It is possible, with the help of the date-formulæ and votive inscriptions of the period, to follow in outline the main features of this remarkable struggle. At first Kudur-Mabuk's footing in Sumer was confined to the city of Larsa, though even then he laid claim to the title _Adda_ of Amurru, a reference to be explained perhaps by the suggested Amorite origin of the Larsa and Nîsin dynasties, and reflecting a claim to the suzerainty of the land from which his northern foes at any rate boasted their origin.[76] Warad-Sin, on ascending the throne, assumed merely the title King of Larsa, but we soon find him becoming the patron of Ur, and building a great fortification-wall in that city.[77] He then extended his authority to the south and east, Eridu, Lagash, and Girsu all falling before his arms or submitting to his suzerainty.[78] During this period Babylon remained aloof in the north, and Sin-muballit is occupied with cutting canals and fortifying cities, some of which he perhaps occupied for the first time.[79] It was only in his fourteenth year, after Warad-Sin had been succeeded at Larsa by his brother Rîm-Sin, that we have evidence of Babylon taking an active part in opposing Elamite pretensions. [Illustration: BRONZE CONE AND VOTIVE FIGURE. _Brit. Mus., Nos._ 90951 _and_ 91016.] [Illustration: STONE CYLINDER WITH A VOTIVE INSCRIPTION _Brit. Mus., No._ 91085.] In that year Sin-muballit records that he slew the army of Ur with the sword, and, since we know that Ur was at this time a vassal-city of Larsa, it is clear that the army referred to was one of those under Rîm-Sin's command. Three years later he transferred his attention from Larsa to Nîsin, then under the control of Damiḳ-ilishu, the son and successor of Sin-magir. On that occasion Sin-muballit commemorates his conquest of Nîsin, but it must have been little more than a victory in the field, for Damiḳ-ilishu lost neither his city nor his independence. In the last year of his reign we find Sin-muballit fighting on the other front, and claiming to have slain the army of Larsa with the sword. It is clear that in these last seven years of his reign Babylon proved herself capable of cheeking any encroachments to the north on the part of Larsa and the Elamites, and, by a continuance of the policy of fortifying her vassal-cities,[80] she paved the way for a more vigorous offensive on the part of Hammurabi, Sin-muballit's son and successor. Meanwhile the unfortunate city of Nîsin was between two fires, though for a few years longer Damiḳ-ilishu succeeded in beating off both his opponents.