writings seem to indicate frequent intercourse with these countries, and
that, too, as a matter of course which excited no surprise among their
contemporaries: a journey from Lagash to the mountains of Tidanum and
to Gubin, or to the Lebanon and beyond it to Byblos,** meant to them
no voyage of discovery. Armies undoubtedly followed the routes already
frequented by caravans and flotillas of trading boats, and the time came
when kings desired to rule as sovereigns over nations with whom their
subjects had peaceably traded.

* The name of the Khati, Khatti, is found in the _Book of
Omens_, which is supposed to contain an extract from the
annals of Sargon and Naramsin; as, however, the text which
we possess of it is merely a copy of the time of
Assurbanipal, it is possible that the word Khati is merely
the translation of a more ancient term, perhaps Martu.
Winckler thinks it to be included in Lesser Armenia and the
Melitônê of classical authors.

** Gubin is probably the Kûpûna, Kûpnû, of the Egyptians,
the Byblos of Phoenicia. Amiaud had proposed a most unlikely
identification with Koptos in Egypt. In the time of Inê-Sin,
King of Ur, mention is found of Simurru, Zimyra.

It does not appear, however, that the ancient rulers of Lagash ever
extended their dominion so far. The governors of the northern cities, on
the other hand, showed themselves more energetic, and inaugurated
that march westwards which sooner or later brought the peoples of the
Euphrates into collision with the dwellers on the Nile: for the first
Babylonian empire without doubt comprised part if not the whole of
Syria.*