CHIEFLY FROM NIPPUR. 



21 



SHUB), 1 " Alusharshid, king of Kishshatu, presented (it) to Bel from the spoil of 

 Elam, when he had subjugated Elam and Bara'se." 



The inscription is of historical importance. We learn from it, that King Alu- 

 sharshid subdued Elam and the country of Bara'se, doubtless in close proximity 

 to it, 2 and that in the booty he carried off to Babylonia a number of costly 

 marble vases. Part of them he dedicated to Bel of Nippur, and part, perhaps, to 

 Shamash of Sippara, 3 after first having engraved upon most 4 of them in beautiful 

 clear-cut characters his name and the occasion of the gift. The inscription suffices 

 to show that Alusharshid was a mighty ruler, who in courage and adventurous spirit 

 was not second to Naram-Sin. But it also offers most welcome material for deter- 

 mining the extent of the dominion of the oldest Semitic rulers. It furnishes addi- 

 tional support to Tiele's view (Gesch., p. 114), and at the same time proves that 

 Winckler's conception of the beginning of the North Babylonian history and of the 

 extent of Sargon's empire ( Gesch., p. 38) is incorrect. Winckler proceeds upon the 

 erroneous supposition that the deeds of Sargon, as reported in the tablet of omens and 

 in the "legend," are purely legendary. Hommel also (Gesch., p. 306 seq.) is ham- 

 pered by similar prejudices. That Naram-Sin was in the possession of South Baby- 

 lonia is demonstrated hy his building in Nippur (bdni bit Bel), and by his vase 

 found in Tello, and is furthermore established beyond all doubt by his successful 

 operations in Magan, 5 which, according to Winckler, was situated on the eastern 

 boundary of Arabia. A vase of the Semitic king of Guti, 6 belonging to this same 

 ancient period, which was probably carried by a victorious Babylonian king as trophy 

 to Sippara, points to the extension of the power of the oldest North Babylonian rulers 



descriptions of campaigns in Sunierian, it cannot be surprising that the word does not occur otherwise in Sumerian 

 inscriptions, which deal mostly with religious affairs and accounts of buildings. In favor of a Semitic etymology, to 

 which I incline, it may be said : (1) That the word " looks very much like an original m-formation of a root "pD " 

 (Jensen) and (2) that it is twice found in the Semitic inscriptions of the oldest North Babylonian rulers. 



1 It is not to be read a-mu-ru and to be derived from amaru wilh the meaning of "ersehen" (Hommel, Oeseh., 

 p. 302), i. e., "to dedicate" (Pinches, Trans. S. B. A. VIII, p. 350). Cf. Amiaud, Z. A. II, p. 296, and Jensen in 

 Schrader's K. B. Ill, Part 1, p. 26, note *°. For sAub = nadcmu=nadu (mj, cf. rnj, "gift," Ezek. xvi. 33), cf. Tall- 

 quist, BabyloniscAe ScAenkungsbriefe, p. 9. 



- Nothing more definite can be said at present. It is, perhaps, to be read Para'se. Cf. the name of the mountain 

 Bati-ir {stele de Zohab I, col. I, 7), which Scheil (I. c, p. 104) correctly identified with the mountain Pad(d)ir 

 (SAamsAi-Ramman II, col. II, 7). 



3 According to Pinches Jensen, inscriptions of Alusharshid have also been found in Sippara. Cf. TAe Academy, 

 September 5, 1891, p. 199, P. S. 



4 A number of vases of the same high workmanship and found among them were without inscriptions. Cf. 

 below, p. 30. 



6 1. R. 3, No. VII, 1. 7, namrak Magan, "plunder of Magan." 

 6 Cf. p. 12 seq. 



