# Shutur-Nahhunte (son of Indada)
Šutur-Naḫḫunte, son of Indada, was a late Neo-Elamite ruler of the late seventh and early sixth centuries BC, known almost entirely from Iranian evidence: the rock reliefs and inscriptions of the Izeh (Malamir) valley, where his vassal [Hanni of Ayapir](https://www.edgepedia.org/hanni-of-ayapir) names him as king, and a gold ceremonial "ring" from the 2007 Jubaji tomb bearing his name.[1](http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf) • [2](https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025) He is a different person from the earlier eighth-century king [Shutruk-Nahhunte II](https://www.edgepedia.org/shutruk-nahhunte-ii), son of Humban-mena,[3](https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00399) and from Šutur-Nahhunte son of Humban-umena; earlier scholars merged these three namesakes into one sovereign, but internal analysis of the Elamite documents shows they were three different individuals.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Subject | Šutur-Naḫḫunte (Shutur-Nahhunte), son of Indada (spelled Intata on the Jubaji ring) |
| Period | Late Neo-Elamite; late 7th to first half of the 6th century BC |
| Attestation | Hanni's loyalty inscription (EKI 75:10) at Ayapir; a Kul-e Farah relief; Jubaji gold "ring"; a Jerusalem cylinder and Susa economic tablets of a same-named figure |
| Rank contested | Vassal-naming "Elamite king" in Hanni's inscription; "petty king" of Izeh/Malamir in Encyclopaedia Iranica; king in Susa around 625 BC for Tavernier |
| Family | Father Indada; probable son Humban-kitin (Huban-kitin) |
| Key find | Jubaji tomb of two elite women (Neo-Elamite phase IIIB, 585–539 BC), discovered in 2007 |
## Primary evidence: the Ayapir reliefs and the Jubaji tomb
The main evidence comes from the Izeh valley in [Khuzestan](https://www.edgepedia.org/khuzestan), southwest Iran, ancient Ayapir. Six Elamite rock reliefs depicting ritual ceremonies were carved in the gorge of [Kul-e Farah](https://www.edgepedia.org/kul-e-farah), about 7 km from modern Izeh, between the ninth and sixth centuries BC; Kul-e Farah IV and III show ceremonies with around 140 and 200 participants respectively.[5](https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00251) Hanni of Ayapir, author of the relief Kul-e Farah I, left a long inscription across his image in which he nominates himself as a vassal of the Elamite king Shutur-Nahhunte, son of Indada.[5](https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00251) In one of his texts (EKI 75:10) Hanni explicitly shows his loyalty to this king.[1](http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf) Hanni styles himself in some reliefs as "kutur of Ayapir" and a subordinate to greater Elamite kings such as Shutur-Nahhunte.[6](https://arkeonews.net/newly-discovered-4000-year-old-elamite-relief-in-iran-depicts-a-king-praying-to-the-sun-and-justice-god/) Per Calmeyer the Sikaft-e Salman reliffs date from the twelfth century and the Kul-e Farah reliefs from the ninth to sixth centuries, and the date of the reliefs is not settled.[1](http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf)
**The Jubaji tomb** provides a second, independent attestation. In May 2007 a Neo-Elamite burial site was discovered during excavations for a piping project by the Khuzestan Water and Sewage Company around Jubaji village, near Ramhurmuz.[7](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/05786967.2018.1532771) The tomb held two elite women, published by Arman Shishegar as members of the family of king Shutur-Nahhunte son of Indada and dated to Neo-Elamite phase IIIB (c. 585–539 BC); both were buried in bronze "bathtub" coffins, linking them to a similar tomb at Arjan near Behbahan.[8](https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.44834) Among the grave goods was a gold ceremonial "ring" inscribed with the name of Šutur-Nahunte son of Intata, presumed to be the king mentioned in Hanni's relief at Kul-e Farah, some 75 km from Jubaji.[2](https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025) The ring inscription does not designate him as a king, as a royal inscription would be expected to do, and the father's name is spelled "Intata" there versus "Indada" in the Kul-e Farah context; the ring may offer a terminus post quem (Earliest possible date; something must be later than it) for the tomb.[2](https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025) The c. 7th/6th century Kul-e Farah IV relief shows a weapon bearer holding an object resembling the Elamite ceremonial "rings" with disc terminals.[2](https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025)
## Rank and political position
Hanni's own inscription makes Shutur-Nahhunte his overlord, an "Elamite king" to whom the local ruler of Ayapir declared loyalty, and he was one of three late-seventh-century kings (with Hallutaš-Inšušinak and Atta-hamiti-Inšušinak) who still called themselves "king of Anzan and of Susa".[5](https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00251) • [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) Against this stands the picture in Encyclopaedia Iranica: after the Assyrian sack of Susa in 646 BC and until the Achaemenid conquest, Elamite royalty was fragmented among small kingdoms, and Šutur-Nahhunte son of Indada was a petty king in the region of Izeh/Malamir, alongside Humban-šuturuk probably in the Kesat region and the first Achaemenids over Anshan.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) The two views have not been reconciled: the same man appears in one tradition as a Susa-based king with the old full titulature and in the other as a local ruler in a fragmented Elam.[1](http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf) • [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) A Shutur-Nahhunte is also known from a cylinder in the Museum of Jerusalem and from economic tablets of Susa (su-tur-nahhunte-na, MDP 9, 24, 5), which a 1967 study attached to a hypothetical Elamite state of about 600–590 BC.[9](https://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1967_num_44_1_5976)
## Genealogy and place in the succession
His father is Indada in the Kul-e Farah inscriptions and Intata on the Jubaji ring.[2](https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025) Tavernier holds that in all likelihood Shutur-Nahhunte son of Indada was father of Huban-kitin, and proposes a succession of Neo-Elamite kings of Susa after the Assyrian sack: Huban-haltash III (to 645), Shutur-Nahhunte son of Indada, his son Huban-kitin, Huban-tahra, and [Hallutash-Inshushinak](https://www.edgepedia.org/hallutash-inshushinak) son of Huban-tahra.[1](http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf) Humban-kitin, mentioned in the Susa Acropolis tablets of the first quarter of the 6th century, was probably the son of Šutur-Nahhunte.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
## Date and chronology
The period between the sack of Susa in 646 BC and the Achaemenid conquest lacks any text furnishing a synchronism with [Mesopotamia](https://www.edgepedia.org/mesopotamia), so its chronology rests on internal analysis of Elamite documents; a group of more than 300 Susa tablets is dated by seal impressions to the first quarter of the 6th century.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) The one proposed external anchor is the return of divine statues to Susa by the Babylonian king [Nabopolassar](https://www.edgepedia.org/nabopolassar) around 625 BC: Tavernier concludes that the inscriptions of Hanni should be dated in the last quarter of the seventh century BC and that Shutur-Nahhunte son of Indada was in all likelihood king in Susa at that time.[1](http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf) Encyclopaedia Iranica instead places him in the first half of the 6th century BC.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) The Jubaji tomb's datable ceramics and metal vessels place it in the Neo-Elamite II archaeological phase (c. 725/700–520 BC).[2](https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025)
## By the numbers: what the inscriptions and finds attest
For a man called king, the attestation is thin: one loyalty clause in Hanni's text (EKI 75:10),[1](http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf) one relief inscription naming him as overlord,[5](https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00251) one inscribed gold ring from a tomb 75 km from his seat,[2](https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025) a Jerusalem cylinder, and a few Susa economic tablets of a same-named person.[9](https://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1967_num_44_1_5976) The ritual reliefs of his vassal's valley, by contrast, name around 140 participants on Kul-e Farah IV and 200 on Kul-e Farah III,[5](https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00251) and more than 300 dated Susa tablets anchor the following decades,[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) a measure of how much of the period's evidence is administrative and ritual rather than royal.
## References
1. J. Tavernier, Some Thoughts on Neo-Elamite Chronology, ARTA 2004.003. http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/enligne/arta/pdf/2004.003-Tavernier.pdf
2. Asia Anteriore Antica: the Jubaji tomb and the gold "ring" of Šutur-Nahunte son of Intata. https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/2806/2025
3. Shutruk-Nahhunte II, Encyclopedia of Ancient History. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00399
4. ELAM i. The history of Elam, Encyclopaedia Iranica. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/
5. Kul-e Farah Reliefs, Encyclopedia of Ancient History. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00251
6. Arkeonews: newly discovered Elamite relief in Iran. https://arkeonews.net/newly-discovered-4000-year-old-elamite-relief-in-iran-depicts-a-king-praying-to-the-sun-and-justice-god/
7. Jubaji, a Neo-Elamite (Phase IIIB, 585–539 BC) Tomb in Ramhurmuz, Khuzestan. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/05786967.2018.1532771
8. Abstracta Iranica review of Arman Shishegar, Ārāmgāh-e do bānu-ye 'ilāmi. https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.44834
9. Appendix: Shutruk-Nahunte et Shutur-Nahunte, Syria 44 (1967). https://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1967_num_44_1_5976
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Periods and civilizations › Ancient Near East, Egypt, Nubia, and the Punic world › Anatolia, Upper Mesopotamia, and the Iranian highlands › Elam › Elam: rulers and royal family*
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