llected by Fr. Lenormant. An attempt has been made to
identify the language in which they are written with the
Sumero-accadian, and authorities now generally agree in
considering the Arcaemenian inscriptions of the second type
as representative of its modern form. Hommel connects it
with Georgian, and includes it in a great linguistic family,
which comprises, besides these two idioms, the Hittite, the
Cappadocian, the Armenian of the Van inscriptions, and the
Cosstean. Oppert claims to have discovered on a tablet in
the British Museum a list of words belonging to one of the
idioms (probably Semitic) of Susiana, which differs alike
from the Suso-Medic and the Assyrian.

The little that we know of Elamite religion reveals to us a mysterious
world, full of strange names and vague forms. Over their hierarchy
there presided a deity who was called Shushinak (the Susian), Dimesh or
Samesh, Dagbag, As-siga, Adaene, and possibly Khumba and AEmman, whom
the Chaldaens identified with their god Ninip; his statue was concealed
in a sanctuary inaccessible to the profane, but it was dragged from
thence by Assurbanipal of Nineveh in the VIIth century B.C.* This deity
was associated with six others of the first rank, who were divided into
two triads--Shumudu, Lagamaru, Partikira; Ammankasibar, Uduran, and
Sapak: of these names, the least repellent, Ammankasibar, may possibly
be the Memnon of the Greeks. The dwelling of these divinities was near
Susa, in the depths of a sacred forest to which the priests and kings
alone had access: their images were brought out on certain days to
receive solemn homage, and were afterwards carried back to their shrine
accompanied by a devout and reverent multitude. These deities received
a tenth of the spoil after any successful campaign--the offerings
comprising statues of the enemies' gods, valuable vases, ingots of
gold and silver, furniture, and stuffs. The Elamite armies were well
organized, and under a skilful general became irresistible. In other
respects the Elamites closely resembled the Chaldaeans, pursuing the same
industries and having the same agricultural and commercial instincts. In
the absence of any bas-reliefs and inscriptions peculiar to this people,
we may glean from the monuments of Lagash and Babylon a fair idea of the
extent of their civilization in its earliest stages.

* _Shushinak_ is an adjective derived from the name