Chedorlaomer: (= Khudur-Lagamar of the inscriptions), king of Elam. Many centuries
before the age of Abraham, Canaan and even the Sinaitic peninsula had
been conquered by Babylonian kings, and in the time of Abraham
himself Babylonia was ruled by a dynasty which claimed sovereignity
over Syria and Palestine. The kings of the dynasty bore names which
were not Babylonian, but at once South Arabic and Hebrew. The most
famous king of the dynasty was Khammu-rabi, who united Babylonia
under one rule, and made Babylon its capital. When he ascended the
throne, the country was under the suzerainty of the Elamites, and was
divided into two kingdoms, that of Babylon (the Biblical Shinar) and
that of Larsa (the Biblical Ellasar). The king of Larsa was Eri-Aku
("the servant of the moon-god"), the son of an Elamite prince,
Kudur-Mabug, who is entitled "the father of the land of the
Amorites." A recently discovered tablet enumerates among the enemies
of Khammu-rabi, Kudur-Lagamar ("the servant of the goddess Lagamar")
or Chedorlaomer, Eri-Aku or Arioch, and Tudkhula or Tidal.
Khammu-rabi, whose name is also read Ammi-rapaltu or Amraphel by some
scholars, succeeded in overcoming Eri-Aku and driving the Elamites
out of Babylonia. Assur-bani-pal, the last of the Assyrian
conquerors, mentions in two inscriptions that he took Susa 1635
years after Kedor-nakhunta, king of Elam, had conquered Babylonia. It
was in the year B.C. 660 that Assur-bani-pal took Susa.
