e son of Sumuabim, since the lists do not
mention him as such; he must, however, have been connected
with some sort of relationship, or by marriage, with his
predecessor, since both are placed in the same dynasty. A
few contracts of Sumulailu are given by Meissner. Samsuiluna
calls him "my forefather (d-gula-mu), the fifth king before
me."

Hommel believes that the order of the dynasties has been
reversed, and that the first upon the lists we possess was
historically the second; he thus places the Babylonian
dynasty between 2035 and 1731 B.C. His opinion has not been
generally adopted, but every Assyriologist dealing with this
period proposes a different date for the reigns in this
dynasty; to take only one characteristic example, Khammurabi
is placed by Oppert in the year 2394-2339, by Delitzsch-
Murdter in 2287-2232, by Winckler in 2264-2210, and by
Peiser in 2139-2084, and by Carl Niebuhr in 2081-2026.

Contemporary records, however, prove that the course of affairs did
not always run so smoothly. They betray the existence of at least
one usurper--Immeru--who, even if he did not assume the royal titles,
enjoyed the supreme power for several years between the reigns of Zabu
and Abilsin. The lives of these rulers closely resembled those of their
contemporaries of Southern Chaldaea. They dredged the ancient canals, or
constructed new ones; they restored the walls of their fortresses, or
built fresh strongholds on the frontier;* they religiously kept the
festivals of the divinities belonging to their terrestrial domain, to
whom they annually rendered solemn homage.

* Sumulailu had built six such large strongholds of brick,
which were repaired by Samsuiluna five generations later. A
contract of Sinmuballit is dated the year in which he built
the great wall of a strong place, the name of which is
unfortunately illegible on the fragment which we possess.

They repaired the temples as a matter of course, and enriched them
according to their means; we even know that Zabu, the third in order
of the line of sovereigns, occupied himself in building the sanctuary
Eulbar of Anunit, in Sippara. There is evidence that they possessed the
small neighbouring kingdoms of Kishu, Sippara, and Kuta, and that they
had consolidated them into a single state, of which Babylon was the
capital. To the south their possessions touched u