24 OLD BABYLONIAN INSCRIPTIONS 



the earliest period. 1 I therefore would propose another explanation of the title, 

 viz., to regard shar Kishshatu (or shar Kish) as identical with sliar Kish, " king of 

 Kish." 2 In other words, I infer from this title that there was a kingdom of the city 

 of Kish similar to those of Shirpurla, Agade, etc., at the earliest time of the Baby- 

 lonian history. Two of its rulers are so far known ; both wrote Semitic, and one of 

 them at least possessed South Babylonia and defeated Elam. Whether these kings 

 lived after the dynasty of Sargon, or whether the3 r preceded it and were dethroned 

 by Sargon, will be considered below. At all events, it will be well to separate the 

 kings of Kish 3 from those of Agade. There is much in favor of the view that 

 even in the Assyrian mind ' the title sliar kishshati was originally connected with the 

 possession of Kish, where Tiglath-Pileser III offered sacrifices to the gods (EI R. 

 67, 11). 



II. But what does shar Tcibrat arba'i mean in the oldest Babylonian history ? 

 After Sargon had subjugated the Elamites, 5 thus fixing the natural eastern boundary 

 of his projected great empire, he marched to the West, " subdued ' the land of the 

 West,' conquered the four quarters of the world." The last part of the previous sen- 

 tence, literally quoted from the tablet of omens, can in itself be interpreted as 

 meaning («) that " the four quarters of the world " lay still beyond " the land of the 

 West," and therefore were geographically distinct from it, or (6) that the conquest 



'Cf. also A. Mez, Oeschiehte der Stadt Harran in Mesopotamien, p. 27. 



2 As I remarked above, I cannot state all the reasons for my theory here. At present it may suffice to give the fol- 

 lowing : (1) Cf. my restoration of IV R. 34, 7-11 below. (2) Cf. Delitzsch, Paradies, p.218 seq., -where it is stated that 

 the Semitic Babylonians and Assyrians -wrote this city also Ki-shu (and Ki-e-ish, Brit. Mus., 82-8-16, 1, col. I, 44, pub- 

 lished by S. A. Smith, Miscellaneous Assyrian Texts, PI. 26 ; cf. also the present volume, PI. 8, No. 14, 1. 7), and Kish- 

 sha-tu, "according to a small unpublished vocabulary" (cf. Paradies, p. 230). (3) Cf. also the name of the ancient 

 king, Abil-Kishki, known from the fragment of a Babylonian chronicle (Trans. S. B, A. Ill, 372), and to whom 

 Delitzsch (Gesch., p. 72) correctly assigns the fourth millennium. 



3 1 afterwards found that Jensen (Schrader's K. B. Ill, Part 1, p. 202, note), independently of me, translated " king 

 of Kish" in the inscription of Manishtusu (Winckler, A. K, No. 67). His reasons for so doing and his conclusions 

 are both unknown to me. 



4 The facts that Ramman-nirari, who defeated the Babylonian king, Nazi-Maruttash, near Kar-Ishtar, is the first 

 Assyrian ruler who bears the title shar kishshati (in the inscription of his son, Shalmaneser I, I R. 6, No. IV, 1. 2) ; 

 and further, that Tukulti-Ninib I, his grandson, who also claims the title, must have been in the possession of Kish, 

 as he had captured even Babylon (R. P. 2 , Vol. V, p. Ill, col. IV, 2 seq.); and last, that neither Ashurdau I, nor 

 Mutakkil-Nusku, nor even Ashur-resh-ishi has this title (III R. 3, No. 6, 1. 1 and 8), deserve especial attention in con- 

 nection with my hypothesis. Afterwards the ancient meaning of the title was lost, and shar Kishshati, "king of 

 Kish," became shar kishshati, "king of the world " (which may, however, have been the very first meaning of the 

 title before it was connected with Kish ; cf. the development of the meaning shar kibrat arba'i). 



5 IV R. 2 34, col I, 1-3. I regard the arrangement of the individual deeds, related in the tablet of omens, as chron- 

 ological. Among other reasons the account of Sargon's three expeditions against the West favors this view. It was 

 also natural that the king, before marching to the West, should protect himself in the rear by subjugating the Elamites 

 in the East, so that during his long absence no danger might threaten Babylonia from that quarter. 



