30 OLD BABYLONIAN" INSCRIPTIONS 



exact form then in use. The scribe regarded e. g. GAN (PI. 14, No. 23) as the 

 doubled form of a certain sign resembling the reversed ancient SAG. 1 For occasion- 

 ally he divides this character into halves, placing one after the other (PI. 14, No. 24, 

 25). The artistic execution of the vases themselves stands in striking contrast to 

 the rude appearance of the inscriptions on them and on the large stones. As a num- 

 ber of uninscribed vases of similar form and of the same skillful workmanship were 

 found together with those of Alusharshid, there is every reason to believe that 

 Gande's vases formed originally part of the former's gift to the temple, the more so 

 as they were found in close proximity to those of that very ancient king. Only the 

 unhewn blocks of marble and granite, apparently intended for door sockets, were 

 genuine gifts of Gande, probably brought from the Elamite mountains. From the 

 fact that the place occupied by the inscription was not polished or even smoothed, 

 we likewise infer that the scribes of this ruler had neither the artistic taste nor tech- 

 nical training of the Babylonian stonecutters. 



5. The name Gande has not a Babylonian sound. Besides, it is sometimes 

 found abbreviated into Gan. This peculiarity of abbreviating names is characteris- 

 tic of the rulers of the second and third dynasties of Babylon, as is shown by com- 

 paring List b with List a and with the inscriptions of Bibeiashu. 2 Only one king 

 fulfills the requirements (viz., a foreigner, founder of a new dynasty, a prince whose 

 name begins with Gan, and who lived between c. 2400 and c. 1240 B. C). This is 

 Gandash, the first ruler of the Cassite dynasty, which occupied the throne of Baby- 

 lonia for five hundred and seventy-six years. Gande (otherw. Gan) is abbreviated 

 from Gandash 3 in the same way as Bibe from Bibeiashu. 4 



It is significant that, with the exception of fragment Brit. Mus. 84-2-11, 178 

 (see note 3), no monument of the founder of the Cassite dynasty and very few of its 

 other members have, up to the present, been found outside of Nippur. This latter was, 

 as I shall later show in detail, the very centre and stronghold of the Cassite dynasty. 

 It is not, therefore, accidental, that the representatives of this foreign house dedicated 

 so many valuable gifts to the temple of Bel in Nippur. By not paying the same hom- 

 age to Marduk of Babylon and his illustrious city, which Hammurabi 5 had endeavored 

 to raise to the most prominent position in the political and religious life of the country, 



1 Amiaud et Mechineau, I. c, No. 221. 



■ Cf. above, p. 17. 



3 Who again is identical with the Gaddash of Brit. Mus. 84-2-11, 178 (Winekler, Writers., p. 156, No. 6). Cf. 

 Hilprecht, Z. A. VII, p. 309 seg., especially note 4. 



* Cf. Hilprecht, "Die Erganzung der Namen zweier Kassitenkonige " in Z. A. VIII (in print). 



6 It is worthy of notice, that not one votive object with an inscription of a ruler of the first or second dynasty of 

 Babylon has so far been found in Nippur. These kings concentrated their attention on the glorification of Babylon. 



