n length; in the
VIII century B.C. it was enclosed by walls with bastions,
which are shown on a bas-relief of Assurbanipal, but it was
surrounded by unfortified suburbs.

Further up the course of the Uknu, lay the following cities: Madaktu,
the Badaca of classical authors,* rivalling Susa in strength and
importance; Naditu,** Til-Khumba,*** Dur-Undash,**** Khaidalu.^--all
large walled towns, most of which assumed the title of royal cities.
Elam in reality constituted a kind of feudal empire, composed of several
tribes--the Habardip, the Khushshi, the Umliyash, the people of Yamutbal
and of Yatbur^^--all independent of each other, but often united under
the authority of one sovereign, who as a rule chose Susa as the seat of
government.

* Madaktu, Mataktu, the Badaka of Diodorus, situated on the
Eulaaos, between Susa and Ecbatana, has been placed by
Rawlinson near the bifurcation of the Kerkhah, either at
Paipul or near Aiwan-i-Kherkah, where there are some rather
important and ancient ruins; Billerbeck prefers to put it at
the mouth of the valley of Zal-fer, on the site at present
occupied by the citadel of Kala-i-Riza.

** Naditu is identified by Finzi with the village of
Natanzah, near Ispahan; it ought rather to be looked for in
the neighbourhood of Sarna.

*** Til-Khumba, the Mound of Khumba, so named after one of
the principal Elamite gods, was, perhaps, situated among the
ruins of Budbar, towards the confluence of the Ab-i-Kirind
and Kerkhah, or possibly higher up in the mountain, in the
vicinity of Asmanabad.

**** Dur-Undash, Dur-Undasi, has been identified, without
absolutely conclusive reason, with the fortress of Kala-i-
Dis on the Disful-Rud.

^ Khaidalu, Khidalu, is perhaps the present fortress of Dis-
Malkan.

^^ The countries of Yatbur and Yamutbal extended into the
plain between the marshes of the Tigris and the mountain;
the town of Durilu was near the Yamutbal region, if not in
that country itself. Umliyash lay between the Uknu and the
Tigris.

[Illustration: 050.jpg Page Image]

The language is not represented by any idioms now spoken, and its
affinities with the Sumerian which some writers have attempted to
establish, are too uncertain to make it safe to base any theory upon
them.*

* A great part of the Susian inscriptions have been
co