11. and in my woodmanship Istar loved me. 12. 45? years the kingdom I ruled, 13. the people of the black heads I governed, I .. 14. over rugged countries in many chariots of bronze I rode, 15. I governed the upper countries, 16. I ruled? over the chiefs of the lower countries. 17. To the sea coast three times I advanced, Dilvun (in the Persian Gulf) submitted, 18. Durankigal bowed, &c. &c. After this follows an address to any king who should at a later time notice the inscription. This myth is but a repetition of the oft-told story, how the hero of noble birth is born in secret, is exposed to death, but is rescued and brought up in a humble sphere of life until the time comes when his true origin and character are revealed, and he becomes a mighty prince and conqueror. The legend was told of Perseus in Greece, of Romulus in Italy, of Cyrus in Persia. But just as Cyrus was a real personage upon whom the legend was fastened, so too Sargon was a real personage, who founded the great library of Agané, and extended his conquests as far as the island of Cyprus, which he conquered in the third year of his reign. The most hazardous of the theories put forward in the preceding chapters is the one which identifies Izdubar with Nimrod, and makes him reign in the legendary period of Babylonian history. This theory is founded on several plausible, but probably merely superficial grounds; and if any one accepts Mr. Smith’s view on the point, it will be only for similar reasons to those which caused him to propose it; namely, because, failing this, we have no clue whatever to the age and position of the most famous hero in Oriental tradition. We must never lose sight of the fact that, apart from the more perfect and main parts of these texts, both in the decipherment of the broken fragments and in the various theories projected respecting them, the Assyrian scholar must change his opinions many times, and no doubt any accession of new material would change again our views respecting the parts affected by it. These theories and conclusions, however, although not always correct, have, on their way, assisted the inquiry, and have led to the more accurate knowledge of the texts; for certainly in cuneiform matters we have often had to advance through error to truth. In adopting Mr. Smith’s theory for the position of Nimrod, one thing is certainly clear: he is placed as low in the chronology as it is possible to make him.