The cities of the Euphrates, therefore, could have been sensible of but
little change, when the chances of war transferred them from the rule of
their native princes to that of an Elamite. The struggle once over, and
the resulting evils repaired as far as practicable, the people of these
towns resumed their usual ways, hardly conscious of the presence of
their foreign ruler. The victors, for their part, became assimilated so
rapidly with the vanquished, that at the close of a generation or so
the conquering dynasty was regarded legitimate and national one, loyally
attached to the traditions and religion of its adopted country. In the
year 2285 B.C., towards the close of the reign of Nurrammân, or in
the earlier part of that of Siniddinam, a King of Elam, by name
Kudur-nakhunta, triumphantly marched through Chaldæa from end to end,
devastating the country and sparing neither town nor temple: Uruk lost
its statue of Nana, which was carried off as a trophy and placed in the
sanctuary of Susa. The inhabitants long mourned the detention of their
goddess, and a hymn of lamentation, probably composed for the occasion
by one of their priests, kept the remembrance of the disaster fresh in
their memories. "Until when, oh lady, shall the impious enemy ravage the
country!--In thy queen-city, Uruk, the destruction is accomplished,--in
Eulbar, the temple of thy oracle, blood has flowed like water,--upon the
whole of thy lands has he poured out flame, and it is spread abroad like
smoke.--Oh, lady, verily it is hard for me to bend under the yoke of
misfortune!--? Oh, lady, thou hast wrapped me about, thou hast plunged
me, in sorrow!--The impious mighty one has broken me in pieces like a
reèd,--and I know not what to resolve, I trust not in myself,--like a
bed of reeds I sigh day and night!--I, thy servant, I bow myself before
thee!" It would appear that the whole of Chaldæa, including Babylon
itself, was forced to acknowledge the supremacy of the invader;* a
Susian empire thus absorbed Chaldæa, reducing its states to feudal