a great
event--his own succession to the throne, the erection of a new temple
or of a city wall, or, mayhap, the defeat of an invading army from a
rival state. Sometimes, too, a monarch gave the name of his father in
an official inscription, or happily mentioned several ancestors.
Another may be found to have made an illuminating statement regarding
a predecessor, who centuries previously erected the particular temple
that he himself has piously restored. A reckoning of this kind,
however, cannot always be regarded as absolutely correct. It must be
compared with and tested by other records, for in these ancient days
calculations were not unfrequently based on doubtful inscriptions, or
mere oral traditions, perhaps. Nor can implicit trust be placed on
every reference to historical events, for the memoried deeds of great
rulers were not always unassociated with persistent and cumulative
myths. It must be recognized, therefore, that even portions of the
data which had of late been sifted and systematized by Oriental
scholars in Europe, may yet have to be subjected to revision. Many
interesting and important discoveries, which will throw fresh light on
this fascinating early period, remain to be made in that ancient and
deserted land, which still lies under the curse of the Hebrew prophet,
who exclaimed: "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited; neither shall the Arabian pitch
tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But
wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be
full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs
shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in
their desolate houses and dragons in their pleasant palaces."[146]

The curtain rises, as has been indicated, after civilization had been
well advanced. To begin with, our interests abide with Akkad, and
during a period dated approximately between 3000 B.C. and 2800 B.C.,
when Egypt was already a united kingdom, and the Cretans were at the
dawn of the first early Minoan period, and beginning to use bronze. In
Kish Sumerian and Akkadian elements had apparently blended, and the
city was the centre of a powerful and independent government. After
years have fluttered past dimly, and with them the shadow-shapes of
vigorous rulers, it is found that Kish came under the sway of the
pro