CHIEFLY FROM NIPPUR. 31 



but by restoring the former glory of Ekur, the ancient national sanctuary in Nippur, 

 so deeply rooted in the hearts of the Babylonian people, and by stepping forward as 

 the champions of the sacred rights of " the father of the gods," 1 they were able to 

 bring about a reconciliation and a final melting together of the Cassite and Semitic 

 elements. Supported by the influential priesthood of Nippur and dreaded as daring 

 warriors by the discontented parties, the Cassites conld mould and govern the desti- 

 nies of Babylonia for nearly six hundred years, until finally they were overwhelmed by 

 new invasions from the East and by the great national uprising in the South, which 

 resulted in placing the native dynasty of Pashe on the throne of Babylon. The 

 essential results to be drawn from the fifty-five votive inscriptions of the Cassite 

 dynasty published on Plates 14-29, I have given in several articles in Zeitschrift 

 fiir Assyriologie ~ and may therefore confine myself to the following points. 



The inscriptions on PI. 8, No. 15, and PI. -21, No. 43, are written on the obverse 

 and reverse of a tablet in agate. The stone tells its own story. About 2750 B. C, 

 the patesi 3 of a city dedicated the tablet to the goddess Ninna or Ishtar " for the life 

 of Dungi, the powerful champion, king of Ur." Afterwards, possibly about 2285 B. C, 

 at the time of the Elamite invasion, when Kudur-Nankhundi laid hand on the temples 

 of Akkad and carried the image of the goddess Nana into Elam, the tablet was also 

 taken away and remained in the possession of the enemies until c. 1300 B. C. Kurigal- 

 zu (doubtless the second of the name 4 ), after his conquest of Susa, brought it back 

 to Babylonia and presented it to Beltis of Nippur. For over three thousand years it 

 lay within the walls of Ekur, until again it became the spoil of invaders of Nippur. 

 This time it was carried far away to the modern mdtu Aharr"i. Perhaps a later sliar 

 hibrat arbcCim will take it back to the resurrected sanctuary of Nippur. Kuri- 

 galzu's inscription on this tablet is of historical importance, because, for the first 

 time, we learn from this king's own inscriptions of his successful campaign against 

 Elam, 4 in the course of which he conquered even Susa. 5 The cuneiform text reads : 

 1. Kurigalzu 2. shar Karuduniash 3. ekalla sha dlu Shasha M 4. sha Mamti u 5. ikshud- 

 ma 6. ana ila Belit(NIN-LIL) 7. beltishu 8. anabaldtishu 9. ikish, "Kurigalzu, king 

 of Karuduniash, conquered the palace of Susa in Elam and presented (this tablet) 

 to Belit, his mistress, for his life." 



1 Inscription of Kadashman-Turgu, PI. 34, No. 63, 1. 1 and 2. 



2 Cf. "Bibliography," II, 9, 11, 13. 



3 This word stood apparently in one of the lost lines at the lower end of the tablet. 



4 Cf. Pinches, "An Early Tablet of the Babylonian Chronicle," in R. P."-, Vol. V, p. 109, col. Ill, 10-18. 



6 The earliest mention of Susa in the Babylonian cuneiform literature. The absolute proof for the identity of 

 Shasha with Shiisld (IV R. 2 53, 46, b; II R. 48, 59, 5, and Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 336), Shushan or Shushun, is impossi- 

 ble at present. It seems, however, scarcely possible that ekalla sha Shasha sha Elamti can be anything else than 

 nS^a 1W ITVan WW (Dan. viii. 3). The name was probably pronounced Shbsha(n). Cf. also p. 13, note 1 (end). 



