* This fact is apparent from the introduction to the inscription in which Sargon I. is supposed to give an account of his life:  “My father was unknown, my mother was a princess;” and it was, indeed, from his mother that he inherited his rights to the crown of Agade.

Sometimes discontent spread beyond the confines of the palace, the army became divided into two hostile camps, the citizens took the side of one or other of the aspirants, and civil war raged for several years till some decisive action brought it to a close.  Meantime tributary vassals took advantage of the consequent disorder to shake off the yoke, the Blamites and various neighbouring cities joined in the dispute and ranged themselves on the side of the party from which there was most to be gained:  the victorious faction always had to pay dearly for this somewhat dubious help, and came out impoverished from the struggle.  Such an internecine war often caused the downfall of a dynasty—­at times, indeed, that of the entire state.*

* The above is perfectly true of the later Assyrian and Chalaean periods:  it is scarcely needful to recall to the reader the murders of Sargon II. and Sennacherib, or the revolt of Assurdainpal against his father Shalmaneser III.  With regard to the earliest period we have merely indications of what took place; the succession of King Urnina of Lagash appears to have been accompanied by troubles of this kind, and it is certain that his successor Akurgal was not the eldest of his sons, but we do not at present know to what events Akurgal owed his elevation.

The palaces of the Chaldaean kings, like those of the Egyptians, presented the appearance of an actual citadel:  the walls had to be sufficiently thick to withstand an army for an indefinite period, and to protect the garrison from every emergency, except that of treason or famine.  One of the statues found at Telloh holds in its lap the plan of one of these residences:  the external outline alone is given, but by means of it we can easily picture to ourselves a fortified place, with its towers, its forts, and its gateways placed between two bastions.  It represents the ancient palace of Lagash, subsequently enlarged and altered by Oudea or one of the vicegerents who succeeded him, in which many a great lord of the place must have resided down to the time of the Christian era.  The site on which it was built in the Girsu quarter of. the city was not entirely unoccupied at the time of its foundation.  Urbau had raised a ziggurat on that very spot some centuries previously, and the walls which he had constructed were falling into ruin.

[Illustration:  248.jpg THE PLAN OF A PALACE BUILT BY GUDEA.]