the traditions in detail by comparison with contemporary documents. Reference has already been made to tablets dated in the reigns of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin, and the date-formulæ occurring upon them refer, in accordance with the custom of the period, to events of public interest after which the years were named. In the case of tablets dated in Shar-Gani-sharri's reign, we find three date-formulæ which have a direct bearing upon the point at issue, and refer to incidents which correspond in a remarkable degree to achievements ascribed to Sargon in the Omen-tablet and the Neo-Babylonian Chronicle. The conquest of Amurru, the "Western Land" on the coast of Syria, is referred to in four sections of the Omens,[29] probably representing separate expeditions thither. The third section records a decisive victory for Sargon, and apparently the deportation of the king of Amurru to Akkad; while in the fourth Sargon is recorded to have set up his images in Amurru, that is to say, he carved his image upon the rocks near the Mediterranean coast, or in the Lebanon, as a lasting memorial of his conquest of the country. Now one of the tablets of accounts from Tello is dated "in the year in which Shar-Gani-sharri conquered Amurru in Basar."[30] It is therefore certain that the conquest of Amurru, ascribed by tradition to Sargon of Akkad, is to be referred to Shar-Gani-sharri and treated as historically true. We obtain a very similar result when we employ the same method of testing Sargon's Elamite campaigns. The Omen-tablet opens with the record of Sargon's invasion of the country, followed by his conquest of the Elamites, whom he is related to have afflicted grievously by cutting off their food supplies.[31] This would appear to have been in the nature of a successful raid into Elamite territory. On the other hand, one of the early account-tablets is dated in the year when Shar-Gani-sharri overcame the expedition which Elam and Zakhara had sent against Opis and Sakli.[32] It is clear that the date, although it records a success against the Elamites, can hardly refer to the same event as the Omen-text, since the latter records an invasion of Elam by Sargon, not a raid into Babylonian territory by the Elamites. But the contemporary document at least proves that Shar-Gani-sharri was successful in his war with Elam, and it is not unlikely that the attack on Opis by the Elamites provoked his invasion of their country.[33] Such a raid as the Omens describe fully accords with the practice of this period, when the kings of Kish and Akkad used to invade Elam and return to their own country laden with spoil.[34] The date-formula which confirms a third point in the late tradition refers to the year in which Shar-Gani-sharri laid the foundations of the temple of Anunitu and the temple of Amal in Babylon,[35] proving not only that the city of Babylon was in existence at this period, but also that Sargon devoted himself to its adornment by building temples there.