A discrepancy occurs in the later accounts of this conquest, which have come down to us upon the Omen-tablet and the Neo-Babylonian Chronicle. While in the former the complete subjugation of Amurru is recorded to have taken place "in the third year," the latter states that this event occurred "in the eleventh year." It is quite possible to reconcile the two traditions; the former statement may imply that it took three years to subdue the country, the latter that the conquest was achieved in the eleventh year of Shar-Gani-sharri's reign.[51] Indeed, the fact that four sections of the Omens refer to Amurru would seem to imply that it required several expeditions to bring the whole region into complete subjection. By the extension of his authority to the Mediterranean coast Shar-Gani-sharri made a striking advance upon the ideals of empire possessed by his predecessors on the throne of Kish. But even in this achievement he was only following in the steps of a still earlier ruler. A passage in Lugal-zaggisi's text would seem to imply that, in the course of an expedition along the Euphrates, he had succeeded in penetrating to the Syrian coast.[52] But Shar-Gani-sharri's conquest appears to have been of a more permanent character than Lugal-zaggisi's raid. The position of his capital rendered it easier to maintain permanent relations with the West, and to despatch punitive expeditions thither in the event of his authority being called in question. It has been claimed on behalf of Shar-Gani-sharri that he did not stop at the coast, but crossed the Mediterranean to Cyprus, which he is said to have included within the limits of his empire. It would seem, however, that while the island may have been subject indirectly to Babylonian influence at an early period, there is no indication of any direct or vigorous Semitic influence upon the native Cypriote culture at this time.[53] But traces of such an influence we should expect to find, if the island had been politically subject to Shar-Gani-sharri, and had shared the elaborate system of communication which he established between the distant parts of his empire. In itself the archaeological evidence would scarcely have been cited to prove a definite occupation of the island, had not a statement occurred upon Sargon's Omen-tablet to the effect that "he crossed the Sea of the West." But the newly discovered chronicle proves that the true reading should be "the Sea in the East," which without doubt indicates the Persian Gulf.