Chapter 14

Fig. 58.—Copper head of a colossal votive lance, engraved with the name and title of an early king of Kish. From Tello.—Déc.pl 5ter, No 1.

We have already seen reason to believe that the kings of Kish were separated by no long interval from the empire of Akkad,[44]and this view is supported, not only by a study of their inscriptions, but also by the close connection that may be traced between the artistic achievements of the two periods. Epigraphic evidence has been strikingly reinforced by the discovery of Sharru-Gi's monolith; for the sculptures upon it share to some extent the high artistic qualities which have hitherto been regarded as the exclusive possession of the Dynasty of Akkad. The modelling of the figures on Narâm-Sin's stele of victory,[45]their natural pose and spirited attitudes, have long been recognized as belonging to a totally different category from the squat and conventional representations upon the Stele of the Vultures. The cylinder-seals of the period are marked by the samedegree of excellence, but between the sculptures of Eannatum and those of Narâm-Sin there has hitherto been a gap in the orderly stages of development. A single example of engraved metal-work had indeed been recovered, but the date of this was, and still is, to some extent uncertain. The object consists of the copper head of a colossal votive lance, some thirty-one and a half inches long. On one of its faces is engraved in spirited outline the figure of a lion rampant, and on the neck of the blade is the name of a king of Kish beginning with the sign "Sharru." A slight indication of date is afforded by the fact that it was found at Tello, near the eastern corner of Ur-Ninâ's building, but at a rather higher level.[46]If the second line of the inscription, which is illegible through oxidization, contained a title and not part of the name, it is probable that we may restore the name in the first line as that of Sharru-Gi himself. Otherwise we must assign the lance to some other king of Kish, but whether we should place him before or after Sharru-Gi it is difficult to say.

It was clear that the art of the later period was ultimately based upon the formal though decorative conventions of the earlier Sumerian time, but, with the doubtful exception of the copper lance-head and the rude statues of Manishtusu, no example had previously been found of the intermediate period. The missing link between the earlier sculpture of Lagash and that of Akkad has now been supplied by the monolith of Sharru-Gi. Its points of resemblance to the Vulture Stele, both in design and treatment, prove direct continuity with early Sumerian art. The divine net and the vultures were obviously borrowed from the Tello monument, while the guards attending upon Sharru-Gi display the squat and heavy appearance whichcharacterizes the warriors of Eannatum. At the same time, a new element is introduced in the battle scenes, where the designs and grouping are more varied and less conventional. Here the sculptor has allowed his fancy freer play, and has attempted a naturalistic treatment in his delineation of the combatants. He has not fully attained the masterly qualities which characterize the stele of Narâm-Sin, but his work is its direct forerunner. To judge from the striking evidence furnished by a single monument, the art of Kish must have been closely related to that of Akkad. The latter inaugurated no totally new departure, but was dependent on its predecessor, whose most striking qualities it adopted and improved.

As in the sphere of art, so, too, in that of politics and government, the Dynasty of Akkad did not originate, but merely expanded and developed its inheritance along lines already laid down. Even with Sharru-Gi, it is clear that we have not reached the beginning of the Semitic movement in Northern Babylonia, and that in this respect the kingdom of Kish resembled the later empire of Akkad. The battle scenes upon his monuments prove that Sharru-Gi was a great conqueror, but the traces of the text supply no details of his campaigns. It is significant, however, that his enemies are bearded Semites, not Sumerians, proving that the Semitic immigration into Northern Babylonia and the surrounding districts was no new thing; we may infer that kindred tribes had long been settled in this portion of Western Asia, and were prepared to defend their territory from the encroachments of one of their own race. Yet details of Sharru-Gi's sculpture prove that with him we are appreciably nearer to the time of Sumerian domination in the north. The shaven faces of the king's suite or body-guard suggest Sumerians, and their clothing, which the king himself shares, is also of that type. In such details we may see evidence of strong Sumerian influence, either in actual life or in artistic convention. Such a mixture of Sumerian and Semitic characteristics would be quite foreign to the Dynasty of Akkad, and it is probable that the earlier rulers of Kishhad not yet proved themselves superior to Sumerian tutelage.

Some account has already been given in the last chapter of the campaigns of Manishtusu and Urumush, which paved the way for the conquests of Shar-Gani-sharri. We there saw that Manishtusu claims to have defeated a confederation of thirty-two cities,[47]and, if we are right in assigning the cruciform monument to him, we have definite proof that his successes were not confined to Akkad and Sumer, but were carried beyond the Elamite border. Since the fragments of his stelæ, like the cruciform monument itself, were found at Sippar, where they had been dedicated in the great temple of the Sun-god, it is quite possible that they should be employed to supplement each other as having commemorated the same campaign. In that case, the kings of the thirty-two cities are to be regarded as having inaugurated "the revolt of all the lands," which the cruciform monument tells us preceded the conquest of Anshan. The leader of the revolt was clearly the king of Anshan, since the cruciform monument and its duplicate particularly record his defeat and deportation. On his return from the campaign, laden with gifts and tribute, Manishtusu led the king as his captive into the presence of Shamash, whose temple he lavishly enriched in gratitude for his victory. His boast that he ruled, as well as conquered, Anshan was probably based on the exaction of tribute; the necessity for the reconquest of Elam by Urumush, and later on by Shar-Gani-sharri would seem to indicate that the authority of these early Semitic kings in Elam was acknowledged only so long as their army was in occupation of the country.[48]

Already, in the reign of Manishtusu, Akkad and her citizens had enjoyed a position of great influence inthe kingdom of Kish, and it is not surprising that in the course of a few generations she should have obtained the hegemony in Babylonia. We do not know the immediate cause of the change of capital, nor whether it was the result of a prolonged period of antagonism between the rival cities. On this point the later tradition is silent, merely recording that Sargon obtained "the kingdom" through Ishtar's help. That Shar-Gani-sharri was the actual founder of his dynasty is clear from the inscription upon his gate-sockets found at Nippur, which ascribe no title to his father, Dâti-Enlil,[49]proving that his family had not even held the patesiate or governorship of Akkad under the suzerainty of Kish. Indeed, tradition related that Sargon's native city was Azupirânu, and it loved to contrast his humble birth and upbringing with the subsequent splendour of his reign. The legend of his committal to the river in an ark of bulrushes, and of his rescue and adoption by Akki, the gardener, would make its appeal to every later generation, and it undoubtedly ensured for Sargon the position of a national hero in the minds of the people. The association of the story with his name, while tending to preserve his memory, need not be held to discredit the traditions of his conquests, which, as we have already seen, are confirmed in several important details by the inscriptions of his reign.

On the transference of power from Kish to Akkad an expansion of Semitic authority from Northern Babylonia appears to have taken place throughout a considerable portion of Western Asia. Elam no longer claims the principal share of attention from the rulers of Akkad and Sumer, and Shar-Gani-sharri seems to have devoted his energies to extending his influence northwards and, more particularly, in the west. Kutû, which lay to the north-east of Akkad, in the hilly country on the east of the Lower Zâb, was conquered in the same year that Shar-Gani-sharri laid the foundations of the temples of Anunitu and Amal in Babylon, and Sharlak, its king, was taken captive.[50]The referenceto this event in the official title of the year during which it took place is some indication of the importance ascribed to the campaign. Unfortunately, we possess no classified date-list for the Dynasty of Akkad, such as we have recovered for the later Dynasties of Ur and Babylon, and the dated tablets of this period are too few to enable us to attempt any chronological classification of them by their contents. We are thus without the means of arranging Shar-Gani-sharri's conquests in the order in which they took place, or of tracing the steps by which he gradually increased his empire. But if the order of the sections on the Omen-tablet has any significance, it would seem that his most important conquest, that of Amurru or "the Western Land," took place in the earlier years of his reign.

A discrepancy occurs in the later accounts of this conquest, which have come down to us upon the Omen-tablet and the Neo-Babylonian Chronicle. While in the former the complete subjugation of Amurru is recorded to have taken place "in the third year," the latter states that this event occurred "in the eleventh year." It is quite possible to reconcile the two traditions; the former statement may imply that it took three years to subdue the country, the latter that the conquest was achieved in the eleventh year of Shar-Gani-sharri's reign.[51]Indeed, the fact that four sections of the Omens refer to Amurru would seem to imply that it required several expeditions to bring the whole region into complete subjection. By the extension of his authority to the Mediterranean coast Shar-Gani-sharri made a striking advance upon the ideals of empire possessed by his predecessors on the throne of Kish. But even in this achievement he was only following in the steps of a still earlier ruler. A passage in Lugal-zaggisi's text would seem to imply that, in the course of an expedition along the Euphrates, he had succeeded in penetrating to the Syrian coast.[52]But Shar-Gani-sharri's conquest appears to have been of a more permanent character than Lugal-zaggisi's raid. The position of his capital rendered it easier to maintain permanentrelations with the West, and to despatch punitive expeditions thither in the event of his authority being called in question.

It has been claimed on behalf of Shar-Gani-sharri that he did not stop at the coast, but crossed the Mediterranean to Cyprus, which he is said to have included within the limits of his empire. It would seem, however, that while the island may have been subject indirectly to Babylonian influence at an early period, there is no indication of any direct or vigorous Semitic influence upon the native Cypriote culture at this time.[53]But traces of such an influence we should expect to find, if the island had been politically subject to Shar-Gani-sharri, and had shared the elaborate system of communication which he established between the distant parts of his empire. In itself the archaeological evidence would scarcely have been cited to prove a definite occupation of the island, had not a statement occurred upon Sargon's Omen-tablet to the effect that "he crossed the Sea of the West." But the newly discovered chronicle proves that the true reading should be "the Sea in the East," which without doubt indicates the Persian Gulf.

From the Chronicle we gather that in the original composition this passage was not cast in the form of a consecutive narrative. It is a poetical summary of Sargon's might, elaborating in greater detail the preceding phrase that "he poured out his glory over the world." In it the clauses are balanced in antithesis, and the Western Land and the Eastern Sea, that is Syria and the Persian Gulf, are mentioned together as having formed the extreme limits of Sargon's empire. On the Omen-tablet the original text has been cut up into sections and applied piecemeal to different augural phenomena. In its new setting as a consecutive narrative of events the mention of the Persian Gulf was obviously inconsistent with the conquest of Amurru, and hence it was natural for a copyist to amend the text to the form in which it has reached us on theOmen-tablet.[54]The Omens still retained the reference to the despoiling of the Country of the Sea,i.e.the littoral of the Persian Gulf, which Shar-Gani-sharri doubtless included within the southern border of his empire. With this record we may connect the tradition, reproduced in the Legend of Sargon, that he conquered Dilmun, an island in the Persian Gulf, and with his maritime enterprise in this region we may compare that of Sennacherib at a later date who crossed the Gulf in the course of his conquest of Elam. From the earliest periods we know that the rivers and canals of Babylonia were navigated,[55]and the Persian Gulf was a natural outlet for the trade of the Sumerian cities in the south. In organizing a naval expedition for the conquest of the coast and the islands, Shar-Gani-sharri would have had native ships and sailors at his disposal, whose knowledge of the Gulf had been acquired in the course of their regular coastal trading.

In the internal administration of his empire Shar-Gani-sharri appears to have inaugurated, or at any rate to have organized, a regular system of communication between the principal cities and the capital. The references to separate cities, which occur in the contemporary inscriptions of his reign, are not numerous. From the texts found at Nippur, we know that he rebuilt E-kur, the great temple of Enlil, and many of the bricks which formed his temple-platform and that of Narâm-Sin have been found in place.[56]The mace-head from Abû Habba[57]is an indication that, like his predecessors on the throne of Kish, he devoted himselfto enriching the great temple of the Sun-god in Northern Babylonia; while one of his date-formulæ supports the tradition of his building activity in Babylon.[58]But such votive texts and records throw no light upon his methods of government, or upon the means he took to retain his hold upon the more outlying districts of his empire. Some striking evidence upon this point has, however, been recovered at Tello, and this is furnished, not by any formal record or carefully inscribed monument, but by some rough lumps of clay, which had been broken and thrown on one side as uselessdébrisduring the reigns of Shar-Gani-sharri himself and his successor.

Along with the dated tablets of this period there were found at Tello, in a mound to the S.S.E. of the "Tell of Tablets," a number of sun-dried lumps of clay, most of them broken in pieces, but bearing traces of seal-impressions upon their upper surface.[59]A careful comparison and examination of them showed that on their under sides impressions of cords and knots were still visible, and it was evident that the clay had been used for sealing bales or bundles of objects, which had been tied up and secured with cords. Some of the seal-impressions bear short inscriptions, consisting of the name of the king and that of some high functionary or officer of state, such as "Shar-Gani-sharri, the mighty, the king of Akkad: Lugal-ushumgal, patesi of Lagash, thy servant"; here the king is addressed in the second person by the officer whose name and title were engraved upon the seal. Similar inscriptions occur upon impressions from the seals of the shakkanakku or grand vizir, the magician of the royal household, and the king's cup-bearer. The seals were obviously employed by the officials whose names occur in the second part of each inscription, the name of the king being also included to give them the royal authority. The right to use the royal name was evidently a privilege enjoyed only by the higher officials of the court.

From the fact that the broken lumps of clay were found at Tello, it is clear that the sealed bundles hadbeen despatched thither from Akkad, and we have in them incontestable evidence of a service of convoys between Akkad and Lagash, under the direct control of the king's officers. We may note that in addition to the seal-impressions several of the clay fragments were inscribed in a cursive hand with the name of an official, or private person, for whom the sealed packet was intended. Thus a sealed bundle from the grand vizir was addressed "To Alla," that from Dada, the magician, "To Lugal-ushumgal," whose name occurs in the seal on other fragments; while one sent in Narâm-Sin's reign appears to have been addressed simply "To Lagash," indicating the packet's place of destination. Apart from the fact that, with the exception of Lugal-ushumgal, the high court-officials mentioned on the seals would naturally be living in Akkad, not in Lagash, the addresses on the different fragments, particularly the one last referred to, definitely prove that the sealings were employed on bundles actually despatched from city to city and not stored in any archive or repository. It is therefore certain that, during the reigns of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin, a regular system of communication was kept up between Lagash and the court, and it may legitimately be inferred that the capital was linked up in a similar way to the other great cities of the empire.

In addition to the system of official convoys, the commercial tablets of this period that have been found at Tello bear witness to an active interchange of goods and produce between Lagash, Akkad, and other cities in the empire.[60]Thus in some we read of the despatch of gold to Akkad, or of herds of oxen, or flocks of sheep, lambs and goats. In return we find Akkad sent grain and dates southwards, and probably garments and woven stuffs; the importance of the first two exports is indicated by the frequent occurrence of the expressions "grain of Akkad" and "dates of Akkad" in the commercial texts. Moreover, a study of the proper names occurring on the tablets suggests that, in consequence of these commercial relations, a considerableSemitic immigration now took place from Akkad and the north. Among southern Sumerian cities Erech and Umma, Ninni-esh and Adab had particularly close relations with Lagash, while goods despatched from Kish, Nippur, and Ur are invoiced in the lists. The conquests of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin were also reflected in the articles of commerce that reached the market of Lagash, where contributions from Magan, Melukhkha, and Elam were not infrequently met with, and we even find the sale of slaves from such distant countries as Gutiu and Amurru recorded. To regulate the trade relations between the different cities, and to instruct his local officials on details of their administration, it is probable that the kings of Akkad, like those of the First Dynasty of Babylon, wrote letters and despatches which were delivered by royal messengers. Though no royal letters have been found inscribed with the regular epistolary formulæ, a few tablets of the period contain what are obviously directions from the king.

It was probably due to his encouragement of official and commercial intercourse between the scattered cities over which he ruled, that Shar-Gani-sharri was enabled to establish an efficient control over an empire which was more extensive than that of any earlier ruler. A study of the names upon the Obelisk of Manishtusu makes it clear that, already under the kings of Kish, the barriers which had previously surrounded and isolated each city-state had begun to disappear under the influence of a central administration. This process was accelerated in Shar-Gani-sharri's reign, and, although under the kings of Ur and Isin a conservative reaction appears to have set in, the great cities never returned to their former state of isolation even in the south. Another factor, which may have contributed to this process of centralization, may probably be traced in Manishtusu's text itself, and echoes of it may perhaps be detected in some of the later traditions of Sargon's reign. It will be remembered that the obelisk records the purchase by the king of some large landed estates in the neighbourhood of Kish and three other cities in Northern Babylonia, on which he intended to settle certain citizens of Akkad and theiradherents.[61]This wholesale transference of a large section of the population of a city may well have been dictated by political motives, and it is possible that it was part of a general system, inaugurated by the kings of Kish with the object of substituting national feeling in place of the local patriotism of the city-state. According to this theory, Manishtusu's object would have been to weaken Akkad by the deportation of many of her principal citizens to the neighbourhood of Kish.

The high social standing of several of the immigrants, whose names are enumerated on the obelisk, suggests a comparison with the late traditions concerning Sargon's high-handed treatment of "the sons of his palace."[62]The Neo-Babylonian Chronicle relates that Sargon caused "the sons of his palace," that is his relatives and personal attendants, to settle for fivekasgidaround, and it adds that over the hosts of the world he reigned supreme. The Omen-tablet represents certain nobles, or powerful adherents of the king, as having been dispossessed of their dwellings in consequence of additions made to the royal palace; and they are recorded to have appealed to Sargon to tell them where they should go. It is quite possible that these episodes in the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian texts had some such historical basis as that suggested in the preceding paragraph. Shar-Gani-sharri may have adopted Manishtusu's policy and carried it out on a more extensive scale. The deportations from Akkad, referred to in the late tradition, may have been intended to strengthen the loyal elements in the provinces. In the course of centuries the motive which prompted the movement would be forgotten or misunderstood, and it would be ascribed to some such material cause as an increase in the size of the royal palace. If this was only part of a settled policy, we may conjecture that similar transfers were effected in the population of other parts of the empire.

The effect of such a policy would undoubtedly have been to weaken the power of resistance formerly possessed by self-contained city-states against the hegemony of any one of their number. In this respect the kings of Kish and Akkad would only have beencarrying out, on a less ambitious scale and over a smaller area, the policy which the later Assyrian kings so ruthlessly enforced throughout the whole of Western Asia. But, although successful for a time, no state could be permanently established upon such a basis. The forces of discontent were bound to come to a head, and in Shar-Gani-sharri's own case we may perhaps trace to this cause the revolt of all the lands, which is recorded to have taken place in his old age. It is perhaps significant, too, that Urumush is related to have met his end in a palace revolution.[63]

Tradition does not speak with any certain voice concerning the fate of Shar-Gani-sharri. Both the Omen-tablet and the Chronicle relate that he was besieged in the city of Akkad, and that he sallied forth and signally defeated his enemies. But the latter text ends its account of Sargon's reign with a record of disaster. "Because of the evil which he had committed," the text runs, "the great god Marduk was angry and he destroyed his people by famine. From the rising of the sun unto the setting of the sun they opposed him and gave him no rest." The expedition against Erech and Naksu, recorded in dates upon certain tablets inscribed during the patesiate of Lugal-ushumgal, may perhaps be referred to this period of unrest during the latter part of Sargon's reign.[64]The reference to Sargon's closing years on the Neo-Babylonian tablet is quite in the manner of the Hebrew books of Chronicles. The writer traces Sargon's misfortunes to his own evil deeds, in consequence of which the god Marduk sent troubles upon him as a punishment. It may seem strange that such an ending should follow the account of a brilliant and victorious reign. But it is perhaps permissible to see in the evil deeds ascribed to Sargon a reference to his policy of deportation, which may have raised him bitter enemies among the priesthood and the more conservative elements in the population of the country.

There can be little doubt that Shar-Gani-sharri was succeeded on the throne of Akkad by Narâm-Sin, whom we may regard with considerable confidence as his son as well as his successor. In the later tradition Narâm-Sin is represented as the son of Sargon, and, although in his own inscriptions he never mentions his father's name, we have contemporary proof that his reign and that of Shar-Gani-sharri were very close to one another. The relation of Shar-Gani-sharri's pavement in the temple of Ekur to that of Narâm-Sin and the similar character of their building materials suggest that the structures were laid with no long interval between them, and the fact that Lugal-ushumgal, patesi of Lagash, was the contemporary of both Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin[65]supports the presumption that the latter was Shar-Gani-sharri's successor on the throne. Hence such evidence as we possess is in favour of accepting the later tradition of their relationship to one another.

Narâm-Sin's fame as a great conqueror, like that of his father, survived into later times, and the Omen-tablet and the Neo-Babylonian Chronicle relate his siege of the city of Apirak and the defeat of its governor and of Rîsh-Adad its king. Both texts also briefly record his successful expedition against the land of Magan. In the Omen-tablet the name of the king is wanting, but the lately recovered Chronicle has supplied it as Mannu-dannu. On this point the later tradition has been strikingly confirmed by the discovery at Susa of the base of a diorite statue of the king, on which it is recorded that he conquered Magan and slew Mani[...],[66]its prince or "lord." The precise position of the land of Magan is still unsettled, some settingit in the Sinaitic peninsula, others regarding it as a portion of Eastern Arabia. In favour of the latter view it may be noted that from Southern Babylonia it would be easy of access by way of the Persian Gulf, and the transport of heavy blocks of diorite, which Narâm-Sin, and at a rather later period Gudea, brought from Magan, would be more easily effected by water than overland. In that case Narâm-Sin's invasion of Magan was in direct continuation of Shar-Gani-sharri's policy of extending his empire southwards to include the shores of the Persian Gulf.

In the inscription upon this same statue, which Narâm-Sin records was fashioned from diorite brought to Akkad for that purpose from the mountains of Magan, he claims the proud title of "king of the four quarters (of the world)." Shar-Gani-sharri, in addition to his usual titles of "the mighty one, the king of Akkad," describes himself in one of the texts upon his gate-sockets from Nippur as "king of Enlil's realm," but in none of his inscriptions that have been recovered does he employ the title "king of the four quarters." This may be merely a coincidence, and no inference should perhaps be drawn from the absence of the title from his texts. On the other hand, it is possible that its assumption by Narâm-Sin was based on a definite claim to a world-wide empire, the full extent of which his predecessor had not enjoyed. However this may be, we have ample evidence of Narâm-Sin's military activity. In the introductory lines on the statue already referred to he claims to have been the victor in nine separate battles, forced upon him by the attack of hostile forces, in the course of a single year. Conquests recorded in other inscriptions of Narâm-Sin are that of Armanu,[67]and of Satuni, king of Lulubu.[68]The latter region lay to the east of Akkad, in the mountainous region to the north-east of Elam, and its king appears to have formed a confederacy of the neighbouring districts to oppose the advance of Akkadian influence in that direction.

The monument, which Narâm-Sin set up and dedicatedin the temple of his god in commemoration of this latter victory, is one of the finest pieces of Babylonian sculpture that has yet been recovered.[69]It is a stele of victory, and the face is sculptured with a representation of the king conquering Satuni and his other enemies in a mountainous country. The king, whose figure is on a larger scale than the others, is nearly at the summit of a high mountain. He wears a helmet adorned with the horns of a bull, and he carries a battle-axe and a bow and arrow. Up the mountain side and along paths through the trees which clothe the lower slopes, the king's allies and warriors climb after him, bearing standards and weapons in their hands. Some of the king's foes are fleeing before him, and they turn in their flight to sue for mercy, while one still grasps a broken spear. Another has been shot by the king and crouches on the ground, seeking to draw the arrow from his throat. Two others lie prone before Narâm-Sin, who has planted his foot upon the breast of one of them. The peak of the mountain rises to the stars.

The fact that the stele was found at Susa has been employed as an argument in favour of regarding Elam as a dependency of Akkad during his reign. But, in addition to Narâm-Sin's own text, the stele bears a later inscription of the Elamite king Shutruk-Nakhkhunte, from which we may infer that it was captured in Northern Babylonia and carried off to Susa as a trophy of war. But it is not unlikely that Narâm-Sin, like Shar-Gani-sharri and the kings of Kish, achieved successes against Elam. Apirak, his conquest of which tradition records, was a country within the Elamite region, and its capture may well have taken place during a successful raid. Mention has been made of two early Elamite patesis, whose names have been recovered upon a tablet from Tello and an archaic text from Susa.[70]The patesi of Susa, whose name may be read as Ilishma, belongs to a period when that city acknowledged the suzerainty of Akkad. But this single name does not prove that Elam, however closely connectedwith Akkad by commercial ties, formed a regular province of the Akkadian empire. Ilishma may have been appointed to the throne of Susa by the king of Akkad during an invasion of that country, which reached its culmination in the deportation of the native king, as Shar-Gani-sharri deported the kings of Kutû and Amurru, and Manishtusu the king of Anshan. The available evidence suggests that, during the Dynasty of Akkad, Susa and Elam generally enjoyed their independence, subject to occasional periods of interruption.

Within the limits of Sumer and Akkad Narâm-Sin appears to have followed his father's policy of materially benefiting the provincial cities, while keeping their administration under his immediate control. Thus he continued the service of convoys, and at the same time devoted himself to the erection of temples to the gods. His rebuilding of the temples of Enlil at Nippur and of Shamash at Sippar has been already referred to, while his votive onyx vases found at Tello[71]prove that he did not neglect the shrines of Lagash. Another Sumerian city in which he undertook building operations was Ninni-esh, for there he rebuilt the temple dedicated to the goddess Ninni in the same year that he laid the foundation of the temple at Nippur.[72]

Fig. 59.—Stele sculptured with the figure of Narâm-Sin, King of Akkad, which was found at Pir Hussein near Diarbekr. In the Imperial Ottoman Museum.

But by far the most interesting of his building records is the stele sculptured with the figure of himself,[73]which is usually known as the Diarbekr stele. When first brought to the Museum at Constantinople it was said to have been found at Mardin,[74]and later on, certainly with greater accuracy, to have come from Diarbekr.[75]As a matter of fact, it was discovered at Pir Hussein, a small village built beside a low tell, and situated about four and a half hours to the N.N.E. of Diarbekr, on the Ambar Su, a stream which rises in the lower slopes of the Taurus, and, after runningparallel to the Sebene Su, joins the Tigris below Diarbekr. It was found by the villagers some nineteen years ago when they were digging for building materials on the site of the ancient city below the tell.[76]There is no doubt that the stele was found in situ,[77]and itfurnishes remarkable evidence of the extent of Narâm-Sin's influence northwards. The inscription upon the stone is broken, but it contains a reference to the defeat of the king's enemies by the god Enki, or Ea, within the four quarters of the world. That Narâm-Sin and his army should have penetrated to the upper reaches of the Tigris is remarkable enough in itself, but that he should have erected a stele of victory, and possibly a building, in at least one of the towns he subdued during the campaign, suggests that his occupation of this region was effective for some time.

Of Narâm-Sin's successors upon the throne of Akkad we know little. The name of Bin-Gani-sharri, one of his sons, has been recovered upon a seal,[78]and on a seal-impression from Tello,[79]but his name has not been found with the royal title, so that we do not know whether he succeeded his father upon the throne. Another son of Narâm-Sin, the reading of whose name is uncertain, held the post of patesi of Tutu, for his name and title have been preserved on a perforated plaque from Tello, engraved by Lipush-Iau, who describes herself as his daughter and lyre-player to the Moon-god, Sin.[80]The famous seal of Kalki, the scribe, who was in the service of Ubil-Ishtar, "the king's brother," is also to be assigned to this period, but to which reign we cannot tell. The scene engraved upon the seal[81]gives an interesting picture of one of these early Semitic princes attended by his suite. The central figure, who carries an axe over his left shoulder, is probably Ubil-Ishtar, and he is followed by a Sumerian servant, whom we may identify with the scribe Kalki, the holder of the seal. The other attendants, consisting of the prince's huntsman, his steward with his staff of office, and a soldier, are allbearded Semites. The shaven head and fringed garment of the Sumerians are here retained by the scribe, suggesting that, though the Sumerians were employed by their conquerors, little racial amalgamation had taken place.

IMPRESSION OF THE CYLINDER-SEAL OF THE SCRIBE OF UBIL-ISHTAR, BROTHER OF AN EARLY SEMITIC KING OF NORTHERN BABYLONIA. —Brit. Mus., No.89137.

IMPRESSION OF THE CYLINDER-SEAL OF KHASHKHAMER, VASSAL OF UR-ENGUR, KING OF UR.—Brit. Mus., No.89126.

IMPRESSION OF THE CYLINDER-SEAL DEDICATED TO THE GOD MESLAMTAEA BY KILULLA-GUZALA ON BEHALF OF DUNGI, KING OF UR.—Brit. Mus., No.89131.

To the time of the kings of Akkad must also be assigned the Stele of Victory, two fragments of which have been found at Tello, sculptured on both faces with bas-reliefs, arranged in registers, above an inscription.[82]The sculptor has represented his battle-scenes as a series of hand-to-hand conflicts, and here we see bearded Semitic warriors, armed with spear, axe, or bow and arrows, smiting their enemies. The inscription is very broken, but enough is preserved to indicate that it enumerates a number of estates or tracts of land, some, if not all of them, situated in the neighbourhood of Lagash, which have been assigned to different high officials. The summary at the end of the text is partly preserved, and states that the list comprised seventeen chief cities and eight chief places, and it ends with a record that may probably be restored to read: "Besides Akkad, the kingdom, which he had received, [was the patesiate of Lagash given to ...]." It would thus seem that the stele was set up in Lagash to commemorate its acquisition by a king of Akkad, who at the same time rewarded his own courtiers and officials by assigning them parts of the conquered territory. The name of the king is wanting in the text, and we must depend on conjecture to decide the reign or period to which it belongs.

A comparison of the monument with Narâm-Sin's Stele of Victory will show that, though the attitudes of the figures are natural and vigorous, the sculptor does not display quite the same high qualities of composition and artistic arrangement. This fact might conceivably be employed in favour of assigning the stele to a period of decadence when the dynasty of Shar-Gani-sharri may have fallen before the onset of some fresh wave of Semitic hordes. But the impression given by the monument is that of a vigorous art struggling towardsperfection rather than the rude imitation of a more perfect style, and it is probable that we must date it in an early, rather than in a late, period during this epoch of Semitic domination.[83]

The reference to "Akkad, the kingdom," in the summary at the end of the text, renders it difficult to assign it to an early king of Kish such as Sharru-Gi, for we should then have to assume that Shar-Gani-sharri's dynasty was not the earliest one to rule in Akkad, and

Fig. 60. Portion of a Stele of Victory of a king of Akkad, sculptured in relief with battle scenes; from Tello.—In the Louvre: Cat. No. 21.

that still earlier Semitic kings reigned in that city before the rise of Kish. But in view of the total absence of other evidence in support of such a conclusion, it is preferable to assign the Tello stele provisionally to Shar-Gani-sharri himself. It will have been noted thatthe foes sculptured upon the monument are Semites, not Sumerians, and, if our assumption is correct, we may see in them the men of Kish, on whose defeat by Shar-Gani-sharri the whole of Sumer, including the city of Lagash, would have fallen under the rule of Akkad.[84]In that case the stele may well have commemorated the decisive victory by which Shar-Gani-sharri put an end to the domination of Kish and founded his own empire.

The absence of Sumerians from the battle-scenes in the reliefs of the period that we possess is significant of their political annihilation before the Semitic onslaught.

Fig. 61. Portion of a Stele of Victory of a king of Akkad, sculptured in relief with battle scenes; from Tello. For the other face of the fragment see above.

In the scenes engraved upon the stele of Sharru-Gi[85]the king's enemies are Semites, so that even in his time we have the picture of different Semitic clans or tribes contending among themselves for the possession of the countries they had overrun. That the racial movement was not confined to Akkad and Sumer is proved bySemitic inscriptions of the rulers of other districts. Lasirab, King of Gutiu, has left us a ceremonial mace-head, which was found at Abû Habba.[86]Whether it was carried to Sippar as spoil of war, or deposited there by Lasirab himself, we cannot say; but its text proves that Gutiu was ruled by Semitic monarchs. The neighbouring district of Lulubu was similarly governed, and Anu-banini, one of its kings, has left us sculptured images of himself and his goddess Ninni, or Ishtar, upon the face of a cliff near Ser-i-Pul-i-Zohab.[87]Here the river Hulvan flows through a natural rift in a low range of limestone hills that rise abruptly from the plain. The track runs through the rift in the hills beside the stream, and on to the foot of the Zagros pass and through the mountains into Elam. Road, river, and cliff form a striking combination, and not only Anu-banini but other monarchs who passed that way have left their records on the rock. One of these, on the further bank of the stream, was set there by another early Semitic king, whose sculpture was influenced by that of Anu-banini.[88]

Among the various Semitic kingdoms and small principalities which were founded and endured for a time in this portion of Western Asia, that of Akkad won the pre-eminent place. In the mountainous regions to the east and north of Elam the immigrants doubtless dominated the country, but they found a population in a state of culture little more advanced than their own, and, if subject to no other influence, they must have remained in a condition of semi-barbarity. But in Babylonia the case was different. Here the vigorous nature of the nomad found a rich soil to support its growth and development. Theancient culture of the Sumerians was adopted by their conquerors, at whose hands it underwent a gradual change. The sculptor slowly freed himself from the stiff conventions of his Sumerian teachers, and, while borrowing their technical skill, he transformed the work of their hands. Such a cylinder-seal as that of Ibni-sharru, Shar-Ganni-sharri's scribe, with its design of kneeling heroes watering oxen,[89]is a marvellous product of the engraver's art; while the delicate modelling of the figures upon Narâm-Sin's stele, their natural attitudes, and the decorative arrangement of the composition as a whole, are not approached on any earlier monument. The later sculptures of Lagash owe much to the influence of Akkadian work.

In the political sphere the Dynasty of Akkad attained a similar position. Not only did her kings secure the hegemony in Akkad and Sumer, but they pushed their influence beyond the limits of Babylonia, and consolidated an empire in the strict sense of the term. His rule over the four quarters of the world may have led Narâm-Sin to add to his titles, and the growth of their power probably increased the tendency of these early monarchs to assume the attributes and privileges of gods. Of the kings of Kish we have evidence that some were deified, and the divine determinative is set before the name of Shar-Gani-sharri in two inscriptions that have come down to us. In nearly every text of Narâm-Sin the determinative for deity precedes his name, and in some of the contemporary seal-inscriptions he is even termed "the god of Akkad." Under the later kings of Ur the cult of the reigning monarch was diligently practised, and his worship was continued after death. There is no evidence that this custom obtained among the earlier Sumerian kings and patesis, and we may with some confidence set its origin in this period of Semitic supremacy. That the kings of Akkad should have claimed divine honours during their own lifetime may probably be connected with the increase in their dominion, based upon conquests which extended from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, and from Arabia to the mountains of Kurdistan.

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