hose shape is as the whirlwind.
Its appearance is as the darkening heavens,
And its face as the deep shadow of the forest.

Sickness ... breaking the fingers as a rope of wind ...
Flashing like a heavenly star, it cometh like the dew.

These early poets had no canons of Art, and there were no critics to
disturb their meditations. Many singers had to sing and die ere a
critic could find much to say. In ancient times, therefore, poets had
their Golden Age--they were a law unto themselves. Even the "minors"
were influential members of society.

CHAPTER XI.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

Rise of the Sun God--Amorites and Elamites struggle for
Ascendancy--The Conquering Ancestors of Hammurabi--Sumerian Cities
Destroyed--Widespread Race Movements--Phoenician Migration from
Persian Gulf--Wanderings of Abraham and Lot--Biblical References to
Hittites and Amorites--Battles of Four Kings with Five--Amraphel,
Arioch, and Tidal--Hammurabi's Brilliant Reign--Elamite Power
Stamped Out--Babylon's Great General and Statesman--The Growth of
Commerce, Agriculture, and Education--An Ancient School--Business
and Private Correspondence--A Love Letter--Postal
System--Hammurabi's Successors--The Earliest Kassites--The Sealand
Dynasty--Hittite Raid on Babylon and Hyksos Invasion of Egypt.

Sun worship came into prominence in its most fully developed form
during the obscure period which followed the decline of the Dynasty of
Isin. This was probably due to the changed political conditions which
brought about the ascendancy for a time of Larsa, the seat of the
Sumerian sun cult, and of Sippar, the seat of the Akkadian sun cult.
Larsa was selected as the capital of the Elamite conquerors, while
their rivals, the Amorites, appear to have first established their
power at Sippar.

Babbar, the sun god of Sippar, whose Semitic name was Shamash, must
have been credited with the early successes of the Amorites, who
became domiciled under his care, and it was possibly on that account
that the ruling family subsequently devoted so much attention to his
worship in Merodach's city of Babylon, where a sun temple was erected,
and Shamash received devout recognition as an abstract deity of
righteousness and law, who reflected the ideals of well organized and
firmly governed communities.

The first Amoritic king was Sumu-abum, but little is known regarding
him except that he reigne