Battle of Ulai
653 BCE · Ulai River (modern Karun River, Iran)
Quick Facts
- Year
- 653 BCE
- Location
- Ulai River (modern Karun River, Iran)
- Era
- 🏛️ Ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia
- Difficulty
- hard
Ashurbanipal of Assyria sent his army against the Elamite kingdom, and the two forces clashed at the Ulai River in a catastrophically one-sided battle. The Elamite king Teumman was killed and beheaded during the rout. Ashurbanipal's palace reliefs at Nineveh graphically depict the river choked with Elamite corpses and the king's severed head being carried in triumph. In one famous relief panel, Ashurbanipal and his queen dine in a garden with Teumman's head hanging from a nearby tree. The battle broke Elamite power and is one of the most vividly documented battles of the ancient world.
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Ashurbanipal's palace reliefs of the Battle of Ulai are so detailed that scholars can identify individual Elamite nobles and trace the sequence of the battle from panel to panel.