Ashnunak was a border district, and shared the fate of all the provinces
on the eastern bank of the Tigris, being held sometimes by Elam and
sometimes by Chaldæa; properly speaking, it was a country of Semitic
speech, and was governed by viceroys owning allegiance, now to Babylon,
now to Susa.* Khammurabi seized this province, and permanently secured
its frontier by building along the river a line of fortresses surrounded
by earthworks. Following the example of his predecessors, he set himself
to restore and enrich the temples.

* Pognon discovered inscriptions of four of the vicegerents
of Ashnunak, which he assigns, with some hesitation, to the
time of Khammurabi, rather than to that of the kings of
Telloh. Three of these names are Semitic, the fourth
Sumerian; the language of the inscriptions bears a
resemblance to the Semitic dialect of Chaldæa.

The house of Zamama and Ninni, at Kish, was out of repair, and the
ziggurât threatened to fall; he pulled it down and rebuilt it, carrying
it to such a height that its summit "reached the heavens." Merodach had
delegated to him the government of the faithful, and had raised him to
the rank of supreme ruler over the whole of Chaldæa. At Babylon, close
to the great lake which served as a reservoir for the overflow of the
Euphrates, the king restored the sanctuary of Esagilla, the dimensions
of which did not appear to him to be proportionate to the growing
importance of the city. "He completed this divine dwelling with great
joy and delight, he raised the summit to the firmament," and then
enthroned Merodach and his spouse, Zarpanit, within it, amid great
festivities. He provided for the ever-recurring requirements of the
national religion by frequent gifts; the tradition has come down to us