This unexpected revolution of affairs did not by any means restore to the cities of Lower Chaldaea the supreme authority which they once possessed.  Babylon had made such good use of its centuries of rule that it had gained upon its rivals, and was not likely now to fall back into a secondary place.  Henceforward, no matter what dynasty came into power, as soon as the fortune of war had placed it upon the throne, Babylon succeeded in adopting it, and at once made it its own.  The new lord of the country, Ilumailu, having abandoned his patrimonial inheritance, came to reside near to Merodach.*

* The name has been read An-ma-an or Anman by Pinches, subsequently Ilumailu, Mailu, finally Anumailu and perhaps Humailu.  The true reading of it is still unknown.  Hommel believed he had discovered in Hilprecht’s book an inscription belonging to the reign of this prince; but Hilprecht has shown that it belonged to a king of Erech, An-a-an, anterior to the time of An-ma-an.

He was followed during the four next centuries by a dynasty of ten princes, in uninterrupted succession.  Their rule was introduced and maintained without serious opposition.  The small principalities of the south were theirs by right, and the only town which might have caused them any trouble—­Assur—­was dependent on them, being satisfied with the title of vicegerents for its princes,—­Khallu, Irishum, Ismidagan and his son Sarnsiramman I., Igurkapkapu and his son Sarnsiramman II.* As to the course of events beyond the Khabur, and any efforts Ilumailu’s descendants may have made to establish their authority in the direction of the Mediterranean, we have no inscriptions to inform us, and must be content to remain in ignorance.  The last two of these princes, Melamkurkurra and Eagamil, were not connected with each other, and had no direct relationship with their predecessors.** The shortness of their reigns presents a striking contrast with the length of those preceding them, and probably indicates a period of war or revolution.  When these princes disappeared, we know not how or why, about the year 1714 B.C., they were succeeded by a king of foreign extraction; and one of the semi-barbarous race of Kashshu ascended the throne which had been occupied since the days of Khammurabi by Chaldaeans of ancient stock.***

* Inscription of Irishum, son of Khallu, on a brick found at Kalah-Shergat, and an inscription of Sarnsiramman II., son of Igurkapkapu, on another brick from the same place.  Sarnsiramman I. and his father Ismidagan are mentioned in the great inscription of Tiglath-pileser II., as having lived 641 years before King Assurdan, who himself had preceded Tiglath-pileser by sixty years:  they thus reigned between 1900 and 1800 years before our era, according to tradition, whose authenticity we have no other means of verifying.

** The name of the last is read Eagamil,