ted to the shores of the Mediterranean, Palestine had
been included within the bounds of a Babylonian empire, and Babylonian
culture and religion had spread widely among the Canaanitish tribes. The
cuneiform system of writing had made its way to Syria, and Babylonian
literature had followed in its wake. Centuries had already passed since
Sargon of Akkad had made himself master of the Mediterranean coast and
his son Naram-Sin had led his forces to the Peninsula of Sinai. Istar of
Babylonia had become Ashtoreth of the Canaanites, and Babylonian trade
had long moved briskly along the very road that Abraham traversed. In
the days of the patriarch himself the rulers of Babylonia claimed to be
also rulers of Canaan; for thirteen years did the Canaanite princes
"serve" Chedor-laomer and his allies, the father of Arioch is also "the
father of the land of the Amorites" in his son's inscriptions, and at a
little later date the King of Babylon still claimed sovereignty over the
West.

It was not, therefore, to a strange and unexplored country that Abraham
had migrated. The laws and manners to which he had been accustomed, the
writing and literature which he had learned in the schools of Ur, the
religious beliefs among which he had lived in Chaldaea and Harran, he
found again in Canaan. The land of his adoption was full of Babylonian
traders, soldiers, and probably officials as well, and from time to time
he must have heard around him the language of his birthplace. The
introduction into the West of the Babylonian literature and script
brought with it a knowledge of the Babylonian language, and the
knowledge is reflected in some of the local names of Palestine. The
patriarch had not escaped beyond the control even of the Babylonian
government. At times, at all events, the princes of Canaan were
compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of Chaldaea and obey the laws, as
the Babylonians would have said, of "Anu and Dagon."

The fact needs dwelling upon, partly because of its importance, partly
because it is but recently that we have begun to realize it. It might
indeed have been gathered from the narratives of Genesis, more
especially from the account of Chedor-laomer's campaign, but it ran
counter to the preconceived ideas of the modern historian, and never
therefore took definite shape in his mind. It is one of the many gains
that the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions has brought to the
student of the Old Testament, and it