In the last years of the Akkadian Empire, Elam managed to seize its independence. The first fully independent King of Elam was Puzur-Inshushinak, who went on to rule Elam’s first real empire. He ruled from the Dasht-e Lut and the Persian Gulf to the Zagros Mountains and the Euphrates, taking advantage of the chaotic politics of Gutian Mesopotamia. Near the end of his life, Puzur-Inshushinak met his match in the form of Ur-Namma and the Third Dynasty of Ur, who pushed him back out of Mesopotamia, conquered Susa, and brought an end to the power of Awan in Elam. In its place, Shimashki rose up as the new power in the Elamite highlands which was able to invade and conquer Ur when the third dynasty went into decline, brining an end to another Mesopotamian empire.

This is a guest episode of the Oldest Stories hiatus, brought to you by the fantastic Trevor Culley of the History of Persia podcast, over at https://historyofpersiapodcast.com/ . Trevor's show is in a lot of ways the sequel to the Oldest Stories, picking up with the tale of the Persian empire right around the fall of the Neo-Babylonian one in 539BCE. Over in his own feed, he has done a fantastic job of bringing the history of that empire to life, both in the narratives of kings and conquests and in the leisurely walks through the internal shape, cultures, and lifestyles of the Persian Empire. I am a fan of this show, and I think you will be, too.