Arrival of the Semites to Babylonia and Assyria
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When people speaking Semitic languages first entered Shinar or the plain of Babylonia is uncertain, but it must have been at a remote period.
The cuneiform system of writing had been used previously when it was borrowed and adapted by the new comers, and the Semitic Babylonian language was profoundly influenced by Sumerian, borrowing its words and even its grammatical usages. Sumerian in turn borrowed from Semitic Babylonian, and traces of Semitic influence in some of the earliest Sumerian texts indicate that Semitic speaking peoples were already on the Babylonian border.
Eridu ("the good city") and Ur would have been built in Semitic territory, and their population probably included Semitic elements from the first. It was in the north, however, that the Semites first appear on the monuments. Here in Akkad the first Semitic empire was founded; Semitic conquerors or settlers spread from Sippara to Susa; Khana to the east of the Tigris was occupied by "West Semitic" tribes; and "out of" Babylonia "went forth the Assyrian."
As in Assyria, so too in the states of Babylonia the patesi or high-priest of the god preceded the king. The state had grown up around a sanctuary, the god of which was nominally its ruler - the human patesi being his vicegerent. In course of time, many of the high priests assumed the functions and title of king; while retaining their priestly office, they claimed at the same time to be supreme in the state in all secular concerns. The god remained nominally at its head; but even this position was lost when Babylonia was unified under Semitic princes, and the earthly king became an incarnate god. A recollection of the gods' former prestige survived, however, at Babylon, where Bel-Merodach had to adopt the king before his right to rule was allowed.
See also: Babylonia and Assyria