ity
of viceroy, either for his father or his brother. Such evidence as we
possess of the condition of Assyria about this period seems to show that
it was weak and insignificant, administered ordinarily by Babylonian
satraps or governors, whose office was one of no great rank or dignity.

In Chaldaea, Ismi-dagon was succeeded by a son, whose name is read,
somewhat doubtfully, as Gunguna or Gurguna. This prince is known to us
especially as the builder of the great public cemeteries which now form
the most conspicuous objects among the ruins of Mugheir, and the
construction of which is so remarkable. Ismi-dagon and his son must
have occupied the Chaldaean throne during most of the latter half of the
nineteenth century before our era-from about B.C. 1850 to B.C. 1800.

Hitherto there has been no great difficulty in determining the order of
the monumental kings, from the position of their bricks in the principal
Chaldaean ruins and the general character of their inscriptions. But
the relative place occupied in the series by the later monarchs is
rendered very doubtful by their records being scattered and unconnected,
while their styles of inscription vary but slightly. It is most
unfortunate that no writer has left us a list corresponding in
Babylonian history with that which Manetho put on record for Egyptian;
since we are thus compelled to arrange our names in an order which rests
on little more than conjecture.

The monumental king who is thought to have approached the nearest to
Gurguna is Naram-Sin, of whom a record has been discovered at Babylon,
and who is mentioned in a late inscription as the builder, in
conjunction with his father, of a temple at the city of Agana. His date
is probably about B.C. 1750. The seat of his court may be conjectured
to have been Babylon, which had by this time risen into metropolitan
conse quence. It is evident that, as time went on, the tendency was to
remove the seat of government and empire to a greater distance from the
sea. The early monarchs reign at Ur (Mugheir), and leave no traces of
themselves further north than Niffer. Sin-Shada holds his court at
Erech (Warka), twenty-five miles above Mugheir; while Naram-Sin is
connected with the still more northern city of Babylon. We shall find a
similar tendency in Assyria, as it rose into power. In both cases we
may regard the fact as indicative of a gradual spread of empire towards
the north, and of the advance of civilizat