Among the various Semitic kingdoms and small principalities which were founded and endured for a time in this portion of Western Asia, that of Akkad won the pre-eminent place. In the mountainous regions to the east and north of Elam the immigrants doubtless dominated the country, but they found a population in a state of culture little more advanced than their own, and, if subject to no other influence, they must have remained in a condition of semi-barbarity. But in Babylonia the case was different. Here the vigorous nature of the nomad found a rich soil to support its growth and development. The ancient culture of the Sumerians was adopted by their conquerors, at whose hands it underwent a gradual change. The sculptor slowly freed himself from the stiff conventions of his Sumerian teachers, and, while borrowing their technical skill, he transformed the work of their hands. Such a cylinder-seal as that of Ibni-sharru, Shar-Ganni-sharri's scribe, with its design of kneeling heroes watering oxen,[89] is a marvellous product of the engraver's art; while the delicate modelling of the figures upon Narâm-Sin's stele, their natural attitudes, and the decorative arrangement of the composition as a whole, are not approached on any earlier monument. The later sculptures of Lagash owe much to the influence of Akkadian work. In the political sphere the Dynasty of Akkad attained a similar position. Not only did her kings secure the hegemony in Akkad and Sumer, but they pushed their influence beyond the limits of Babylonia, and consolidated an empire in the strict sense of the term. His rule over the four quarters of the world may have led Narâm-Sin to add to his titles, and the growth of their power probably increased the tendency of these early monarchs to assume the attributes and privileges of gods. Of the kings of Kish we have evidence that some were deified, and the divine determinative is set before the name of Shar-Gani-sharri in two inscriptions that have come down to us. In nearly every text of Narâm-Sin the determinative for deity precedes his name, and in some of the contemporary seal-inscriptions he is even termed "the god of Akkad." Under the later kings of Ur the cult of the reigning monarch was diligently practised, and his worship was continued after death. There is no evidence that this custom obtained among the earlier Sumerian kings and patesis, and we may with some confidence set its origin in this period of Semitic supremacy. That the kings of Akkad should have claimed divine honours during their own lifetime may probably be connected with the increase in their dominion, based upon conquests which extended from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, and from Arabia to the mountains of Kurdistan. [1] Written both as _Sharru_-GI-NA and as _Sharru_-DU.