Urtak or Urtaku was a king of the ancient kingdom of
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
,
which was to the southeast of ancient Babylonia. He ruled from 675 to 664 BCE, his reign overlapping those of the Assyrian kings
Esarhaddon (681-669) and
Ashurbanipal
Ashurbanipal (Neo-Assyrian language, Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "Ashur (god), Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king o ...
(668-627).
Urtak was preceded by his brother, Khumban-Khaldash II.
Khumban-Khaldash made a successful raid against Assyria, and died a short time thereafter.
He was succeeded by Urtak, who returned to Assyria the idols his elder brother had taken in the raid, and who thereby repaired relations between Elam and Assyria.
He made an alliance with Assyria's Esarhaddon in 674,
and for a time Elam and Assyria enjoyed friendly relations,
which lasted throughout the remainder of Esarhaddon's reign, and deteriorated after Esarhaddon was succeeded by Ashurbanipal.
During a famine in Elam, Ashurbanipal welcomed temporary refugees from Elam into his empire, and sent food aid to Elam itself.
However, after a time Urtak, joining his forces with the
Gambulu tribe of Arameans,
attacked Babylonia around 665 BCE, and died shortly afterward.
Urtak was succeeded by his brother
Teumman, who was killed by Ashurbanipal shortly afterward.
See also
*
List of rulers of Elam
References
Elamite people
7th-century BC deaths
7th-century BC rulers
Year of birth unknown
Military history of the ancient Near East
Elamite kings
Kings of the Neo-Elamite Period
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