d the supernatural army. On his
return home, he recorded his great victory on tablets which were
placed in the shrine of Nergal at Cuthah.

This myth may be an echo of Nergal's raid against Eresh-ki-gal. Or,
being associated with Cuthah, it may have been composed to encourage
burial in that city's sacred cemetery, which had been cleared by the
famous old king of the evil demons which tormented the dead and made
seasonal attacks against the living.

CHAPTER X.

BUILDINGS AND LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF BABYLON

Decline and Fall of Sumerian Kingdoms--Elamites and Semites strive
for Supremacy--Babylon's Walls, Gates, Streets, and Canals--The
Hanging Gardens--Merodach's Great Temple--The Legal Code of
Hammurabi--The Marriage Market--Position of Women--Marriage brought
Freedom--Vestal Virgins--Breach of Promise and Divorce--Rights of
Children--Female Publicans--The Land Laws--Doctors legislated out of
Existence--Folk Cures--Spirits of Disease expelled by Magical
Charms--The Legend of the Worm--"Touch Iron"--Curative
Water--Magical Origin of Poetry and Music.

The rise of Babylon inaugurated a new era in the history of Western
Asia. Coincidentally the political power of the Sumerians came to an
end. It had been paralysed by the Elamites, who, towards the close of
the Dynasty of Isin, successfully overran the southern district and
endeavoured to extend their sway over the whole valley. Two Elamite
kings, Warad-Sin and his brother Rim-Sin, struggled with the rulers of
Babylon for supremacy, and for a time it appeared as if the intruders
from the East were to establish themselves permanently as a military
aristocracy over Sumer and Akkad. But the Semites were strongly
reinforced by new settlers of the same blended stock who swarmed from
the land of the Amorites. Once again Arabia was pouring into Syria
vast hordes of its surplus population, with the result that ethnic
disturbances were constant and widespread. This migration is termed
the Canaanitic or Amorite: it flowed into Mesopotamia and across
Assyria, while it supplied the "driving power" which secured the
ascendancy of the Hammurabi Dynasty at Babylon. Indeed, the ruling
family which came into prominence there is believed to have been of
Canaanitic origin.

Once Babylon became the metropolis it retained its pre-eminence until
the end. Many political changes took place during its long and
chequered history, but no rival city in the south ever at