'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎71] (80/568)

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HISTORY 71
slowly eastwards to the upper Euphrates and Tigris; it was
probably by this latter route that Assyria received her early Semitic
population while that of upper Irak was reinforced.
The coming of the Semites into Babylonian life seems to include
both the chief forms of contact between the nations of antiquity,
viz. the bodily migration of a whole people and commercial traffic,
the latter probably preceding and leading to the former. What
happened before 3000 b.c . it is as yet impossible to say. But that
there had been a Semitic immigration there can be no
doubt. For the Semites are found firmly settled and forming the
bulk of the population in upper Irak, at first in small city-states
after the fashion of the Sumerians, but, as a consequence of reinforce
ment from their own stock, coalescing into a firmly knit, homo
geneous nation. Their receptive genius enabled them, in a short
time, it seems, to assimilate the Sumerian civilization and religious
system to a remarkable extent, and without losing their national
speech, or their national characteristics of superior energy, driving
power, and capability to organize, develop, and consolidate. First,
they proceeded rapidly to annex the Sumerian south, and then were
able with united forces to cross the Tigris and occupy Elam. Other
campaigns covered the JezTreh up to the foot-hills in the north and
opened up trade-routes towards Syria, the Mediterranean, and Asia
Minor. Both in Sumer and for a time in Elam the Semites
succeeded in imposing their own language on their subjects—in Elam
only for official purposes (much as Persian is still used in Afghanistan),
but in Sumer to the exclusion of the native tongue, except for ritual
and religious uses. For these special purposes it survived as a purely
literary language till the time of the Greeks.
Another great wave of Semitic immigration appears to have
occurred circa 2300 b.c . The immediate consequence of this is
seen in the rise of a dynasty of great vigour and prestige in
Akkad (northern Irak). It definitely conquers and incorporates
the south, assumes the title of Kings of Akkad and Sumer, borne
ever after by the kings of Babylonia, and makes Babylon—hitherto
a city of insignificant rank—into the capital of a compact and united
kingdom, and a pre-eminent political, commercial, and industrial
centre, which was to endure for 2,000 years. Hammurabi 2100
b.c .), king and founder of the united Babylonian state, is famous as
the ruler who issued the earliest legal code known to history. In
his reign can be first discerned the working of the Babylonian state
policy, a stable line of action which steadily aimed at the expansion
of commerce, the opening of trade-routes, and the spread of civiliza
tion. Under him and his successor the Babylonian empire embraced