Assyria’s Eastern Policy: The Kingdom of Ellipi

This study examines the political position, historical development, and cultural context of the Kingdom of Ellipi within the Neo-Assyrian eastern policy toward the Zagros Mountains. The primary aim of study is to evaluate Assyrian royal inscriptions alongside archaeological and geographical evidence to better understand the role of the Kingdom of Ellipi within the Zagros region and to discuss its possible connections with Luristan. This study comparatively analyses Assyrian inscriptions from the reigns of Shalmaneser III, Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, considering archaeological finds, settlement distributions, mountain pass systems, and Iron Age pottery traditions in Western Iran. Evidence indicates that Ellipi functioned as an active local political entity within power balance between Assyria and Elam during the 9th-7th centuries BC. Identifying a material culture group that can be directly and conclusively associated with Ellipi remains difficult. Nevertheless, the distribution and regional characteristics of the Baba Djan III “Genre Luristan” pottery tradition provide indirect evidence of the kingdom’s cultural geography. These data suggest that the local political formations that developed within the fragmented topography of the Zagros played a more significant role in the eastern policy of Assyria than has generally been assumed.