# Siwe-palar-huppak
**Siwe-palar-huppak** (also written Siwepalarhupak or Siwe-palar-huhpak) was a sukkalmah, or grand regent, of Elam in the early 2nd millennium BC and a contemporary of Hammurabi of Babylon and Zimri-Lim of Mari. He is the best known ruler of the sukkalmah dynasty, and for at least two years he was the most powerful person in the [Near East](https://www.edgepedia.org/near-east), holding suzerainty over [Mesopotamia](https://www.edgepedia.org/mesopotamia).[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) Most of what is known about him comes not from Elam itself but from the royal letter archives of Mari.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Title | Sukkalmah, Sumerian for "grand vizier" or "grand regent", a title retained from the Ur III empire[3](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24199) |
| Period | Sukkalmah (Epartid) dynasty, dated ca. 1880–1450 BCE in one reference chronology[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) |
| Floruit | Early 18th century BC on the middle chronology, fixed by the Siruk-tuh synchronism with Šamši-Adad I (1813–1781 BC)[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) |
| Contemporaries | Hammurabi of Babylon and Zimri-Lim of Mari, who addressed him as "father"[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) |
| Overlordship | Ruled over Mesopotamia for two years[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) |
| End of overlordship | An alliance led by Hammurabi broke his suzerainty and ended Elamite ambitions in Mesopotamia[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) |
| Successor | His brother Kudu-zuluš[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) |
## Name and titles
Sukkalmah is a Sumerian term literally translatable as "grand vizier"; it was the title borne by the highest official of the empire under the [Third Dynasty of Ur](https://www.edgepedia.org/third-dynasty-of-ur), and the Elamite rulers retained it.[3](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24199) The earlier Eparti had styled himself "king of Anšan and Susa", but from Šilhaha onward the dynasty adopted Mesopotamian titles: the principal personality of the state bore the title sukkalmah, with deputies called sukkal.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/)
The title's place in the Elamite hierarchy is debated. Jean-Jacques Glassner, whose 2013 study is cited in the specialist literature, has shown that sukkalmah was a title of inferior rank to "king", so that the king of Susa and Anshan was the supreme sovereign in Elam, followed by the sukkalmah and the sukkals.[4](https://www.um.es/cepoat/elamita/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/The-Elamite-Family.pdf) This matters for reading the Mari letters, where Mesopotamian kings negotiated with an Elamite figure whose formal title was not "king".
## Primary evidence
Siwe-palar-huppak is better known from the Mari tablets than from the Susa inscriptions; he is the most famous of the thirty-odd sukkals and sukkalmahs who wielded power in Susa.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) In the epistolary archives of Mari, the "sukkal of Elam", probably Siwepalarhupak, is called "father" of [Zimri-Lim](https://www.edgepedia.org/zimri-lim) or [Hammurabi](https://www.edgepedia.org/hammurabi), who considered themselves brothers; kings of lesser rank were addressed as "son".[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) • [5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf) For a period (ZL 7'–9' in Mari's regnal reckoning) Mari acquired tin from Elam, dispersing it to western Syria and Palestine.[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf)
Within Elam, he is known from one of the few Elamite texts of the period, a royal inscription on clay tablets (EKI 3), and an Akkadian royal inscription from Malyan containing his name shows the geographic range of sukkalmah power.[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf) Several sukkalmah rulers, in whose sequence he stands, are listed on a stela (EKI 48) of the later Middle Elamite king [Shilhak-Inshushinak](https://www.edgepedia.org/shilhak-inshushinak).[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf) The wider Susa documentation of the period consists of royal brick inscriptions, several hundred legal and accounting tablets written in a local variety of Akkadian, and seal inscriptions; Elamite was used only for rare royal inscriptions.[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf) • [2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/)
## Chronology and synchronisms
The floruit of the sukkalmah house is fixed by a single external synchronism: the name of Siruk-tuh, Siwe-palar-huppak's predecessor in the dynastic sequence, appears on a tablet from Šemšarra, and he was contemporary with the Assyrian Šamši-Adad I (1813–1781 BC on the middle chronology).[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) On middle-chronology dates Hammurabi reigned 1792–1750 BC, which places Siwe-palar-huppak's correspondence with him in the early 18th century BC.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
The dating is not settled. The Encyclopaedia Iranica's Susa article gives Hammurabi's reign as 1696–1654 and places Ammiṣaduq's first year at 1550, a lower-chronology reckoning, while its Elam article uses the middle chronology.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) • [2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) The span of the Epartid dynasty is likewise reported differently: ca. 1880–1450 BCE in the Susa article, against ca. 1970–1600 BCE, described as one of the most confused periods in Elamite history, in the Elam article.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) • [2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) Any absolute date for Siwe-palar-huppak therefore depends on which chronology a reader follows.
## Role in Elamite power and Old Babylonian diplomacy
Under the sukkalmahs, particularly those of the late nineteenth and early eighteenth centuries BC, the prestige and influence of Elam throughout [Western Asia](https://www.edgepedia.org/western-asia) was unprecedented.[6](https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511489617.008) In the eighteenth century BC Elam became a major player in Mesopotamian politics largely because it controlled the tin trade from the Iranian plateau, with Mari as its Mesopotamian distribution center; this trade is the context of Siwe-palar-huppak's diplomacy with Mari and Babylon.[7](https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternElamEparti.htm) • [5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf)
He ruled over Mesopotamia for two years, during which Hammurabi of Babylon and Zimri-Lim of Mari considered him their overlord.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) Siwepalarhupak captured Eshnunna, dated 1670–1668 BCE in Basello's chronology; under the middle chronology the episode falls decades earlier, so the absolute date is chronology-dependent.[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf) • [1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) After the capture of Eshnunna, Babylon and Mari allied against Siwepalarhupak; a tablet found at Mari preserves the ritual formulae used in a treaty between Hammurabi and Zimri-Lim directed against Siwepalarhupak, and his army was later defeated by Hammurabi.[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf) • [1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) This alliance-led reversal broke his suzerainty and put an end to Elamite ambitions in Mesopotamia.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
## The sukkalmah system: colleagues, family and succession
The dynasty began under external authority. The Sukkalmah-period rulers initially reigned under the kings of Šimaški, who contributed to the downfall of the Sumerian Ur III Dynasty; under Šimaškean hegemony, sukkalmahs ruled in Susa, Anšan, Šimaški, and Elam.[8](https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24069) Eparti II is considered the founder of the dynasty, and later rulers stood in a special relationship with Šilhaha, the "eldest (or favorite) son (šak hanik) of Eparti (II)"; Šilhaha himself was a sukkal.mah in the nineteenth century BC.[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf) • [9](https://journals.uio.no/CLARA/article/download/9934/8294)
Siwe-palar-huppak ruled within this hierarchy rather than as a solitary monarch. Officials under the sukkalmah bore titles such as "sukkal of Susa and of Elam", a position often, though not always, held by the son of the sister of the ruling sukkalmah, who quite often then succeeded as the next senior sukkalmah.[7](https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternElamEparti.htm) The system was not a fixed three-man college: between Šilhaha and Atta-hušu six sukkalmahs or sukkals exercised power in the 20th century BC, which shows that the "triumvirate" reconstruction drawn from Atta-hušu's inscription is not literal.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
The king list on the Shilhak-Inshushinak stela runs Eparti (Ebarat), Šilhaha, Siruk-tuh, Siwe-palar-huppak, Kuk-Kirmaš, Atta-hušu, Temti-halki, and Kuk-Našur, but Kuk-Kirmaš and Atta-hušu actually ruled between Šilhaha and Siruk-tuh; the list reflects lineages rather than strict chronology.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/) Siwe-palar-huppak's brother and successor was Kudu-zuluš, and the interventions of the two in Mesopotamian affairs reached as far away as Aleppo, though they did not last long.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
After the sukkalmah's western adventure, no relationship with Mesopotamia is recorded until a tablet dated to the first year of Ammiṣaduq mentions a Kuk-Našur, the second of that name.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) The reigns of the sukkalmahs from Kutir-Nahhunte I down to Kuk-Našur III, the last known sukkalmah, are documented only in juridical and economic records from Susa and rare royal inscriptions.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
## By the numbers
- **Two years** of suzerainty over Mesopotamia, with Hammurabi and Zimri-Lim as subordinates.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/)
- **Thirty-odd** sukkals and sukkalmahs wielded power in Susa over the dynasty's course.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/)
- **Six** sukkalmahs or sukkals exercised power between Šilhaha and Atta-hušu in the 20th century BC.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
- **Several hundred** legal and accounting tablets from Susa document the period, alongside brick and seal inscriptions.[5](https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf)
- **Ca. 1880–1450 BCE** or **ca. 1970–1600 BCE**: the two published spans of the Epartid dynasty.[2](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/) • [1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
- **1813–1781 BC**: Šamši-Adad I's middle-chronology reign, the synchronism that anchors the dynasty's date.[1](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/)
## References
1. ELAM i. The history of Elam – Encyclopaedia Iranica. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i/
2. SUSA ii. History during the Elamite period – Encyclopaedia Iranica. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/susa-ii-history-during-the-elamite-period/
3. Sukkalmah, The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Wiley). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24199
4. The Elamite Family (Universidad de Murcia). https://www.um.es/cepoat/elamita/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/The-Elamite-Family.pdf
5. Elamite Kingdom, Gian Pietro Basello, in Encyclopedia of Empire, 2016. https://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/basello2016encyclopedia-of-empire.pdf
6. The grand regents of Elam and Susa (Cambridge). https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511489617.008
7. Kingdoms of the Eastern Near East – Eparti Kings / Sukkalmahs (Elam). https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternElamEparti.htm
8. Elamite kings, Sukkalmah period, The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Wiley). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24069
9. CLARA journal article on Elamite rulers and the sukkal.mah period. https://journals.uio.no/CLARA/article/download/9934/8294
10. Dual power in Susa: Chronicle of a transitional period from Ur III via Šimaški to the Sukkalmaḫs, BSOAS. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abs/dual-power-in-susa-chronicle-of-a-transitional-period-from-ur-iii-via-simaski-to-the-sukkalmahs1/5773C001DFB1DE06727AE6B2B37823CB
11. Temti-Agun nouveau sukkalmah, Akkadica. https://akkadica.ugent.be/article/99574/galley/215132/download/
12. The queen's gambit: power, kinship, and heterarchy in Sukkalmah Elam (Ghent University). https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01K9Z32QZ3KRTQKV6TVMW7FF78
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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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