The peculiar and distinct civilization of these primitive Babylonians must have continued through long ages. Their system of writing had developed from the simple pictorial lines into the cuneiform and these signs had become phonetic, expressing sound as well as ideas. They had also developed a syllabary. Finally, there are evidences of the gradual increase among them of another race of people. This was a Semitic people who seem at first to have established themselves in northern Babylonia in the kingdom of Accad, finally becoming supreme in the land. About 3800 B. C., the kingdoms of Accad and Sumir are found united under Sargon I, a Semitic king. There are indications of Accadian or Sumerian kings who ruled over the separate kingdoms of Accad and Sumir at earlier and later dates, but the main course of testimony after Sargon I tells of Semitic kings as rulers in northern Babylonia, or Accad, and a Semitic influence dominant there. The influence of such close social contact brought about material changes in the life, literature and language of both people. In Accad, which came first under Semitic influence, the old language rapidly declined. In Sumir, or southern Mesopotamia, which continued much longer under the ancient rule and influence, the old language held its own down to comparatively recent times. The Semites, however, seem to have received from the Accadians more than they gave. The arts and sciences and civilization of this ancient people became the arts and sciences and civilization of the Semitic Assyrians and Babylonians. They appropriated the religion and gods of these early Chaldeans. They became heirs of their literature and they adopted their system of writing. The most curious instance in these various adoptions of the Semites was the Sumerian syllabary. Now in applying the syllabary of one language to the uses of another, it might be expected that the signs expressing a certain syllabic sound in one language would be used to express the syllabic sounds in the other. This however, was not the case in this instance. When the Semites adopted the old Accadian syllabary they used these signs quite as often to express the Semitic sounds of the original ideographs as for syllabic signs. As an instance of this curious example of polyphony, Mr. Taylor gives the cuneiform sign which in the primitive pictorial form represented an ear. The name of ear in Accadian is _pi_. This sign had another syllabic value, signifying a drop of water. When the Semites adopted this sign to their uses they retained the phonetic value of the sign as _pi_. They, however, used this sign also to express the sound of the Semitic words, “eznu,” an ear, and “giltanu,” a drop of water.