by this prince was pointed out at an early date by Menant.  Recent discoveries have shown the important share which he had in developing the Chaldaean empire, and have, increased his reputation with Assyriologists.

*** The name of this king has been the theme of heated discussions:  it was at first pronounced Aradsin, Ardusin, or Zikarsin; it is now read in several different ways—­Rimsin, or Eriaku, Riaku, Rimagu.  Others have made a distinction between the two forms, and have made out of them the names of two different kings.  They are all variants of the same name.  I have adopted the form Rimsin, which is preferred by a few Assyriologists. [The tablets recently discovered by Mr. Pinches, referring to Kudur-lagamar and Tudkhula, which he has published in a Paper road before the Victoria Institute, Jan. 20, 1896, have shown that the true reading is Eri-Aku.  The Elamite name Eri-Aku, “servant of the moon- god,” was changed by some of his subjects into the Babylonian Rim-Sin, “Have mercy, O Moon-god!” just as Abesukh, the Hebrew Absihu’a ("the father of welfare”) was transformed into the Babylonian Ebisum ("the actor").—­Ed.]

It was not the first time that Elam had audaciously interfered in the affairs of her neighbours.  In fabulous times, one of her mythical kings—­Khumbaba the Ferocious—­had oppressed.  Uruk, and Gilgames with all his valour was barely able to deliver the town.  Sargon the Elder is credited with having subdued Elam; the kings and vicegerents of Lagash, as well as those of Uru and.  Larsam, had measured forces with Anshan, but with no decisive issue.  From time to time they obtained an advantage, and we find recorded in the annals victories gained by Gudea, Ine-sin, or Bursin, but to be followed only by fresh reverses; at the close of such campaigns, and in order to seal the ensuing peace, a princess of Susa would be sent as a bride to one of the Chaldaean cities, or a Chaldaean lady of royal birth would enter the harem of a king of Anshan.  Elam was protected along the course of the Tigris and on the shores of the Nar-Marratum by a wide marshy region, impassable except at a few fixed and easily defended places.  The alluvial plain extending behind the marshes was as rich and fertile as that of Chaldaea.  Wheat and barley ordinarily yielded an hundred and at times two hundredfold; the towns were surrounded by a shadeless belt of palms; the almond, fig, acacia, poplar, and willow extended in narrow belts along the rivers’ edge.  The climate closely resembles that of Chaldaja:  if the midday heat in summer is more pitiless, it is at least tempered by more frequent east winds.  The ground, however, soon begins to rise, ascending gradually towards the north-east.  The distant and uniform line of mountain-peaks grows loftier on the approach of the traveller, and the hills begin to appear one behind another, clothed halfway up with thick forests, but bare on their summits, or scantily covered with meagre vegetation.  They comprise,