ecration of a statue; while a few scattered
allusions to works of fortification show that meanwhile the defence of
the country was jealously watched over.* These sovereigns appear to have
enjoyed long reigns, the shortest extending over a period of five and
twenty years; and when at length the death of any king occurred, he was
immediately replaced by his son, the notaries' acts and the judicial
documents which have come down to us betraying no confusion or abnormal
delay in the course of affairs. We may, therefore, conclude that the
last century and a half of the dynasty was a period of peace and
of material prosperity. Chaldaea was thus enabled to fully reap the
advantage of being united under the rule of one individual. It is quite
possible that those cities--Uru, Larsa, Ishin, Uruk, and Nippur--which
had played so important a part in the preceding centuries, suffered from
the loss of their prestige, and from the blow dealt to their traditional
pretensions.

* Samsuiluna repaired the five fortresses which his ancestor
Sumulailu had built. Contract dated "the year in which
Ammisatana, the king, built Dur-Ammisatana, near the Sin
river," and "the year in which Ammisatana, the king, gave
its name to Dur-Iskunsin, near the canal of
Ammisatana." Contract dated "the year in which the King
Ammisatana repaired Dur-Iskunsin." Contract dated "the year in
which Samsuiluna caused 'the wall of Uru and Uruk' to be
built."

Up to this time they had claimed the privilege of controlling the
history of their country, and they had bravely striven among themselves
for the supremacy over the southern states; but the revolutions which
had raised each in turn to the zenith of power, had never exalted any
one of them to such an eminence as to deprive its rivals of all hope of
supplanting it and of enjoying the highest place. The rise of Babylon
destroyed the last chance which any of them had of ever becoming the
capital; the new city was so favourably situated, and possessed so much
wealth and so many soldiers, while its kings displayed such tenacious
energy, that its neighbours were forced to bow before it and resign
themselves to the subordinate position of leading provincial towns. They
gave a loyal obedience to the officers sent them from the north, and
sank gradually into obscurity, the loss of their political supremacy
being somewhat compensated for by the religious respect in which they