KEFEEKING TO BABYLONIA AND ELAM, ETC. 67 



referring to Chedorlaomer and the other kings in the order 

 in which I identified them, but this is probably not their true 

 order, for the determining of which we must wait for further 

 mateiial. 



They refer to a very powerful ruler and conqueror of 

 ancient times, who overran Babylonia, spoiling its cities and 

 temples, which latter, from their great wealth, naturally 

 excited his cupidity. The history of this conqueror seems to 

 have been told at great length by the scribes, possibly on 

 account of the circumstances attending his expulsion, as 

 seems to be indicated by the second document (Sp. IL, 987), 

 whicli mentions the claim of a prince who is evidently the 

 son of Arioch, who there (apparently) calls himself " a king, 

 the son of a king, the son of the daughter of a king." 

 Naturally these texts all refer, for the most part, to Babylonia, 

 that being the country most affected by the conqueror's 

 warlike zeal, though his conquests in other parts may possibly 

 be spoken of in the first text (Sp. III., 2). The existence of 

 portions of three tablets refening to the conquests of Kudur- 

 la^'gamal show how profoundly the heart of Babylonia was 

 stirred by the misfortunes that the conqueror brought upon 

 their land, and their gratitude at final deb'v srance must have 

 been proportionately great. 



It is necessary, in view of the criticisms that have been 

 made, to say something about the names. We will there- 

 fore take that of the chief personage, Kudur-laggamal, fii-st. 

 This name is written, as 1 have elsewhere remarked, in a 

 very fanciful Avay, namely, with the character ku four (or 

 three) times repeated, and mal, thus f *^y ^y "^J "^f ^y. 

 Now there are probably none who will deny that the group 

 *^y "^y has the value Kudur — that is regarded, by all who 

 have seen the text, as certam. For the next character 

 (HI '^gain) I had suggested the value of lag (the polyphony 

 of the Assyrian syllabary obliges the student to be constantly 

 on the outlook for new values). For the fourth "r^y the 

 bilingual lists suggested the value o^ gi or gu (a softening of 

 the common value of the character, ku), and the syllabaries 

 indicated for the last character, ^y, the value oimal. Noav 

 the name Tudgula in the first text (S^. III., 2) corresponds, 

 as far as the consonants are concerned, with the Tidal of 

 Genesis xiv., and Eri-Eaku or Eri-Ekua corresponds very 

 well with Arioch (of this name I shall speak later on). For 



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