highlands which boimded the plain of Babylonia on its eastern side. It was the seat of an ancient monarchy which rivalled in antiquity that of Chaldea itself, and was long a dangerous neighbour to the latter. It was finally overthrown, however, by Assur-bani-pal, the Assyrian king, about b.c. 645. The native title of the country was Anzan or Ansan; and the name of its capital, Susan or Shushan, seems to have signified ‘the old town’ in the language of its inhabitants” (A. H. Sayce). This country was called by the Greeks Cissia or Susiana. It was a strong kingdom in the days of Abraham (Gen. 14:1–12). It was a “province” of Babylonia in the time of Belshazzar, and afterwards formed a part of the Medo-Persian empire.

Elamite (Ezra 4:9), an original inhabitant of the country of Elam, and a descendant of Shem (Gen. 10:22).

The Elamites who were in Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:9) were probably descendants of the captive tribes who had settled in Elam. (Comp. Isa. 11:11).