Ur, now represented by the mounds of Mugheir, on the western bank of the Euphrates to the south of Babylon, was the capital of the earliest Accadian dynasty with which we are acquainted. It was specially devoted to the worship of the moon-god, the ruins of whose temple have been discovered there. Ur was the birthplace of Abraham, in whom we must see one of those Semitic intruders who settled among the Accadians, and after adopting their culture and civilization finally succeeded in overcoming and supplanting them. It is probable that it is called _Ur Casdim_, “Ur of the Casdim,” in Genesis only proleptically, since Casdim appears to be the representative of an Assyrian word meaning “conquerors”—a suitable epithet for the Semitic tribes after their conquest of Babylonia. The Greek names Chaldean and Chaldea are of much later date, being derived from the Kaldai, a small tribe settled on the Persian Gulf and first mentioned in the ninth century B.C., who under Merodach-Baladan (B.C. 721-709) possessed themselves of Babylonia and became so integral a portion of its inhabitants as to give their name to the whole of them in classical times. Some of the Genesis names are found at a comparatively early date, the first which appears on a contemporary monument being Ishmael. In the reign of Khammuragas among the witnesses to some documents at Larsa in Babylonia, appears a man named “Abuha son of Ishmael.” After the time of Abraham the book of Genesis is concerned with the affairs of Palestine, and of the countries in its immediate vicinity, and it has no connection with Babylonian history and traditions; however, the cuneiform records contain one story which has a striking likeness to that of Moses in the ark, and which, although not within the period covered by Genesis, is of great interest in connection with the early history of the Jews. Sargina or Sargon I. was a Babylonian monarch who reigned in the city of Agané about B.C. 1800. The name of Sargon signifies the right, true, or legitimate king, and may have been assumed on his ascending the throne. Sargon was probably of obscure origin, and hence the myth that attached itself to him in later popular belief. This curious story is found on fragments of tablets from Kouyunjik, and reads as follows: 1. Sargina the powerful king the king of Agané am I. 2. My mother was a princess, my father I did not know, a brother of my father chose the mountains. 3. In the city of Azupiranu which by the side of the river Euphrates is situated 4. (my) mother the princess conceived me; in an inaccessible place she brought me forth. 5. She placed me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen my exit she sealed up. 6. She launched me on the river which did not drown me. 7. The river carried me, to Akki the irrigator it brought me. 8. Akki the irrigator in tenderness of bowels lifted me up; 9. Akki the irrigator as his child brought me up, 10. Akki the irrigator as his woodman set me,