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Elam and its ziggurats, and the Medes and Persians who inherited the plateau.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Elam & Ancient Iran · 3200-550 BC
Ancient Iran

Elam & Ancient Iran

From the Proto-Elamite towns of the plateau and the kingdom of Elam at Susa through the ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil and the sack of Babylon, to the coming of the Iranian-speaking Medes and Persians, the prophet Zarathustra, and the eve of Cyrus the Great. Slide across the millennia to read the major events that shaped Iran before the Persian Empire.

3200 BC
Proto-Elamite
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Susa and the Proto-Elamite world

On the lowland plain of Khuzestan the city of Susa flourishes, and a distinctive Proto-Elamite script spreads across the Iranian plateau.

3200 BC

Proto-Elamite
  • Cultural

    Susa and the Proto-Elamite world

    On the lowland plain of Khuzestan the city of Susa flourishes, and a distinctive Proto-Elamite script spreads across the Iranian plateau.

11 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 3200 BC

Full Chronicle

Elam & Ancient Iran

From the Proto-Elamite towns of the plateau and the kingdom of Elam at Susa through the ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil and the sack of Babylon, to the coming of the Iranian-speaking Medes and Persians, the prophet Zarathustra, and the eve of Cyrus the Great. Slide across the millennia to read the major events that shaped Iran before the Persian Empire.

  1. Proto-Elamite

    • Susa and the Proto-Elamite world

      On the lowland plain of Khuzestan the city of Susa flourishes, and a distinctive Proto-Elamite script spreads across the Iranian plateau.

  2. Old Elamite

    • The kingdom of Awan and the rise of Elam

      The dynasty of Awan gives Elam its first known kings, rivals and trading partners of the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia.

  3. Old Elamite

    • Elam destroys Ur

      Elamite armies sack the great Sumerian city of Ur and carry off its last king, ending the Third Dynasty of Ur.

  4. Middle Elamite

    • The golden age of Middle Elam

      Powerful dynasties centred on Susa and Anshan raise Elam to the height of its wealth and independence.

  5. Middle Elamite

    • Untash-Napirisha builds Chogha Zanbil

      King Untash-Napirisha founds a new sacred city and raises a towering ziggurat to the gods of Elam.

  6. Middle Elamite

    • Shutruk-Nahhunte plunders Babylon

      The Elamite king raids Mesopotamia and carries the great law stele of Hammurabi and other trophies back to Susa.

  7. Neo-Elamite

    • Ashurbanipal sacks Susa

      The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal storms and destroys Susa, breaking the last great kingdom of Elam.

  8. Iranian Migrations

    • Medes and Persians on the plateau

      Iranian-speaking tribes — among them the Medes and the Persians — settle across the western plateau and the Zagros.

    • Zarathustra and the birth of a faith

      Somewhere in the eastern Iranian world the prophet Zarathustra composes the Gathas, hymns to the one god Ahura Mazda.

  9. Median Kingdom

    • Deioces and the Median kingdom

      According to Herodotus, Deioces unites the Median tribes and founds a kingdom with its capital at Ecbatana.

  10. Median Kingdom

    • The Medes destroy Nineveh

      King Cyaxares, allied with Babylon, storms Nineveh and helps bring down the Assyrian Empire.

  11. Rise of Persia

    • Cyrus becomes king of Anshan

      Cyrus II succeeds to the throne of the Persian kingdom of Anshan, a vassal of the Medes — and the founder of an empire in waiting.