ons which belong to this remote age of human
culture have been published by Professor Hilprecht. Among them is a long
inscription, in 132 lines, engraved on multitudes of large stone
vases presented to the temple of El-lil by a certain Lugal-zaggisi.
Lugal-zaggisi was the son of Ukus, the _patesi_ or high priest of the
"Land of the Bow," as Mesopotamia, with its Bedawin inhabitants, was
called. He not only conquered Babylonia, then known as Kengi, "the land
of canals and reeds," but founded an empire which extended from the
Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. This was centuries before Sargon
of Akkad followed in his footsteps. Erech became the capital of
Lugal-zaggisi's empire, and doubtless received at this time its Sumerian
title of "the city" _par excellence_.

For a long while previously there had been war between Babylonia and the
"Land of the Bow," whose rulers seem to have established themselves
in the city of Kis. At one time we find the Babylonian prince
En-sag(sag)-ana capturing Kis and its king; at another time it is a king
of Kis who makes offerings to the god of Nippur, in gratitude for his
victories. To this period belongs the famous "Stela of the Vultures"
found at Tello, on which is depicted the victory of E-dingir-ana-gin,
the King of Lagas (Tello), over the Semitic hordes of the Land of the
Bow. It may be noted that the recent discoveries have shown how correct
Professor Maspero has been in assigning the kings of Lagas to a period
earlier than that of Sargon of Akkad.

Professor Hilprecht would place E-dingir-ana-gin after Lugal-zaggisi,
and see in the Stela of the Vultures a monument of the revenge taken
by the Sumerian rulers of Lagas for the conquest of the country by the
inhabitants of the north. But it is equally possible that it marks
the successful reaction of Chaldsea against the power established by
Lugal-zaggisi. However this may be, the dynasty of Lagas (to which
Professor Hilprecht has added a new king, En-Khegal) reigned in peace
for some time, and belonged to the same age as the first dynasty of Ur.
This was founded by a certain Lugal-kigubnidudu, whose inscriptions have
been found at Niffer. The dynasty which arose at Ur in later days (cir.
b.c. 2700), under Ur-Gur and Bungi, which has hitherto been known as
"the first dynasty of Ur," is thus dethroned from its position, and
becomes the second. The succeeding dynasty, which also made Ur its
capital, and whose kings, Ine-Sin, Pur-Sin IL,