259 



dynasty of that name. It was formerly imagined that Sharru-kin, its founder, as well 

 as Manishtusu and Urumush were kings of Kish, not Akkad, on the strength of their 

 title which was read as " king of Kish " (shar Kish}. In later periods this title was 

 certainly a general one, " king of the World " (shar kishshati), 1 and Hrozny's sugges- 

 tion 2 that it always had this meaning is now proved to be correct. The list adds an 

 interesting note that Sharru-kin, or Sargon I. was at first a gardener by profession, and 

 afterwards a cupbearer in the temple of Zamama, before he obtained the throne, thus 

 confirming the Neo-Babylonian tradition of his humble origin. The suggested arrange- 

 ment of the three missing names in the dynasty (Manish-tusu, Urumush and Naram- 

 Sin) 3 makes it difficult to retain the further late tradition that Naram-Sin was Sargon's 

 son, but he may well have been a grandson or other near relative. Of the last seven 

 kings of the Akkadian dynasty, as of the five kings who formed the succeeding " Dynasty 

 of Erech," we know nothing beyond their names. 



The invasion of Babylonia by the Semitic kingdom of Guti to the east of the Lower 

 Zab, which is now attested by the list, is an evert of the first importance. The puzzling 

 stele of victory found at Lagash, on which Semites are depicted slaying Semites, 4 may 

 well commemorate the event. Moreover, we have proof that the invasion was followed 

 by a complete domination of Babylonia for some considerable time. The ceremonial 

 mace-head of Lasirab, King of Guti, which was found at Sippar, is evidence in point, as 

 also is the still unpublished text of Erridu-pizir, King of Guti, from Nippur. 5 From a 

 text recently found at Jokha we also know that Lugal-annatum, patesi of Umma, owed 

 allegiance to Sium, King of Guti. 6 To this period we may also probably assign the 

 bronze tablet, recently found at the celebrated Arab town of Samarra on the lower 

 Tigris, 7 containing a text of Ari-Sen, king of a district in the neighbourhood of Guti. 

 The end of the Gutian domination came about through the valour of Utu-khegal, King 

 of Erech, who, in a recently found inscription, 8 records how he overcame " Guti, the 

 dragon of the mountain," defeating and capturing Tirikan, its king, after having sought 

 the assistance of the great Babylonian gods in their shrines upon his line of march. His 

 success marks the first wave of a Sumerian reaction, and was followed up not long after- 

 wards by the establishment of the powerful Dynasty of Ur. 



Of discoveries bearing on the later historical periods, it will be necessary to speak 

 quite briefly. The Semitic tablets discovered from time to time in Cappadocia have 

 long been regarded as evidence of the spread of Babylonian culture northwards and 

 westwards, of which we have such striking evidence during the second millennium in the 

 El-Amarna and Boghaz-Keui documents. The date of the Cappadocian tablets may 

 now be definitely fixed as early as 2300 B.C. by the discovery of one at Kara-Enyuk, to the 

 north-east of Caesarea, bearing a seal-impression of Ibi-Sin, King of Ur. 9 The circum- 

 stances which led to the founding at Larsa of the dynasty of Kudur-Mabug, whose sons 

 gave so much trouble to Sin-muballidh, and Khammurabi of Babylon, have now been 

 ascertai^R!; 10 and the names of two other petty rulers of the time of the First Babyloni- 

 an Dynasty have been recovered. 11 An attempt has also been made to settle the 

 chronology of this period astronomically, 12 but the texts on which it is based are late and 

 corrupt copies and the result is consequently not conclusive. During the later Assyrian 

 period by far the most important discovery is a long historical text of Sennacherib on 



1 Cf. King, Studies in Eastern History, i, p. 71. 



2 Wiener Zeitschrift f. d. Kunde des Morg., xxiii (1909), p. 196 f., n. I. 



3 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, Rev. d'Assyr., ix (1912), pp. 81 ff. ':. ' 



4 Sum. and Akk., pp. 247 ff. 



5 Hilprecht, Bab. Exped., Ser. D., v, i (1910), pp. 20 ff. 



6 Scheil, Comptes rendus, 1911 (May), pp. 318 ff. 



7 Thureau-Dangin, Rev. d'Assyr., ix (1912), pp. I ff. 



8 Op. cit., ix, pp. Ill ff. 



9 Op. cit., yiii, pp. 142 ff. 



10 Op. cit., ix, pp. 121 ff. 



11 Op. cit., viii, pp. 65 ff., and Ungnad, Orient. Liter aiurzeit. , 1909 (Nov.), Col. 478 f. 



12 Kugler, Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel, ii, Teil ii, Hft. i (1912), pp.' 57 ff. 



