History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 | Page 5

débris of ruined buildings which lies below the
pavement of Sargon is as much as 9.25 metres in depth, while that above it, the topmost
stratum of which brings us down to the Christian era, is only 11 metres in height. We
may form some idea from this of the enormous age to which the history of Babylonian
culture and writing reaches back. In fact, Professor Hilprecht quotes with approval Mr.
Haynes's words: "We must cease to apply the adjective 'earliest' to the time of Sargon, or
to any age or epoch within a thousand years of his advanced civilization." "The golden
age of Babylonian history seems to include the reign of Sargon and of Ur-Gur."
Many of the inscriptions which belong to this remote age of human culture have been
published by Professor Hilprecht. Among them is a long inscription, in 132 lines,
engraved on multitudes of large stone vases presented to the temple of El-lil by a certain
Lugal-zaggisi. Lugal-zaggisi was the son of Ukus, the patesi or high priest of the "Land
of the Bow," as Mesopotamia, with its Bedawin inhabitants, was called. He not only
conquered Babylonia, then known as Kengi, "the land of canals and reeds," but founded
an empire which extended from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. This was centuries
before Sargon of Akkad followed in his footsteps. Erech became the capital of
Lugal-zaggisi's empire, and doubtless received at this time its Sumerian title of "the city"
par excellence.
For a long while previously there had been war between Babylonia and the "Land of the
Bow," whose rulers seem to have established themselves in the city of Kis. At one time
we find the Babylonian prince En-sag(sag)-ana capturing Kis and its king; at another time
it is a king of Kis who makes offerings to the god of Nippur, in gratitude for his victories.
To this period belongs the famous "Stela of the Vultures" found at Tello, on which is
depicted the victory of E-dingir-ana-gin, the King of Lagas (Tello), over the Semitic
hordes of the Land of the Bow. It may be noted that the recent discoveries have shown
how correct Professor Maspero has been in assigning the kings of Lagas to a period
earlier than that of Sargon of Akkad.
Professor Hilprecht would place E-dingir-ana-gin after Lugal-zaggisi, and see in the Stela
of the Vultures a monument of the revenge taken by the Sumerian rulers of Lagas for the
conquest of the country by the inhabitants of the north. But it is equally possible that it
marks the successful reaction of Chaldsea against the power established by Lugal-zaggisi.
However this may be, the dynasty of Lagas (to which Professor Hilprecht has added a

new king, En-Khegal) reigned in peace for some time, and belonged to the same age as
the first dynasty of Ur. This was founded by a certain Lugal-kigubnidudu, whose
inscriptions have been found at Niffer. The dynasty which arose at Ur in later days (cir.
b.c. 2700), under Ur-Gur and Bungi, which has hitherto been known as "the first dynasty
of Ur," is thus dethroned from its position, and becomes the second. The succeeding
dynasty, which also made Ur its capital, and whose kings, Ine-Sin, Pur-Sin IL, and
Gimil-Sin, were the immediate predecessors of the first dynasty of Babylon (to which
Kharnmurabi belonged), must henceforth be termed the third.
Among the latest acquisitions from Tello are the seals of the patesi, Lugal-usumgal,
which finally remove all doubt as to the identity of "Sargani, king of the city," with the
famous Sargon of Akkad. The historical accuracy of Sargon's annals, moreover, have
been fully vindicated. Not only have the American excavators found the contemporary
monuments of him and his son Naram-Sin, but also tablets dated in the years of his
campaigns against "the land of the Amorites." In short, Sargon of Akkad, so lately
spoken of as "a half-mythical" personage, has now emerged into the full glare of
authentic history.
That the native chronologists had sufficient material for reconstructing the past history of
their country, is also now clear. The early Babylonian contract-tablets are dated by events
which officially distinguished the several years of a king's reign, and tablets have been
discovered compiled at the close of a reign which give year by year the events which thus
characterised them. One of these tablets, for example, from the excavations at Niffer,
begins with the words: (1) "The year when Par-Sin (II.) becomes king. (2) The year when
Pur-Sin the king conquers Urbillum," and ends with "the year when Gimil-Sin becomes
King of Ur, and conquers the land of Zabsali" in the Lebanon.
Of special interest to the biblical student are the discoveries made by Mr. Pinches among
some of the Babylonian tablets which have recently been acquired by the British