A HISTORY

OF

SUMER AND AKKAD

AN ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY RACES

OF BABYLONIA FROM PREHISTORIC

TIMES TO THE FOUNDATION OF

THE BABYLONIAN MONARCHY

BY

LEONARD W. KING, M.A., F.S.A.

Assistant in the Department of Egyptian and AssyrianAntiquities, British Museum

WITH MAP, PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
1910

[Pg v]

Stele of Narâm-Sin, king of Agade, representing the kingand his allies in triumph over their enemies.—Photo, Mansell & Co.


PREFACE

The excavations carried out in Babylonia and Assyria during the lastfew years have added immensely to our knowledge of the early historyof those countries, and have revolutionized many of the ideas currentwith regard to the age and character of Babylonian civilization. Inthe present volume, which deals with the history of Sumer and Akkad,an attempt is made to present this new material in a connected form,and to furnish the reader with the results obtained by recent discoveryand research, so far as they affect the earliest historical periods.An account is here given of the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia,and of the early city-states which were formed from time to time inthe lands of Sumer and Akkad, the two great divisions into whichBabylonia was at that period divided. The primitive sculpture andother archaeological remains, discovered upon early Babylonian sites,enable us to form a fairly complete picture of the races which in thoseremote ages inhabited the country. By their help it is possible torealize how the primitive conditions of life were gradually modified,and how from rude beginnings there was developed the comparativelyadvanced civilization, which was inherited by the later Babylonians andAssyrians and exerted a remarkable influence upon other races of theancient world.

In the course of this history points are noted at which early contactwith other lands took place, and it[Pg vi] has been found possible in thehistoric period to trace the paths by which Sumerian culture wascarried beyond the limits of Babylonia. Even in prehistoric times it isprobable that the great trade routes of the later epoch were alreadyopen to traffic, and cultural connections may well have taken placeat a time when political contact cannot be historically proved. Thisfact must be borne in mind in any treatment of the early relations ofBabylonia with Egypt. As a result of recent excavation and research ithas been found necessary to modify the view that Egyptian culture inits earlier stages was strongly influenced by that of Babylonia. Butcertain parallels are too striking to be the result of coincidence,and, although the southern Sumerian sites have yielded traces of noprehistoric culture as early as that of the Neolithic and predynasticEgyptians, yet the Egyptian evidence suggests that some contact mayhave taken place between the prehistoric peoples of North Africa andWestern Asia.

Far closer were the ties which connected Sumer with Elam, the greatcentre of civilization which lay upon her eastern border, and recentexcavations in Persia have disclosed the extent to which

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