Of more importance, from the historical point of view as well as from the linguistic, is the next ruler who followed soon after the former. This ruler is Alusharshid. From his inscriptions—to be found in fifty-one fragments of vases, which have been excavated by the expedition of the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Peters, and partly published by Hilprecht—we learn that he subdued Elam, on the eastern side of the Tigris, and the country of Bara’se (Para’se), from which lands he brought back these marble vases, and dedicated them to his gods at Nippur and Sippar.
For but a short period subsequent to Alusharshid does Kish seem to have enjoyed its old power. The might of Kish gave place to that of Agade, as we shall see shortly. Leaving, therefore, Kish for the present, we turn our attention to the other enemy of Old Shirpurla, viz. Gishban.
[ca. 4000 B.C.]
At about 4000 B.C., not long after the time of Eannatum, Gishban seems to have acquired new power and might. It directed its chief attention not so much towards Shirpurla as towards the south. Probably the rulers of Shirpurla had at this time been reduced to utter weakness by its old enemies (i.e. Kish and Gishban), of which enemies Gishban was destined to play the most important rôle in the development of ancient Babylonian history.
Lugalzaggisi, the son of Ukush, patesi of Gishban, we find at the head of the armies of Gishban, which he leads victoriously against the south. After Erech had opened its doors, the whole of Babylonia to the Persian Gulf fell an easy prey to the conquering hero. He, although originally only the son of a patesi, becomes king of Erech, nay, even king of the “whole world.” “Enlil, king of the lands, has given to Lugulzaggisi the kingship of the world; he has made him to prosper before the world; he it was that had placed the lands under his sceptre—the lands ‘from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same.’ He it also was that gave him the tribute of those lands, which he made to dwell in peace, notwithstanding that they had been brought under a new régime.” With these words Lugalzaggisi acknowledges, as the kings of Shirpurla did, that Enlil, and Enlil alone, had granted to him so unprecedented a dominion, extending from the lower sea of the Tigris and the Euphrates (i.e. the Persian Gulf) to the upper sea (i.e. the Mediterranean). Constituted thus “lord of the world,” he now becomes its “summus episcopus.” “In the sanctuaries of Kengi, as patesi of the lands, and in Erech, as high priest, they (the gods) established him.”
To quote Hilprecht: “Babylonia, as a whole, had no fault to find with this new and powerful régime. The Sumerian civilisation was directed into new channels from stagnation; the ancient cults between the lower Tigris and Euphrates began to revive and its temples to shine in new splendour.” Thus, endowed with the highest temporal and spiritual power, he “makes Erech to abound in rejoicing.” Nor does he forget the other representative cities of his domain: “Ur, like a steer, to the top of the heavens he raised.” “Over Larsa, the beloved city of Shamash, he poured out waters of joy.” His own native town and land receive chief attention: “Gishban, the beloved city of … to an unheard-of power he raised.” He, as wise ruler and statesman, not only shows his good will and favour towards the larger and more influential cities, but also protects the weaker ones: “Ki-Innanna-ab he kept in an enclosure, like a sheep that is to be shorn.”
Indeed, “Lugalzaggisi stands out from the dawn (?) of Babylonian history as a giant who deserves our full admiration for the work he accomplished.”
Seeing that Semitisms occur in almost all the earliest inscriptions so far known to us, and that the rulers themselves may have been and probably were Semites—let us confess this—then the other question arises: At what time did the Semites come into the country, so as to induce the original inhabitants to employ expressions foreign to their own language? Where did they come from? To the last question, which has been repeatedly discussed by scholars, different answers have been given. Some make Africa the original home of the Semites; others Arabia; and Hilprecht, who last spoke of this problem, assigns for this purpose Kish, or better, Kharran some distance north of Babylonia. According to his theory, Lugalzaggisi, the great conqueror from Gishban (Kharran), was the first Semite to occupy any territory in Babylonia, and thus opened the way for the Semitic population. But Lugalzaggisi does not antedate Ur-Nina. Ur-Nina is a Semite, as we have seen, consequently Semites were in the country before Lugalzaggisi.
Gishban is not Kharran, but the neighbouring state of Shirpurla; hence the Semites did not come from Kharran, but actually occupied already the whole country of Babylonia. Thus the two questions—when did the Semites invade Babylonia? and, whence did they come?—are still awaiting an answer. It is possible that some tablets may give us a key to this problem, but so far these tablets have not been found.