Shutruk-Nakhunte
King of Elam
Shutruk-Nakhunte, sculpted on a stele captured from Babylon and taken to Susa.[1]
Reign	1184 to 1155 BCE
Predecessor	Hallutush-Inshushinak
Successor	Kutir-Nahhunte
Spouse	Daughter ofMelishihu ofBabylon[2]
Dynasty	Shutrukid Dynasty

Shutruk-Nakhunte (sometimesNahhunte) was king ofElam from about 1184 to 1155 BC (middle chronology), and the second king of theShutrukid Dynasty.

Elam amassed an empire that included most ofMesopotamia and westernIran. Under his command, Elam defeated theKassites and established the short-livedElamite Empire, conquered within about 40 years byNebuchadnezzar I ofBabylon, in 1120 BC.

Šutruk-Nakhunte was married to the daughter of a Kassite king namedMeli-Šipak.

Šutruk-Nakhunte invaded Mesopotamia and was able to carry off many monuments from Babylon, such as the Stele of Naram-Sin.^[3] His invasion of Babylon likely had to do with the overthrow of the royal Kassite family into whom the Elamites had intermarried for decades. The overthrow of Shutruk-Nakhunte's father-in-lawMeli-Shipak II, who lost the throne toZababa-shuma-iddin, would have given enough justification to Shutruk-Nakhunte to attack Babylon. The cause of Meli-Shipak II's death is unknown, but even if he had died of natural causes, the fact that Zababa-shuma-iddin was elected king would still explain Shutruk-Nakhunte's aggressive attack, since he was a relative of Meli-Shipak II.^[4]

Shutruk-Nahhunte is known by an inscription that he added to theVictory Stele of Naram-Sin, itself dated about one millennium earlier to circa 2250 BC. His inscription appears on the top right corner of the stele, on the depiction of a mountainous cone, and was written inElamite by Shutruk-Nahhunte himself:^[5]

"I am Shutruk-Nahhunte, son of Hallutush-Inshushinak, beloved servant of the godInshushinak, king of Anshan and Susa, who has enlarged the kingdom, who takes care of the lands of Elam, the lord of the land of Elam. When the god Inshushinak gave me the order, I defeatedSippar. I took the stele of Naram-Sin and carried it off, bringing it to the land of Elam. For Inshushinak, my god, I set it as an offering."

— Elamite inscription ofShutruk-Nahhunte on the victory stele ofNaram-Sin.^[5]

Shutruk-Nakhunte gained a small public exposition inEthan Canin's short story "The Palace Thief", and its adaptation in the 2002 filmThe Emperor's Club, in which one of the key elements is a plaque describing the exploits of Shutruk-Nakhunte, described as a once famous egomaniacal conqueror virtually unknown today.

The plaque hanging on the wall of the film reads:

'I am Shutruk Nahunte, King of Anshand and Susa, Sovereign of the land of Elam. By the command of Inshushinak I destroyed Sippar, Took the Stele of Niran-Sin, and brought it back to Elam, where I erected it as an offering to my god, Inshushhinak.' — Shutruk-Nahunte, 1158 B.C.’^[6]

• D.T. Potts:The Archaeology of Elam, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, 232-237

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