With the rise of Babylon we reach the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the two countries. The seat of power now passes finally to the north, and, through the long course of her troubled history, the city of Babylon was never dislodged from her position as the capital. Foreign invasions might result in the fall of dynasties, and her kings might be drawn from other cities and lands, but Babylon continued to be the centre of their rule. Moreover, after the fresh wave of immigration which resulted in the establishment of her First Dynasty, the racial character of Babylonia became dominantly Semitic. Before the new invaders the Sumerians tended to withdraw southwards into the coastal districts of the Persian Gulf, and from here, for a time, an independent dynasty, largely of Sumerian origin, attempted to contest with Babylon her supremacy. But with the fall of Isin the political career of the Sumerians as a race may be regarded as closed. Their cultural influence, however, long survived them. In the spheres of art, literature, religion, and law they left behind them a legacy, which was destined to mould the civilization of the later inhabitants of the country, and through them to exert an influence on other and more distant races. [1] See Boissier, "Choix de textes relatifs à la divination," II., p. 64, and Meissner, "Orient. Lit.-Zeit.," March, 1907, col. 114, n. 1. [2] See "Cun. Inscr. West. Asia," Vol. III., pl. 38, No. 1, Obv., l. 16. [3] Cf. Scheil, "Textes Élam.-Anzan.," II., p. 20; "Textes Élam.-Sémit.," III., p. 29, and IV., p. 15. [4] See above, p. 289. [5] See above, p. 291. [6] The patesis Ur-Ningishzida, Ibalpel, Belaku and [...]mashu, who ruled in Tupliash, or Ashnunnak, in the neighbourhood of Elam (cf. Thureau-Dangin, "Königsinschriften," p. 174 f.) probably owed allegiance to the kings of Ur or Isin. Ur-Ningirsu, who was also said to be a patesi of Tupliash, is merely a misreading of Ur-Ningishzida's name; cf. Ungnad, "Orient. Lit.-Zeit.," 1909, col. 161 f. [7] The phrase "son of the sister of," which occurs in the inscriptions, is clearly not to be taken literally, but is used in the sense of a descendant (cf. Thureau-Dangin, "Königsinschriften," p. 183, n. 2); it does not necessarily imply that the throne actually passed through the female branch (as Meyer, "Geschichte des Altertums," Bd. I., Hft. II., p. 542, suggests), except possibly in the absence of direct descendants in the male line. [8] One of the native texts sets Kuk-Nashur before Temti-khalki, but this was obviously due to a confusion with Adda-Pakshu; cf. Ungnad, "Beitr. zur Assyr.," Bd. VI., No. 5, p. 6. [9] Cf. Scheil, "Textes Élam.-Anzan.," II., p. x. [10] Cf. "Textes Élam.-Sémit.," III., p. 23, pl. 7, Nos. 1-3. [11] See "Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler," VII., p. 28, No. 67, and cf. Ungnad, "Beitr. zur. Assyr.," Bd. VI., No. 5, p. 3 f. [12] See Scheil, "Textes Élam.-Sémit.," IV., pp. 18 and 20.