s to
the non-Semitic contingent, the Semites soon obtained the intellectual
ascendency, and so absorbed the non-Semitic elements as to give to the
culture resulting from the combination, the homogeneous character it
presents on the surface.

IV.

Our present knowledge of Babylonian history reaches back to the period
of about 4000 B.C. At that time we find the Euphrates Valley divided
into a series of states or principalities, parcelling North and South
Babylonia between them. These states group themselves around certain
cities. In fact, the Babylonian principalities arise from the extension
of the city's jurisdiction, just as the later Babylonian empire is
naught but the enlargement, on a greater scale, of the city of Babylon.

Of these old Babylonian cities the most noteworthy, in the south, are
Eridu, Lagash,[19] Ur, Larsa, Uruk, Isin; and in the north, Agade,
Sippar, Nippur, Kutha, and Babylon. The rulers of these cities call
themselves either 'king' (literally 'great man') or 'governor,'
according as the position is a purely independent one, or one of
subjection to a more powerful chieftain. Thus the earliest rulers of the
district of Lagash, of whom we have inscriptions (_c._ 3200 B.C.) have
the title of 'king,' but a few centuries later Lagash lost its
independent position and its rulers became 'patesis,' _i.e._, governors.
They are in a position of vassalage, as it would appear, to the
contemporaneous kings of Ur, though this does not hinder them from
engaging in military expeditions against Elam, and in extensive building
operations. The kings of Ur, in addition to their title as kings of Ur,
are styled kings of Sumer and Akkad. Whether at this time, Sumer and
Akkad included the whole of Babylonia, or, as seems more likely, only
the southern part, in either case, Lagash would fall under the
jurisdiction of these kings, if their title is to be regarded as more
than an empty boast. Again, the rulers of Uruk are known simply as kings
of that place, while those of Isin incorporate in their titles, kingship
over Ur as well as Sumer and Akkad.

For this early period, extending from about 4000 B.C. to 2300,
the chronology is as yet uncertain. Beyond the titles of the rulers
over Babylonian states, there are but few safe indications for
determining the succession of dynasties. So much, however, is now
certain,--that simultaneous with the governors of Lagash and the
older kings of Ur, there was an independent stat