They repaired the temples as a matter of course, and enriched them
according to their means; we even know that Zabu, the third in order
of the line of sovereigns, occupied himself in building the sanctuary
Eulbar of Anunit, in Sippara. There is evidence that they possessed the
small neighbouring kingdoms of Kishu, Sippara, and Kuta, and that they
had consolidated them into a single state, of which Babylon was the
capital. To the south their possessions touched upon those of the kings
of Uru, but the frontier was constantly shifting, so that at one time an
important city such as Nippur belonged to them, while at another it fell
under the dominion of the southern provinces. Perpetual war was waged
in the narrow borderland which separated the two rival states, resulting
apparently in the balance of power being kept tolerably equal between
them under the immediate successors of Sumuabîm* --the obscure Sumulaîlu,
Zabum, the usurper Immeru, Abîlsin and Sinmuballit--until the reign of
Khammurabi (the son of Sinmuballit), who finally made it incline to
his side.** The struggle in which he was engaged, and which, after many
vicissitudes, he brought to a successful issue, was the more decisive,
since he had to contend against a skilful and energetic adversary who
had considerable forces at his disposal. Birnsin*** was, in reality, of
Elamite race, and as he held the province of Yamutbal in appanage, he
was enabled to muster, in addition to his Chaldæan battalions, the army
of foreigners who had conquered the maritime regions at the mouth of the
Tigris and the Euphrates.

* None of these facts are as yet historically proved: we
may, however, conjecture with some probability what was the
general state of things, when we remember that the first
kings of Babylon were contemporaries of the last independent
sovereigns of Southern Chaldæa.