thumb|Battle of Abraham against Chedorlaomer by [[Cornelis Massijs, 1545]]
Chedorlaomer, also spelled Kedorlaomer, is a king of Elam mentioned in Genesis 14 in the Hebrew Bible, which contains an account of the Battle of Siddim. Genesis portrays him as allied with three other kings, campaigning against five Canaanite city-states in response to an uprising during the lifetime of Abraham.
Etymology
The name Chedorlaomer is associated with familiar Elamite components, such as kudur, "servant", and Lagamal, an important goddess in the Elamite pantheon.
Chedorlaomer's campaigns
The following allies fought as allies of Chedorlaomer in the fourteenth year of his rule.
- King Amraphel of Shinar (possibly Sumer)
- King Arioch of Ellasar
- King Tidal of "nations" – possibly the Hittites.
Historical identification
Genesis 14:1 identifies four kings: "It was in the time of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of the Goiim."
Following the discovery of documents written in the Elamite language and Babylonian language, it was thought that Chedorlaomer is a transliteration of the Elamite name Kudur-Lagamar. However, no mention of a king named Kudur-Lagamar has yet been found; inscriptions that were thought to contain this name are now known to have different names (the confusion arose due to similar lettering). According to Stephanie Dalley, the lack of extrabiblical attestations of the king's name is explained by the fact that there were several concurrent Elamite rulers in the 18th century BC, and that they are commonly referred to by their titles rather than by their names.
One modern interpretation of Genesis 14 is summed up by Michael Astour in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, in the articles on "Amraphel", "Arioch" and "Chedorlaomer", who explains the story as a product of anti-Babylonian propaganda during the 6th century Babylonian captivity of the Jews:
The "Chedorlaomer tablets" are now thought to be from the 7th or 6th century BCE, a millennium after the time of Hammurabi, but at roughly the time when the main elements of Genesis are thought to have been set down. Another prominent scholar considers a relationship between the tablet and Genesis speculative, but identifies Tudhula as a veiled reference to Sennacherib of Assyria, and Chedorlaomer as "a recollection of a 12th century BCE king of Elam who briefly ruled Babylon."
Some modern scholars suggest that Chedorlomer in the Chedorlaomer tablets might refer to the Elamite usurper Kutir-Naḫḫunte in the 7th century BCE. He assassinated Khallushu, who murdered Shutruk-Naḫḫunte II and in 694 BCE managed to briefly capture Babylon and the Neo-Assyrian governor of Babylonia, Aššur-nādin-šumi, causing the Assyrian conquest of Elam.
The translation of "Chedorlaomer Tablets" from the Spartoli collection: