ts of everyday life.

CHAPTER VI.

WARS OF THE CITY STATES OF SUMER AND AKKAD

Civilization well advanced--The Patesi--Prominent City
States--Surroundings of Babylonia--The Elamites--Biblical References
to Susa--The Sumerian Temperament--Fragmentary Records--City States
of Kish and Opis--A Shopkeeper who became a Queen--Goddess
Worship--Tammuz as Nin-Girsu--Great Dynasty of Lagash--Ur-Nina and
his Descendants--A Napoleonic Conqueror--Golden Age of Sumerian
Art--The First Reformer in History--His Rise and Fall--The Dynasty
of Erech--Sargon of Akkad--The Royal Gardener--Sargon Myth in
India--A Great Empire--The King who Purchased Land--Naram Sin the
Conqueror--Disastrous Foreign Raid--Lagash again Prominent--Gudea
the Temple Builder--Dynasty of Ur--Dynasty of Isin--Another Gardener
becomes King--Rise of Babylon--Humanized Deities--Why Sumerian Gods
wore Beards.

When the curtain rises to reveal the drama of Babylonian civilization
we find that we have missed the first act and its many fascinating
scenes. Sumerians and Akkadians come and go, but it is not always
possible to distinguish between them. Although most Semites are
recognizable by their flowing beards, prominent noses, and long robes,
some have so closely imitated the Sumerians as to suffer almost
complete loss of identity. It is noticeable that in the north the
Akkadians are more Semitic than their contemporaries in the south, but
it is difficult at times to say whether a city is controlled by the
descendants of the indigenous people or those of later settlers.
Dynasties rise and fall, and, as in Egypt at times, the progress of
the fragmentary narrative is interrupted by a sudden change of scene
ere we have properly grasped a situation and realized its
significance.

What we know for certain is that civilization is well advanced. Both
in the north and the south there are many organized and independent
city states, and not unfrequently these wage war one against another.
Occasionally ambitious rulers tower among their fellows, conduct
vigorous military campaigns, and become overlords of wide districts.
As a rule, a subjugated monarch who has perforce to acknowledge the
suzerainty of a powerful king is allowed to remain in a state of
semi-independence on condition that he pays a heavy annual tribute of
grain. His own laws continue in force, and the city deities remain
supreme, although recognition may also be given to the