nder his
successors. Not only did he hold sway without a rival in the south as
in the north, but the titles indicating the rights he had acquired over
Sumer and Accad were inserted in his Protocol after those denoting his
hereditary possessions,--the city of Bel and the four houses of the
world. Khammurabi's victory marks the close of those long centuries of
gradual evolution during which the peoples of the Lower Euphrates passed
from division to unity. Before his reign there had been as many states
as cities, and as many dynasties as there were states; after him there
was but one kingdom under one line of kings.

* Mairu, Meir, has been identified with Shurippak; but it
is, rather, the town of Mar, now Tell-Id. A and Lagamal, the
Elamite Lagamar, were worshipped there. It was the seat of a
linen manufacture, and possessed large shipping.

Khammurabi's long reign of fifty-five years has hitherto yielded us but
a small number of monuments--seals, heads of sceptres, alabaster vases,
and pompous inscriptions, scarcely any of them being of historical
interest. He was famous for the number of his campaigns, no details of
which, however, have come to light, but the dedication of one of his
statues celebrates his good fortune on the battlefield. "Bel has lent
thee sovereign majesty: thou, what awaitest thou?--Sin has lent thee
royalty: thou, what awaitest thou?--Ninip has lent thee his supreme
weapon: thou, what awaitest thou?--The goddess of light, Ishtar,
has lent thee the shock of arms and the fray: thou, what awaitest
thou?--Shamash and Bamman are thy varlets: thou, what awaitest thou?--It
is Khammurabi, the king, the powerful chieftain--who cuts the enemies
in pieces,--the whirlwind of battle--who overthrows the country of the
rebels--who stays combats, who crushes rebellions,--who destroys
the stubborn like images of clay,--who overcomes the obstacles of
inaccessible mountains." The majority of these expeditions were, no
doubt, consequent on the victory which destroyed the power of Kimsin.
It would not have sufficed merely to drive back the Elamites beyond the
Tigris; it was necessary to strike a blow within their own territory to
avoid a recurrence of hostilities, which might have endangered the still
recent work of conquest. Here, again, Khammurabi seems to have met with
his habitual success.

[Illustration: 057.jpg HEAD OF A SCEPTRE IN COPPER, BEARING THE NAME OF
KHAM-MURABI]

Drawn by Fa