The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament; - The Search For ...

122 TEE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
cylinder col. IV. 70. 80. Next we have a very ancient
Babylonian king K u-d u-u r-M a-b u-u g (I Rawl. 2 no. Ill),
who styles himself AD. DA (in a t) MAR-TIT "ruler (?) of
the West-country" (see above p. 114). Now we are in-
foi'med repeatedly by Asurbanipal in his inscriptions (G.
Smith's Assurb. pp. 234. 9; 249. 9; 251. 16) that he
brought Elam under his sway, conquered Susan, the capital
of the kingdom of Elam, and on that occasion brought back
to Babylonia an image of the goddess NauS,, which had
been carried oflf 1635 years before by a more ancient king
of Elam Kudur-Nanhundi (so written by Asurbanipal).
He expressly observes that this Elamite king "laid hands
on the temple of Akkad"* (i. e. North- Babylonia; see on X.
10). Accordingly we cannot doubt that the Elamite kings
in the earliest times exercised a temporary hegemony
137 chiefly in Babylonia. And if this be true , then it is
probable that the above Kudur-Mabug, who was cer-
tainly of Elamite origin and whose bricks have been
discovered at Mughair , belonged to this very Elamite
dynasty of Kudurids. We might then conclude that in
ancient times Elamite kings had extended their conquering
expeditions as far as Kanaan, and it would also be extremely
probable that the Elamite king Kedorlaomer mentioned
in the Bible belonged to this Elamite dynasty of Kudurids.
This supposition might be regarded as a certainty on ac-
count of the circumstance, that there was an Elamite deity
Lagamar (La-ga-m a-ru) **, whose image was carried
* See G. Smith, Assurbanipal p. 251, 14. The passage in the
original text runs thus:—a-na is-ri-i-ti mfit Akkadi kat&-§u
i d-d u-u (root rnj)-
** The inscription of the king Kuter-Nachchunti line 3 bears direct
testimony to the worship of the deity Lagamar [written (det.) La-ga-