was more fortunate.  Eimsin vainly appealed for help against him to his relative and suzerain Kudur-lagamar, who had succeeded Simtishilkhak at Susa.  Eimsin was defeated, and disappeared from the scene of action, leaving no trace behind him, though we may infer that he took refuge in his fief of Yamutbal.  The conquest by Khammurabi was by no means achieved at one blow, the enemy offering an obstinate resistance.  He was forced to destroy several fortresses, the inhabitants of which had either risen against him or had refused to do him homage, among them being those of Meir* and Malgu.  When the last revolt had been put down, all the countries speaking the language of Chaldaea and sharing its civilization were finally united into a single kingdom, of which Khammurabi proclaimed himself the head.  Other princes who had preceded him had enjoyed the same opportunities, but their efforts had never been successful in establishing an empire of any duration; the various elements had been bound together for a moment, merely to be dispersed again after a short interval.  The work of Khammurabi, on the contrary, was placed on a solid foundation, and remained unimpaired under his successors.  Not only did he hold sway without a rival in the south as in the north, but the titles indicating the rights he had acquired over Sumer and Accad were inserted in his Protocol after those denoting his hereditary possessions,—­the city of Bel and the four houses of the world.  Khammurabi’s victory marks the close of those long centuries of gradual evolution during which the peoples of the Lower Euphrates passed from division to unity.  Before his reign there had been as many states as cities, and as many dynasties as there were states; after him there was but one kingdom under one line of kings.

* Mairu, Meir, has been identified with Shurippak; but it is, rather, the town of Mar, now Tell-Id.  A and Lagamal, the Elamite Lagamar, were worshipped there.  It was the seat of a linen manufacture, and possessed large shipping.

Khammurabi’s long reign of fifty-five years has hitherto yielded us but a small number of monuments—­seals, heads of sceptres, alabaster vases, and pompous inscriptions, scarcely any of them being of historical interest.  He was famous for the number of his campaigns, no details of which, however, have come to light, but the dedication of one of his statues celebrates his good fortune on the battlefield.  “Bel has lent thee sovereign majesty:  thou, what awaitest thou?—­Sin has lent thee royalty:  thou, what awaitest thou?—­Ninip has lent thee his supreme weapon:  thou, what awaitest thou?—­The goddess of light, Ishtar, has lent thee the shock of arms and the fray:  thou, what awaitest thou?—­Shamash and Bamman are thy varlets:  thou, what awaitest thou?—­It is Khammurabi, the king, the powerful chieftain—­who cuts the enemies in pieces,—­the whirlwind of battle—­who overthrows the country of the rebels—­who stays combats, who crushes