obably Arabia; hence Eridu ("the
good city") and Ur ("the city") would have been built in Semitic territory,
and their population may have included Semitic elements from the first. It
was in the north, however, that the Semites first appear on the monuments.
Here in Akkad the first Semitic empire was founded, Semitic conquerors or
settlers spread from Sippara to Susa, Khana to the east of the Tigris was
occupied by "West Semitic" tribes, and "out of" Babylonia "went forth the
Assyrian." As in Assyria, so too in the states of Babylonia the _patesi_ or
high-priest of the god preceded the king. The state had grown up around a
sanctuary, the god of which was nominally its ruler, the human _patesi_
being his viceregent. In course of time many of the high-priests assumed
the functions and title of king; while retaining their priestly office they
claimed at the same time to be supreme in the state in all secular
concerns. The god remained nominally at its head; but even this position
was lost to him when Babylonia was unified under Semitic princes, and the
earthly king became an incarnate god. A recollection of his former power
survived, however, at Babylon, where Bel-Merodach adopted the king before
his right to rule was allowed.

[Sidenote: Ur-nin[=a]

_Early Princes_.--The earliest monuments that can be approximately
dynasty.] dated come from Lagash (Tello). Here we hear of a "king of
Kengi," as well as of a certain Me-silim, king of Kis, who had dealings
with Lugal-suggur, high-priest of Lagash, and the high-priest of a
neighbouring town, the name of which is provisionally transcribed Gis-ukh
(formerly written Gis-ban and confounded with the name of Opis). According
to Scheil, Gis-ukh is represented by Jokha, south of F[=a]ra and west of
the Shatt el-Hai, and since two of its rulers are called kings of T[=e] on
a seal-cylinder, this may have been the pronunciation of the name.[3] At a
later date the high-priests of Lagash made themselves kings, and a dynasty
was founded there by Ur-Nin[=a]. In the ruins of a building, attached by
him to the temple of Nin[=a], terra-cotta bas-reliefs of the king and his
sons have been found, as well as the heads of lions in onyx, which remind
us of Egyptian work and onyx plates. These were "booty" dedicated to the
goddess Bau. E-anna-du, the grandson of Ur-Nin[=a], made himself master of
the whole of southern Babylonia, including "the district of Sumer" together
with the cities of Erech, Ur