At the period to which the oldest hitherto dis- covered inscriptions belong, the canal running from N. to S. (the modern Sliatt-el-Hai), and uniting the Tigris with the Euphrates, formed the boundary between two very ancient kingdoms — the Sumer. kingdom of Sirgulla (Lagash) or Girsu, lying to the E. of the above-named canal, and the Semit. kingdom of Uruk (Erech) and Ur to the W. of the same canal. A part of the latter kingdom, probably the region between Ur, Arabia, and the Persian Gulf, on the right bank of the Euphrates, was already known as Ki-Ingi, i.e. region of Ingi, a name which soon came to be applied to the whole kingdom of Erech, but more especially to that part of it which lay in S. Babylonia, to the W. of Sirgulla. The oldest form of this name appears to have been Imgur or Imgir. From Ki- Imgir arose in cotirse of time, through dialectical pronunciation, Shimir, Shtimir (from the time of Khammurabi onwards the name for S. Babylonia) ; while the intermediate form Shingnr has been preserved in the Heb. i>j'J', .S7i i'h a r, properly Shing- har (Gn lO'" 11"). The oldest religious centre of the kingdom of Sirgulla was Xun-ki or Uru-dugga (Eridu, see above, p. 215''), while that of Erech and of the Bab. Semites in general was Nippur, with its sanctuary of Bel of ancient fame. Ace. to Talmudic tradition, the biblical Calneh (Gn lO'o,
cf. Is 10^ I. XX, TT}V x^par T7JC ^Trartij Ba8v\u>vos Kal
XaXafinj, ol 6 ivvpyot <f'KoSoiirj8ri) was only another name for Nippur, and, in point of fact, in an enumeration of the most important cities of Nim- rod's kingdom (Babel, Erech, Accad, Calneh), Nippur could scarcely be omitted.
A third kingdom which meets us even in the oldest inscriptions (e.g. in those of king En-shag- sag-anna [Bel-shar-shame ?]) as a rival of Erech, is that of Kis (written Kis-ki). This name was also borne at a later period by a city that lay some three leagues N.E. of Babel. A close con- nexion subsisted between this Kis, whose popula- tion was also undoubtedly Semitic, and a city on the Tigris called Sabban (written Ud-ban-ki, 'city of the" hordes of the bow'), probably the later Opis. In the oldest dedicatory inscriptions found at Nippur, we find mention not only of priest- princes (Patesi, e.g. a certain Utuk), but also of kings of Kis (e.g. En-bil-ugun and Ur-Dun-pa- uddu or Amil-Nabu).
One of the most remarkable of the above-named kings of Erech was Lugal-zag gi-si (Semit. perhaps Sharru-mali-imukki-kini, -the king is full of eternal strength'). He calls himself 'king of Erech, king of the world (kalamma),'' while to his father Ukush he gives only the title ^patesi of Gishban' ('bow-city,' i.e. Harran in Mesopotamia). Besides Erech, he possessed also I'r, Earsa, Nippur, and Gishban (Harran) ; Sippar-Agade and Babel appear as yet to have played no part in history, while both in Kis and in Sirgulla their own kings held sway. The date of these old kings of Erech must Vie fixed at the latest at somewhere before B.C. 4000. .ludging from the type of writing, this period included also a certain Lugal-ki-^aU-ni-gul-
B.4_BYL0XIA
BABYLONIA
yul (Sem. perliaps Sharru-mushaklil-manzazi) and liis son Lugal-si-kisal, both of whom style them- selves -king of Eicch, king of Ur.' The kings of Sirgulla, En-ghigalla, and Uru-kaginna must also be assigned to the same era. While the two last- name<l very ancient moiiarchs have left us only a few inscriptions, we have all the more nuinunients of Ur-ghanna (ace. to others to be read Ur-Xiiut), and of his Lrrandson E-dingirrana-du.* The latter in partieular, who by preference styles himself • pdlesi,' in.stead of 'king,' of Sirgulla, must have been a great warrior. The so-called ' Vulture- Stele ' (now in Paris), the earliest monument of old Bab. sculpture, and otlier recently-discovered stones, give us both by word and by picture a detailed account of his great victory over the cities of Gishbau (Harran), Kis, Sabban, and Az, and the consequent deliverance of Erech, Ur, and Larsa from the lian<ls of the N. Bab. Semites. It is an interesting circumstance that already at this dale there is mention also of a city A-idinna (.Semit. NSdu), in which we may recognise with certiiinty the 'Nod in front of Eden' of Gn 4'^. It is, perhaps, the same city whieli meets us some centuries later under the name Agade (Akkad) or Sippar-Anunit. To the nephew of E-dingirrana- du, the patesi En-timinna, we owe a silver vase, remarkable for the fineness of its execution, with the figures of anitnals portrayed upon it. As (leilicatory inscriptions of this patesi have been found also at N'ipjjur, he nmst certainly, like his uncle, have had possession also of N. Babylonia.
This hegemony of .Sirgulla over Erech and Nippur may have existed about and after B.i'. 40110.
During the following centuries, however, we find Xippur again in the hands of Semit. kings, who arrogate to themselves the proud title luijal ki-ih, i.e. ' king of the world.' t To these monarclis (.\Ia-ishtu-su and Alu-musharshid) we owe the earliest known of Bab. inscriptions coinpo.sed in Setiiitic. They resided either at Kis or at Agade. Shortly thereafter (c. B.C. 3.J00) we meet witii the first real kings of Agade (see above, p. ^i}"), Sar- gani-shai'-ali (later curtailed to Sargani) or Sargon, and his son Naram-Sin the latter of whom, how- ever, no longer styles himself 'king of Agade,' but ' king of the four quarters of the world ' (skar kihiu'iti arha'i). An omen-tablet, dating from a later period, tells us of great expeditions of Sargon, reiichiiig as far as the coast of the .\Iediter., which is perfectly credible, for it was the Conquest of Syria that led to the introduction of the title 'king of the four quarters of the world,' which was actually a.ssumed by Sargon's son. And the evidence that NarS,tn-Sin extended his sway far beyond the limits of Babylonia is furnished by the inscription, coupled with a portrait of him, which was found at Diarbekr in N. Mesopotamia, and by the alabaster vase which is entitled 'a piece of booty from the land of Magan,' i.e. Arabia. That at this period the Bab. sway extended over N. Syria, Mesopotamia, Elam, ami N. Arabia, may be regarded as certain, and one of the most recent 'finds' of do Sarzec has proved al.so that amongst the va-s-sals of Naram-Sin was a patesi of Sirgulla. named Lugal-ushumgal.