Chapter IV: The Western Semites and the First Dynasty of Babylon

Original home of the Amurru, or Western Semites--Arabia
one of the main breeding-grounds of the human race--The
great Semitic migrations and their cause--Evidence
of diminution of rainfall in Arabia--The life of the
pastoral nomad conditioned by the desert--The change
from pastoral to agricultural life--Successive stages of
Canaanite civilization--The neolithic inhabitants and
the Amorite migration--Canaanites of history and their
culture--Eastern Syria and the middle Euphrates--Recent
excavations at Carchemish and its neighbourhood--Early
Babylonian cylinder-seals on the Sajûr--Trade of Carchemish
with Northern Babylonia--West Semitic settlements on
the Khâbûr--The kingdom of Khana--The Amorite invasion
of Babylonia--The Dynasties of Nîsin and Larsa--Recent
discoveries at Ashur--Proto-Mitannians--The Western
Semites in Babylon and their conflict with Assyria--Early
struggles and methods of expansion--The Elamite conquest
of Larsa--The three-cornered contest of Nîsin, Elam and
Babylon--The fall of Nîsin and the duel between Babylon and
Elam--Hammurabi's defeat of Rîm-Sin and the annexation of
Sumer by Babylon--Extent of Hammurabi's empire--Hammurabi
the founder of Babylon's greatness--His work as law-giver
and administrator