THE preparation of this volume has occupied a much longer time than was anticipated when the invitation of the editors to contribute to this series was accepted. The new materials, constantly supplied by the indefatigable activity of excavators and by the scientific investigation of philological and historical scholars, require the unceasing adjustment, enlargement, and revision of historical conclusions, and force one quite to despair of reaching anything like finality. The historian of Babylonia and Assyria, therefore, must be satisfied to sum up fairly and fully the information at present in hand without undue appreciation of new and tentative theories. Accordingly, the present work finds its justification in the desirability of putting a compact, popular, and fairly comprehensive sketch of the history of these ancient states, as it is to-day conceived, into the hands of all who are interested in the progress of human civilization in its earliest stages, and especially in the development of the peoples who came into so close relations with the Hebrews. It is becoming increasingly evident that the Old Testament in all its elements — literary, historical, and religious — cannot be adequately understood without relating them to the history of all the peoples round about Israel, and especially to that of the Babylonians and Assyrians, who exercised so potent and permanent an influence upon the fortunes and the thoughts of the Chosen People.

A word is desirable concerning some special features of the book.

(1) The "Bibliography" does not pretend to he complete, but only to contain the outstanding works in the vast field.

(2) The "References" are intended not merely to aid the reader in widening the range of his knowledge of facts and details concerning the subject under consideration, but also to guide him in special investigation of important topics.

(3) The spelling of the proper names does not rigidly follow any body of principles. When a name has become domesticated in a popular form, that form has usually been chosen. Otherwise it has been sought to give an orthographically accurate reproduction of the original. Often, at the first use of a name, hyphens have been employed to indicate its component parts. In the index of persons and places, an attempt, doubtless quite imperfect, has been made to indicate the proper pronunciation of each name. No one can be more cognizant than the author of the inadequate results achieved in respect to the whole matter.

(4) The map has been prepared with the purpose of indicating the larger number of the places mentioned in the text. Accordingly, some localities, the positions of which with our present knowledge can be determined only tentatively, have been set down with what may seem to scholars not a little audacity. The desirability of being able to follow the description of a campaign or to fix the location of a city mentioned has induced me to run the risk of seeming to be wise above what is known.

My obligations to the scholars who for half a century have been working in the Assyriological field are manifest on every page of this work. Special mention should, however, be made where unusual service has been rendered, although I despair of making anything like complete acknowledgment. Abundant use has been made of the admirable series of translations contained in the Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, edited by Professor R. F. Harper. I am grateful to my colleague and friend, Professor Harper, for the cordial way in which he has assented to my request to employ these translations. To my colleagues, Professors Ira M. Price and Benjamin Terry, who have read the proofs of the work throughout with critical and painstaking zeal, I am indebted far more than words can express for their invaluable assistance. I am likewise under obligation to my uncle, Dr. T., W. Goodspeed, who has rendered a similar service in connection with the manuscript. I have been favored with the generous help of another colleague, Professor W. Muss-Arnolt, who has placed at my disposal his admirable bibliographical knowledge and his wide and thorough acquaintance with the Assyrian field. If the work shall be found to represent, in some approximate measure, the present standard of Assyriological science, and to be reasonably free from faults of expression, the result is due in large part to the genial and sympathetic service of these friends, although they are not to be held accountable for either its defects or its opinions. To the editors of the series to which the volume belongs I would express my thanks for their encouragement and criticism in the course of its preparation; to the publishers, Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, for their generous co-operation in securing its typographical excellence, and to the many friends who have shown so warm an interest in the appearance of the book. I hope that to some extent it may serve the cause of sound learning, and be worthy, both in spirit and content, to stand beside the preceding volumes of the series.

Since the appearance of the first edition of this book some new discoveries have been made, chief among which has been that of the Stele of Khammurabi. This important document has not, however, caused any material correction in our views of Babylonian life and history, but merely enlarged the details of our knowledge. Time has not permitted, nor has necessity required, any considerable changes in the text of this volume. Some " Additions and Corrections" to the first edition will be found on page xiv. For most of the emendations the author is indebted to reviewers, whose interest in the volume, in most cases friendly, he here acknowledges heartily, and particularly to his colleague, Dr. J. M. P. Smith, who has placed at the author's disposal the results of a careful reading of the pages of the first edition.

G. S. G. December, 1903.

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. THE LANDS OF THE EUPHRATES AND TIGRIS II. THE EXCAVATIONS IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA III. THE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IV. CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY PART I THE CITY STATES OF BABYLONIA AND THEIR UNIFICATION UNDER BABYLON TO 2000 B. C. I. THE DAWN OF HISTORY II. MOVEMENTS TOWARD EXPANSION AND UNIFICATION III. CIVILIZATION OF OLD BABYLONIA: POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE IV. CIVILIZATION OF OLD BABYLONIA: LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, AND RELIGION V. THE TIMES OF KHAMMURABI OF BABYLON, 2300-2100 B. C. PART II THE RISE OF ASSYRIA AND ITS STRUGGLES WITH KASSITE BABYLONIA I. THE KASSITE CONQUEST OF BABYLONIA AND THE APPEARANCE OF ASSYRIA. 2000-1500 B. C. II. THE EARLY CONFLICTS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 1500-1150 B.C. III. CIVILIZATION AND CULTURE IN THE KASSITE PERIOD IV. THE TIMES OF TIGLATHPILESER I. 1100 B. C. PART III THE ASCENDANCY OF ASSYRIA I. THE ANCIENT WORLD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM. 1000 B. C. II. ASHURNAÇIRPAL III. AND THE CONQUEST OF MESOPOTAMIA. 885-860 B. C. III. THE ADVANCE INTO SYRIA AND THE RISE OF URARTU: FROM SHALMANESER II,                TO THE FALL OF HIS HOUSE. 860-745 B. C. IV. THE ASSYRIAN REVIVAL. TIGLATHPILESER III  AND SHALMANESER IV. 745-722 B. C. V. THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT, SARGON II. 722-705 B. C. VI. THE STRUGGLE FOR IMPERIAL UNITY. SENNACHERIB, 705-681 B. C. VII. IMPERIAL EXPANSION AND DIVISION, ESARHADDON. 681-668 B. C. VIII. THE LAST DAYS OF SPLENDOR. ASHURBANIPAL. 668-626 B. C. IX. THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 626-606 B. C. PART IV THE NEW BABYLONIAN (OR KALDEAN) EMPIRE I. THE HEIRS OF ASSYRIA II. NEBUCHADREZZAR AND HIS SUCCESSORS III. BABYLONIA UNDER THE KALDEANS IV. THE FALL OF BABYLON CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY REFERENCES INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS INDEX OF OLD TESTAMENT REFERENCES MAP — THE WORLD OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITY [Click the Map to see the larger, readable image] PLANS OF NINEVEH AND BABYLON [Click the Map to see the larger, readable image] ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

P. 34, lines 5-7 from top. Since these words were written the code of Khammurabi Of Babylon has been discovered (see below).

P. 107, In the winter of 1901-1902 the French explorer De Morgan discovered at Susa a broken stele about eight feet high, which was found to contain the law-code of king Khammurabi. After a prologue of about 300 lines, containing a glorification of the king for his services to the gods and the care of his subjects, follows a series of laws which is estimated to have contained originally some 282 separate regulations. Some 247 are now legible. The code is concerned little, if at all, with religious matters; the chief content is almost entirely civil and criminal, dealing with such subjects as marriage, the family, property rights, agricultural and commercial activities.

P. 115, lines 5-9 from bottom. The Stele of Khammurabi declares that the king restored the temple at Nippur. Hence Hilprecht regards the ruins as due to an unrecorded Elamite invasion. See, also, the American Journal of Theology, vol. vii. p. 725.

In the map in the front of the volume the site of Eridu is to be placed further down the river and on the western side.