History of Various Areas (12)(as of 1900)

We may now turn our attention to the leader of the men of Gishkhu, under
whose direction they achieved their final triumph over their ancient,
and for long years more powerful, rival Shirpurla. The writer of our
tablet mentions his name in the closing words of his text when he curses
him and his goddess for the destruction and sacrilege that they have
wrought. "As for Lugalzaggisi," he says, "patesi of Gishkhu, may his
goddess Nidaba bear on her head (the weight of ) this transgression!"
Now the name of Lugalzaggisi has been found upon a number of fragments
of vases made of white calcite stalagmite which were discovered by Mr.
Haynes during his excavations at Nippur. All the vases were engraved
with the same inscription, so that it was possible by piecing the
fragments of text together to obtain a more or less complete copy of
the records which were originally engraved upon each of them. From
these records we learned for the first time, not only the name of
Lugalzaggisi, but the fact that he founded a powerful coalition of
cities in Babylonia at what was obviously a very early period in the
history of the country. In the text he describes himself as "King of
Erech, king of the world, the priest of Ana, the hero of Nidaba, the
son of Ukush, patesi of Gishkhu, the hero of Nidaba, the man who wasfavourably regarded by the sure eye of the King of the Lands (i.e.
the god Enlil), the great patesi of Enlil, unto whom understanding was
granted by Enki, the chosen of the Sun-god, the exalted minister of
Enzu, endowed with strength by the Sun-god, the worshipper of Ninni, the
son who was conceived by Nidaba, who was nourished by Ninkharsag with
the milk of life, the attendant of Umu, priestess of Erech, the servant
who was trained by Nin?gidkhadu, the mistress of Erech, the great
minister of the gods." Lugalzaggisi then goes on to describe the extent
of his dominion, and he says: "When the god Enlil, the lord of the
countries, bestowed upon Lugalzaggisi the kingdom of the world, and
granted unto him success in the sight of the world, when he filled the
lands with his power, and conquered them from the rising of the sun unto
the setting of the same, at that time he made straight his path from the
Lower Sea of the Tigris and Euphrates unto the Upper Sea, and he granted
him dominion over all from the rising of the sun unto the setting of the
same, so that he caused the lands to dwell in peace."
Now when first the text of this inscription was published there existed
only vague indications of the date to be assigned to Lugalzaggisi and
the kingdom that he founded. It was clear from the titles which he bore,
that, though Gishkhu was his native place, he had extended his authority
far beyond that city and had chosen Erech as his capital. Moreover,
he claimed an empire extending from "the Lower Sea of the Tigris and
Euphrates unto the Upper Sea." There is no doubt that the Lower Sea here
mentioned is the Persian Gulf, and it has been suggested that the Upper
Sea may be taken to be the Mediterranean, though it may possibly have
been Lake Van or Lake Urmi. But whichever of these views might be
adopted, it was clear that Lugalzaggisi was a great conqueror, and had
achieved the right to assume the high-sounding title of lugal halama,
"king of the world." In these circumstances it was of the first
importance for the study of primitive Chald?an history and chronology
to ascertain approximately the period at which Lugalzaggisi reigned.
The evidence on which such a question could be provisionally settled was
of the vaguest and most uncertain character, but such as it was it
had to suffice, in the absence of more reliable data. In settling all
problems connected with early Chald?an chronology, the starting-point
was, and in fact still is, the period of Sargon I, King of Agade,
inasmuch as the date of his reign is settled, according to the reckoning
of the scribes of Nabonidus, as about 3800 B.C. It is true that this
date has been called in question, and ingenious suggestions for amending
it have been made by some writers, while others have rejected it
altogether, holding that it merely represented a guess on the part of
the late Babylonians and could be safely ignored in the chronological
schemes which they brought forward. But nearly every fresh discovery
made in the last few years has tended to confirm some point in the
traditions current among the later Babylonians with regard to the
earlier history of their country. Consequently, reliance may be placed
with increased confidence on the truth of such traditions as a
whole, and we may continue to accept those statements which yet await
confirmation from documents more nearly contemporary with the early
period to which they refer. It is true that such a date as that assigned
by Nabonidus to Sargon is not to be regarded as absolutely fixed, for
Nabonidus is obviously speaking in round numbers, and we may allow for
some minor inaccuracies in the calculations of his scribes. But it is
certain that the later Babylonian priests and scribes had a wealth of
historical material at their disposal which has not come down to us. We
may therefore accept the date given by Nabonidus for Sargon of Agade
and his son Nar?m-Sin as approximately accurate, and this is also the
opinion of the majority of writers on early Babylonian history.
The diggings at Nippur furnished indications that certain inscriptions
found on that site and written in a very archaic form of script were
to be assigned to a period earlier than that of Sargon. One class of
evidence was obtained from a careful study of the different levels at
which the inscriptions and the remains of buildings were found. At a
comparatively deep level in the mound inscriptions of Sargon himself
were recovered, along with bricks stamped with the name of Nar?m-Sin,
his son. It was, therefore, a reasonable conclusion roughly to date the
particular stratum in which these objects were found to the period of
the empire established by Sargon, with its centre at Agade. Later on
excavations were carried to a lower level, and remains of buildings
were discovered which appeared to belong to a still earlier period
of civilization. An altar was found standing in a small enclosure
surrounded by a kind of curb. Near by were two immense clay vases which
appeared to have been placed on a ramp or inclined plane leading up to
the altar, and remains were also found of a massive brick building in
which was an arch of brick. No inscriptions were actually found at this
level, but in the upper level assigned to Sargon were a number of texts
which might very probably be assigned to the pre-Sargonic period. None
of these were complete, and they had the appearance of having been
intentionally broken into small fragments. There was therefore something
to be said for the theory that they might have been inscribed by the
builders of the construction in the lowest levels of the mound, and that
they were destroyed and scattered by some conqueror who had laid their
city in ruins.

But all such evidence derived from noting the levels at which
inscriptions are found is in its nature extremely uncertain and liable
to many different interpretations, especially if the strata show signs
of having been disturbed. Where a pavement or building is still intact,
with the inscribed bricks of the builder remaining in their original
positions, conclusions may be confidently drawn with regard to the age
of the building and its relative antiquity to the strata above and below
it. But the strata in the lowest levels at Nippur, as we have seen, were
not in this condition, and such evidence as they furnished could only be
accepted if confirmed by independent data. Such confirmation was to be
found by examination of the early inscriptions themselves.

It has been remarked that most of them were broken into small pieces,
as though by some invader of the country; but this was not the case with
certain gate-sockets and great blocks of diorite which were too hard
and big to be easily broken. Moreover, any conqueror of a city would be
unlikely to spend time and labour in destroying materials which might
be usefully employed in the construction of other buildings which he
himself might erect. Stone could not be obtained in the alluvial plains
of Babylonia and had to be quarried in the mountains and brought great
distances.