CHIEFLY FROM NIPPUR. 265 



predecessor. It is highly interesting to learn from the votive inscription with which 

 the Babylonian ruler accompanied his gift (No. 102), that the king of Kish apparently 

 had connections with the city of "'BAN". For he is styled " king of the hosts of 

 jW BA]\ T ' ;i , king of Kish." In other words, we find the two mentioned cities in exactly 

 the same close association as they appear on Edingiranagin's famous stele of vultures. 

 It is therefore evident that the king of Kish was not only an ally of ""'BAF'', hut as 

 commander of an army of this country, was in all probability himself a native of 

 ff ' s/ 'BAN ,a '. In other words, I infer from this and other passages, that Kish (which I 

 believe formed originally part of Kengi) at this early time was already under the 

 control of a foreign people, which came from the North, appeared at the threshold of 

 the ancient Sumerian kingdom of Kengi, and was constantly pushing southward. 

 Kish formed the basis of its military operations, and at this time was, in fact, the ex- 

 treme outpost of the advancing hordes of 5IS 'BAF'', serving as a border fortification 

 against Kengi. The success of the Babylonian monarch who defeated Enne-Ugun, 

 cannot have lasted very long. For another king of Kish, Ur-Shulpauddu, 1 presented 

 several inscribed vases " to Inlil, lord of lands, and to Ninlil, mistress of heaven and 

 earth, consort of Inlil " (No. 93), and was therefore in the possession of Nippur. He 

 must have dealt a fatal blow to the kingdom of Kengi, for besides his usual title lugal 

 Kisli he assumed another, which unfortunately is broken away. 2 To judge from the 

 analogy of other inscriptions of this period, I have no doubt it contained the acquired 

 land or province of which Kish had now become the capital, 1 scarcely, however, Kengi 

 itself. How long he ruled, how far his kingdom extended, and whether he was able to 

 hold his conquests, we do not know. So much is certain, the great centre in the 

 North which controlled the movements of its warriors in the South, continued to send 

 out its marauding expeditions against Bab) Ionia. And even if a temporary reaction 

 occasionally should have set in, the weakened South could not withstand the youthful 

 strength and valor of its northern enemies for any length of time. At last J ' s/, BAN H 

 was prepared to deal the final blow to the ancient kingdom of Kengi, however little 

 of it there may have been left. The son of " Uknsh, patesi of S ' S/ 'BAN A "', 4 was this 

 time himself the chief commander of the approaching army. Erech opened its doors, 

 and the rest of Babylonia down to the Persian gulf fell an easy prey to the conquer- 

 ing hero. A hero indeed, Lugalzaggisi was, if we can trust his own long inscription 



1 "Servant of Shulpauddu." The same Dame occurs occasionally in the early contracts of Nippur and Tello. Cf. 

 Scheil in Receuil XVII, p. 41. 



2 Traces of lugal are clearly visible in 1. 8. 



3 No. 87, col. I, 5. 



4 1, e., "The king is filled with unchangeable power." Cf. Nimrod Ep., 12, 39; Gilgamesh gitmalu en,uku. The 

 name is possibly to be read Semitic. 



