Elam
Elam (son of Shem)
Mentioned in 2303 BC traditional (Jones)
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.” “The inhabitants of Elam, or ‘the Highlands,’ to the east of Babylon, were called Elamites.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897).
- The 12th generation from Adam, counting Adam as the first.
- Mentioned in the era of the Flood to Abraham, 2348–1997 BC.
- Named in the same verses as Aram, Arphaxad, Asshur, Lud, Shem, Gether, Hul, and Mash.
Computed from the data. Years are traditional (Jones).
Family
Two generations up and the children. Gold lines join partners; grey lines run from parent to child; a dotted line marks a parent named in the text but not by descent.
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Timeline
The strip runs from Creation to AD 100; the shaded part, 2328–2278 BC, is drawn below at a larger scale around these mentions, with 5 contemporaries. Years are traditional (Jones), shown as recorded, not as settled fact.
Mentions
2 tagged verses in 2 books. Select a book to read its verses.
The name in each translation
| Text | Occurrences of each name |
|---|---|
| BSB | Elam 28 |
| KJV | Elam 28 |
| ASV | Elam 28 |
Whole-word, case-sensitive count of the name string (regex \bName\b, so possessives like "Abraham's" count) across the whole Bible text of each translation; this counts the string, not the person, so other people who share the name are included and pronoun references are not. How Begat counts
Every verse
All 2 tagged verses, by book, in canonical order. The Berean Standard Bible is shown; switch to the King James or American Standard Version.
Genesis1 verse
- 10:22
The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
1 Chronicles1 verse
- 1:17
The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
The full entry, public domain, as printed in 1897.
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.”
“The inhabitants of Elam, or ‘the Highlands,’ to the east of Babylon, were called Elamites. They were divided into several branches, speaking different dialects of the same agglutinative language. The race to which they belonged was brachycephalic, or short-headed, like the pre-Semitic Sumerians of Babylonia.
“The earliest Elamite kingdom seems to have been that of Anzan, the exact site of which is uncertain; but in the time of Abraham, Shushan or Susa appears to have already become the capital of the country. Babylonia was frequently invaded by the Elamite kings, who at times asserted their supremacy over it (as in the case of Chedorlaomer, the Kudur-Lagamar, or ‘servant of the goddess Lagamar,’ of the cuneiform texts).
“The later Assyrian monarchs made several campaigns against Elam, and finally Assur-bani-pal (about B.C. 650) succeeded in conquering the country, which was ravaged with fire and sword. On the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Elam passed into the hands of the Persians” (A.H. Sayce).
This country was called by the Greeks Cissia or Susiana.