18 OLD BABYLONIAN INSCRIPTIONS 



3. It is absolutely impossible to regard Sargon, father of Naram-Sin, as 

 "perhaps an invention of legend." 1 Bat were he one of the best known and 

 mightiest rulers of the olden time, 2 it was to be expected that some monuments of 

 his would be found in the thorough exploration of the ruins of the temple at Nippur, 

 where the greatest number of texts of his time 3 ever found has been brought to 

 light. "Where inscriptions of his less known son Naram-Sin, and of the hitherto 

 altogether unknown Alusharshid, have been discovered, it was a priori probable that 

 inscriptions of Sharglna = Shargena = Shargdni(a) would also come to light. 

 Therefore the very absence of the name in the inscriptions there discovered is, in 

 itself, a proof that the ancient king whose name commences with Shargdni, and who 

 is represented by six inscriptions, is no other than Sargon, the father of Naram-Sin. 

 From this it follows naturally that the later Shargena was merely an abbreviation of 

 Sliargdni-shar-d li. 



According to Oppert, the name signifies " mighty is the king of the city." 4 

 There were also found in Nippur two brick stamps of Naram-Sin, son of Sargon 



1. Both contain the same legend. The moulds, however, that were used in making 

 them differ slightly in size and shape. The inscription reads : 1. llu JSfardm- ila Sin 



2. bdni 3. hit ilu Bel, " Naram-Sin, builder of the temple of Bel." If we may base 

 an argument on the place in which the stamps were found, as to the location of 

 ]STaram-Sin's building, we might conclude that he built a shrine immediately on the 

 canal south from the Ziqqurratu, whilst his father confined himself in his building 

 to the east side of the temple platform. In any case, from the contents of the 



1 Winckler, Gesc7i., p. 39. 



2 As is proved by the inscriptions of Nabiiua'id, where he is called "king of Babylon ", by the "Legend of Sar- 

 gon," the Tablet of Omens IV R. 34, and the mention of his name in the List V R. 44, 18, a, b. Hommel, who 

 reads erroneously Lugal-girinna (I. c, pp. 301, 307, note 4) in the last quoted passage, distinguishes Sargon of the list 

 as Sargon II, c. 2000 B.C., from the ancient Sargon I. His arguments are not convincing (cf. also Winckler, Unters., p. 45, 

 note 3). It is especially " the historical background of the work " — the mention of Elam, Guti, etc., at such an early 

 period, which is the most valuable evidence for the high antiquity and reliability of the statements contained in the 

 astrological work. Cf. my remarks in connection with the inscriptions of the king of Guti and Alusharshid. 



3 Six inscriptions of Shargani-shar-ali, two of Naram-Sin, and sixty-one inscribed vases (or fragments) of 

 Alusharshid. 



4 Z. A. Ill, p. 124. Cf. V R. 41, 29 a. b.: s7iar-ga-nu=dannu. Sharganu is a noun formation in an (Delitzsch, 

 Oram., \ 65, No. 35) from a root sliaragu, which seems to mean " to be powerful, mighty." Cf. the Hebr. proper name 

 1W?. Likewise the names Bingani-shar-ali and Al-usharshid contain the formative element alu. There are reasons 

 for identifying this alu {Alu) with AluM, used as an ideogram for "Babylon " by Nebuchadrezzar II (misunderstood 

 by Delitzsch, Worterbuch, p. 6). Cf. Hilprecht, The Sunday School Times, 1892, No. 20, p. 306 seg. Nebuchadrezzar 

 uses even mahazu alone (urbs) for "Babylon." Cf. e. g.YR. 34 (Z. A. II, p. 142-44), col. I, 13: zanan mahazi, 

 "to adorn the City" (i. e. Babylon, not "die Stadte," Winckler in Schrader's K. B. Ill, Part 2, p. 39). For the 

 use of Alu without hi, cf. below Eish (Kishshatu). 



