l el-
Amarna in Egypt.

** Formerly read Akharru. Martu would be the Sumerian and
Akharru the Semitic form, Akharru meaning _that which is
behind_. The discovery of the Tel el-Amarna tablets threw
doubt on the reading of the name Akharru: some thought that
it ought to be kept in any case; others, with more or less
certainty, think that it should be replaced by Amuru,
Amurru, the country of the Amorites. But the question has
now been settled by Babylonian contract and law tablets of
the period of Khaminurabi, in which the name is written _A-
mu-ur-ri (ki)_. Hommel originated the idea that Martu might
be an abbreviation of Amartu, that is, Amar with the
feminine termination of nouns in the Canaanitish dialect:
Martu would thus actually signify _the country of the
Amorites_.

Probably even at that date they called the north Khati,* and Cole-Syria,
Amurru, the land of the Amorites. The scattered references in their
writings seem to indicate frequent intercourse with these countries, and
that, too, as a matter of course which excited no surprise among their
contemporaries: a journey from Lagash to the mountains of Tidanum and
to Gubin, or to the Lebanon and beyond it to Byblos,** meant to them
no voyage of discovery. Armies undoubtedly followed the routes already
frequented by caravans and flotillas of trading boats, and the time came
when kings desired to rule as sovereigns over nations with whom their
subjects had peaceably traded.

* The name of the Khati, Khatti, is found in the _Book of
Omens_, which is supposed to contain an extract from the
annals of Sargon and Naramsin; as, however, the text which
we possess of it is merely a copy of the time of
Assurbanipal, it is possible that the word Khati is merely
the translation of a more ancient term, perhaps Martu.
Winckler thinks it to be included in Lesser Armenia and the
Melitone of classical authors.

** Gubin is probably the Kupuna, Kupnu, of the Egyptians,
the Byblos of Phoenicia. Amiaud had proposed a most unlikely
identification with Koptos in Egypt. In the time of Ine-Sin,
King of Ur, mention is found of Simurru, Zimyra.

It does not appear, however, that the ancient rulers of Lagash ever
extended their dominion so far. The governors of the northern cities, on
the other hand, showed themselves more energetic, and inaugurated