THE LATER RULERS OF LAGASH
We have seen that the Dynasty of Akkad marks the culminating point
attained by the races of Sumer and Akkad during the earlier periods
of their history. It is true that the kings of this period owed much
to their immediate predecessors, but they added to and improved their
inheritance. Through long centuries of slow development the village
community had gradually been transformed into the city-state, and this
institution had flourished and had in its turn decayed before the
centralizing influence of the kingdoms of Sumer and Kish. It was on the
ruins of the latter monarchy that Shar-Gani-sharri founded his empire,
which differed from that of Kish in its extent, rather than in the
principles of its formation. A similarly close connection can be traced
between the cultural remains of the successive periods with which we
have hitherto been dealing. The rude, though vigorous, artistic efforts
of the earlier Sumerians furnished the models upon which the immigrant
Semites of Northern Babylonia improved. In the sculpture of Kish and
upon cylinder-seals of that period we see the transition between the
two styles, when the aim at a naturalistic treatment sometimes produced
awkward and grotesque results. The full attainment of this aim under
the patronage of the Akkadian kings gives their epoch an interest and
an importance, which, from their empire alone, it would not perhaps
have enjoyed.
While the earlier ages of Babylonian history afford a striking picture
of gradual growth and development, the periods succeeding the Dynasty
of Akkad are marked by a certain retrograde movement, or reversion to
earlier ideals. The stimulus, which produced the empire and the art
of Akkad, may be traced to the influx of fresh racial elements into
Northern Babylonia and their fusion with the older and more highly
cultured elements in the south. When the impulse was exhausted and
the dynasties to which it had given rise had run their course, little
further development along these lines took place. Both in art and
politics a Sumerian reaction followed the period of Semitic power, and
the establishment of the Dynasty of Ur was significant of more than
a shifting of political influence southwards. It would appear that a
systematic attempt was made to return to the earlier standards. But
the influence of Akkad and her monarchs, though deliberately ignored
and combated, was far from ineffective. As the sculptures of Gudea owe
much to the period of Narâm-Sin, so the empire of Dungi was inevitably
influenced by Shar-Gani-sharri's conquests. There was no sudden arrest
either of the political or of the cultural development of the country.
A recovery of power by the Sumerians merely changed the direction in
which further development was to take place. Although, when viewed
from a general standpoint, there is no break of continuity between the
epoch of Akkad and that of Ur, there is some lack of information with
regard to events in the intervening period. There is every indication
that between the reign of Narâm-Sin and that of Ur-Engur, the founder
of the Dynasty of Ur, we have to count in generations rather than in
centuries, but the total length of the period is still unknown. The
close of the Dynasty of Akkad, as we have already seen, is wrapped in
mystery, but the gap in our knowledge may fortunately to some extent
be bridged. At this point the city of Lagash once more comes to our
assistance, and, by supplying the names of a number of her patesis,
enables us to arrange a sequence of rulers, and thereby to form some
estimate of the length of the period involved.
It will be remembered that under Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin a
certain Lugal-ushumgal was patesi of Lagash, and that the impressions
of his seals have been recovered which he employed during the reigns
of these two monarchs.[1] The names of three other patesis of Lagash
are known, who must also be assigned to the period of the Dynasty
of Akkad, since they are mentioned upon tablets of that date. These
are Ur-Babbar, Ur-E, and Lugal-bur; the first of these appears to
have been the contemporary of Narâm-Sin,[2] and in that case he must
have followed Lugal-ushumgal. As to Ur-E and Lugal-bur, we have
no information beyond the fact that they lived during the period
of the kings of Akkad. A further group of tablets found at Tello,
differentiated in type from those of the Dynasty of Akkad on the one
hand, and on the other from tablets of the Dynasty of Ur, furnishes
us with the names of other patesis to be set in the period before the
rise of Ur-Engur. Three of these, Basha-mama,[3] Ur-mama, and Ug-me,
were probably anterior to Ur-Bau, who has left us ample proof of his
building activity at Lagash. We possess a tablet dated in the accession
year of Ur-mama, and another dated during the patesiate of Ug-me, in
the year of the installation of the high priest in Ninâ.[4] A sealing
of this last patesi's reign has also been found, which supports the
attribution of this group of tablets to the period between the Sargonic
era and that of Ur. The subject of the engraving upon the seal is the
adoration of a deity, a scene of very common occurrence during the
later period; but by its style and treatment the work vividly recalls
that of the epoch of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin. On the strength of
this evidence it has been argued that Ug-me's period was not far from
that of Lugal-ushumgal, Ur-E, and Lugal-bur.[5]
One of the documents of this period is dated during the patesiate of
Ur-Bau himself, in the year in which he undertook certain extensive
works of irrigation, while others are dated in the year of Ur-gar's
accession, and in that which followed the accession of Nammakhni.[6]
From other evidence we know that Nammakhni was Ur-Bau's son-in-law,
since he espoused Ningandu, Ur-Bau's daughter, and secured through her
his title to the throne.[7] Ur-gar, too, must belong to the generation
following Ur-Bau, since a female statue has been found at Tello,
which was dedicated to some deity by a daughter of Ur-Bau on behalf
of her own life and that of Ur-gar, the patesi.[8] Tablets are also
dated in the accession-years of Ka-azag, Galu-Bau, and Galu-Gula,[9]
and their contents furnish indications that they date from about the
same time.[10] Ur-Ninsun, whose name and title occur on the fragment
of a bowl very similar to that employed by Nammakhni's wife,[11] is
not mentioned on the tablets, but several are dated in the reigns of
Gudea and of his son Ur-Ningirsu.[12] Now, in the reign of Dungi, the
son of Ur-Engur, there lived a high priest of the goddess Ninâ named
Ur-Ningirsu; and, if we may identify this priestly official with the
patesi of that name, as is very probable,[13] we obtain a definite
point of contact between the later history of Lagash and that of Ur.
But even if the synchronism between Ur-Ningirsu and Dungi be regarded
as non-proven, there is no doubt that no long interval separated
Gudea's reign from the Dynasty of Ur. The character of the art and the
style of writing which we find in Lagash at this time are so similar to
those of Ur, that the one period must have followed the other without
a break. A striking example of the resemblance which existed in the
artistic productions of the two cities at this time is afforded by the
votive copper cones, or nails, of Gudea and Dungi, surmounted by the
figures of a bull _couchant_. A glance will show the slight changes in
the form and treatment of the subject which have been introduced by the
metal-workers of Dungi's reign.
[Illustration: Fig. 62.--Fig. 63. Copper figures of bulls surmounting
cones which were employed as votive offerings in the reigns of Gudea
and Dungi.--_Déc._, pl. 28, Figs. 5 and 6; Cat. Nos. 159 and 162.]
From the brief summary given in the preceding paragraphs it will have
been noted that we have recovered the names of some twelve patesis of
Lagash, who may be assigned to the period between the dynasties of
Akkad and Ur. Of these twelve names no less than eleven occur upon a
group of tablets, which were found together at Tello, and are marked
out by their shape and contents as belonging to a single period. The
tablets themselves are of unbaked clay, and they form a transition
between the types of Akkad and Ur. In the last of the reigns mentioned
it is probable that we may trace a synchronism with the Dynasty of
Ur, and, although no actual point of contact can yet be established
with the Dynasty of Akkad, such evidence as that furnished by Ug-me's
sealing suggests that no considerable lapse of time can have taken
place. That these twelve patesis were the only ones who ruled at Lagash
during this interval is improbable, and at any time the names of other
rulers may be recovered. But it is certain the reigns of many of these
patesis were extremely brief, and that we have not to do with a single
dynasty, firmly established throughout the whole period, whose separate
members, after their accession, each held the throne for the term of
his natural life. We have definite proof that several of the patesis,
such as Ka-azag, Galu-Bau, and Galu-Gula, ruled only for a few years,
and it would seem that at certain points during this period a change of
rulers took place in Lagash with considerable frequency.
The employment of the title of patesi, and the total absence of that
of "king" at this time, suggests that Lagash had not succeeded in
establishing her independence, and still owed allegiance to some alien
dynasty. It is in accordance with this view that the dates inscribed
upon the commercial tablets do not refer to events of a military
character. We may conclude that, at any rate until the reign of Gudea,
Lagash and her rulers were not concerned to enforce their authority
over other cities, nor to defend their own border from attack. The
existence of a more powerful city, claiming the hegemony in Babylonia,
would account for the absence of military enterprise reflected in
the date-formulæ and in the foundation-records of the time. For such
a city, while guaranteeing the integrity of each of her tributary
states, would have resented the inauguration of an ambitious policy by
any one of them. On the other hand, the purely local character of the
events commemorated in the date-formulæ is no less significant. These
are without exception drawn from the local history of Lagash, and
betray no evidence of the authority exercised by a foreign suzerain.
It is therefore probable that during the greater part of this period
Lagash enjoyed a considerable measure of autonomy, and that such bonds
as may have united her to any central administration were far less
tightly drawn than at the time of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin.
Like Lagash, her old rival Umma seems to have survived as a patesiate
under the later Semitic rulers in the north, and it is probably to
this time that we may assign Galu-Babbar, the patesi of that city,
three of whose votive cones are preserved in the British Museum.[14]
During the earlier part of this period Lagash presents the picture of
a compact and peaceful state, content to develop her own resources. A
considerable increase of power is noticeable in the reign of Gudea, the
most famous ruler of the period, who, though still retaining the title
of patesi, must be regarded as practically an independent sovereign,
since he was strong enough to undertake a successful campaign in Elam,
and imported his building materials from Arabia and the Syrian coast.
With the exception of Gudea, the only ruler of this period who has
left us any considerable records or remains is Ur-Bau, the predecessor
of Nammakhni and Ur-gar upon the throne of Lagash. We possess a small
diorite statue of this ruler, which, like most of those found at Tello,
is without its head.[15] It is a standing figure, and its squat and
conventional proportions suffice to show that it must date from a
rather earlier period than the larger and finer statues of Gudea, which
are fashioned from the same hard material. Gudea definitely states that
he fetched the diorite for his series of large statues from Magan, but
Ur-Bau makes no such boast; and, although it is clear that his stone
must have come from the same quarries, we may probably conclude that
the small block he employed for his figure had not been procured as the
result of a special expedition. In fact, such records as he has left us
portray him as devoting all his energies to the building of temples
within the different quarters of his city.[16]
[Illustration: CLAY CONES BEARING VOTIVE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PATESIS
GALU-BABBAR, GUDEA, AND UR-BAU.--_Brit. Mus., Nos._ 15782, 91046,
_and_ 91063.]
[Illustration: CLAY CONES BEARING VOTIVE INSCRIPTIONS OF SIN-IDINNAM,
KING OF LARSA, AND SIN-GASHID, KING OF ERECH.--_Brit. Mus., Nos._
91152 _and_ 91150.]
His chief care appears to have been the rebuilding, upon a new and
enlarged site, of E-ninnû, the great temple of Ningirsu at Lagash,
in which he placed the statue of himself that has been recovered.
Little of this temple now remains in the mounds of Tello, beyond
a wall the lower part of which was found still standing under the
south-east corner of the later palace erected in the second century
B.C.[17] In addition to the rebuilding of the temple of the city-god,
Ur-Bau records that he erected three temples in Girsu in honour of
the goddesses Ninkharsag and Geshtin-anna, and of Enki, "the king of
Eridu." In Uru-azagga he built a temple for the goddess Bau, and in
Uru, another quarter of the city, he constructed a shrine in honour of
Ninni, or Nin-azag-nun, the goddess Ishtar. Other deities honoured in
a similar way by Ur-Bau were Nindar, Ninmar, and Ninagal, the last of
whom stood in the mystical relation of mother to the patesi. Attached
to E-ninnû he also built a "House of the Asses" in honour of Esignun,
the deity whose duty it was to tend the sacred asses of Ningirsu.
Ur-Bau may probably be regarded as representative of the earlier
patesis of this epoch, who, while acting with freedom and independence
within the limits of their own state, refrained from embarking on
any policy of conquest or expansion. With the accession of Gudea a
distinct change is noticeable in the circumstances of Lagash. Like
his predecessors, he devoted himself to the building of temples, but
his work was undertaken on a wider and more sumptuous scale. Of all
the kings and patesis of Lagash, he is the one under whom the city
appears to have attained its greatest material prosperity, which found
its expression in a lavish architectural display. Although not much
of his great temple of E-ninnû still survives at Tello, his monuments
are more numerous than all the others that have been recovered on that
site.[18] Moreover, the texts engraved upon his statues, and inscribed
upon the great clay cylinders which he buried as foundation-records in
the structure of E-ninnû, are composed in a florid style and form a
striking contrast to the dry votive formulæ employed by the majority
of his predecessors. The cylinder-inscriptions especially are cast in
the form of a picturesque narrative, adorned with striking similes and
a wealth of detailed description such as are not found in the texts of
any other period. In fact, Gudea's records appear to have been inspired
by the novelty and magnitude of his architectural constructions and the
variety of sacred ornament with which they were enriched.
We have no information as to the events which led to his accession,
beyond the negative evidence afforded by the complete absence of
any genealogy from his inscriptions. Like Ur-Bau, Gudea does not
name his father, and it is possible that he was a man of obscure or
doubtful birth. The energy which he displayed as patesi is sufficient
to account for his rise to power, and the success which attended his
period of rule may be held to have amply justified a break in the
succession. Another problem suggested by a study of his texts concerns
the source of the wealth which enabled him to undertake the rebuilding
and refurnishing of the temples of Lagash upon so elaborate a scale.
The cause of such activity we should naturally seek in the booty
obtained during a number of successful campaigns, but throughout the
whole of his inscriptions we have only a single reference to an act
of war. On the statue of himself in the character of an architect,
holding the plan of E-ninnû upon his knees, he gives in some detail an
account of the distant regions whence he obtained the materials for
the construction of Ningirsu's temple. At the close of this list of
places and their products, as though it formed a continuation of his
narrative, he adds the record that he smote with his weapons the town
of Anshan in Elam and offered its booty to Ningirsu. This is the only
mention of a victory that occurs in Gudea's inscriptions, and, although
in itself it proves that he was sufficiently independent to carry on a
war in Elam on his own account, it does not throw light upon the other
causes of his success.
The absence of military records from Gudea's texts is rendered the
more striking, when we read the names of the countries he laid under
contribution for the materials employed in the building of E-ninnû.
The fullest geographical list is that given on the statue of the
architect with the plan,[19] and, although unfortunately some of
the places mentioned have still to be identified, the text itself
furnishes sufficient information to demonstrate the wide area of his
operations. Gudea here tells us that from Mount Amanus, the mountain
of cedars, he fetched beams of cedar-wood measuring fifty and even
sixty cubits in length, and he also brought down from the mountain
logs of urkarinnu-wood five-and-twenty cubits long. From the town of
Ursu in the mountain of Ibla he brought zabalu-wood, great beams of
ashukhu-wood and plane-trees. From Umanu, a mountain of Menua, and
from Basalla, a mountain of Amurru, he obtained great blocks of stone
and made stelæ from them, which he set up in the court of E-ninnû.
From Tidanu, another mountain of Amurru, he brought pieces of marble,
and from Kagalad, a mountain of Kimash, he extracted copper, which he
tells us he used in making a great mace-head. From the mountains of
Melukhkha he brought ushû-wood, which he employed in the construction
of the temple, and he fetched gold-dust from the mountain of Khakhu and
with it he gilded a mace-head carved with the heads of three lions. In
Gubin, the mountain of khuluppu-wood, he felled khuluppu-trees; from
Madga he obtained asphalt, which he used in making the platform of
E-ninnû; and from the mountain of Barshib he brought down blocks of
nalua-stone, which he loaded into great boats and so carried them to
Lagash in order to strengthen the base of the temple.
The above list of places makes it clear that Gudea obtained his wood
and stone from mountains on the coast of Syria and in Arabia, and
his copper from mines in Elam. On the first of his cylinders he also
states that the Elamite came from Elam and the man of Susa from Susa,
presumably to take part as skilled craftsmen in the construction of the
temple. In this account he does not mention the names of so many places
as in the statue-inscription, but he adds some picturesque details with
regard to the difficulties of transport he encountered. Thus he records
that into the mountain of cedars, where no man before had penetrated,
he cut a road for bringing down the cedars and beams of other precious
woods. He also made roads into the mountains where he quarried stone,
and, in addition to gold and copper, he states that he obtained silver
also in the mountains. The stone he transported by water, and he adds
that the ships bringing bitumen and plaster from Madga were loaded as
though they were barges carrying grain.
A third passage in Gudea's texts, referring to the transport of
materials from a distance, occurs upon the colossal statue of himself
which he erected in E-ninnû.[20] Here he states that Magan, Melukhkha,
Gubi, and Dilmun collected wood, and that ships loaded with wood of
all kinds came to the port of Lagash. Moreover, on eight out of his
eleven statues he records that the diorite, from which he fashioned
them, was brought from Magan. In his search for building materials, he
asserts that he journeyed from the lower country to the upper country;
and, when summarizing the area over which he and his agents ranged, he
adopts an ancient formula, and states that Ningirsu, his beloved king,
opened the ways for him from the Upper to the Lower Sea, that is to
say, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.
The enumeration of these distant countries, and Gudea's boastful
reference to the Upper and the Lower Sea, might, perhaps, at first
sight be regarded as constituting a claim to an empire as extensive as
that of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin. But it is a remarkable fact
that, with the exception of Lagash and her constituent townships,
Gudea's texts make no allusion to cities or districts situated within
the limits of Sumer and Akkad. Even the names of neighbouring great
towns, such as Ur, Erech, and Larsa, are not once cited, and it can
only be inferred that they enjoyed with Lagash an equal measure of
independence. But if Gudea's authority did not extend over neighbouring
cities and districts within his own country, we can hardly conclude
that he exercised an effective control over more distant regions. In
fact, we must treat his references to foreign lands as evidence of
commercial, not of political, expansion.
[Illustration: BRICK PILLAR AT TELLO, OF THE TIME OF GUDEA, PATESI OF
SHIRPURLA.--_Déc. en Chald._, pl. 53.]
Gudea's reign may be regarded as marking a revival of Sumerian
prosperity, consequent on the decay of Semitic influence and power
in the north. The fact that he was able to import his wood and stone
from Syria, and float it unmolested down the Euphrates, argues a
considerable weakening of the northern cities. Whether Akkad, or some
other city, still claimed a nominal suzerainty over the southern
districts it is impossible to say, but it is at least clear that in
the reign of Gudea no such claim was either recognized or enforced.
We may suppose that Lagash and the other great cities in the south,
relieved from the burden of Semitic domination, enjoyed a period of
peace and tranquillity, which each city employed for the development of
her material resources. The city of Ur was soon to bring this state of
affairs to a close, by claiming the hegemony among the southern cities
and founding the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad by force of arms. But
during Gudea's reign Ur appears to have made no movement, and Lagash
and the other great cities of the land may be pictured as maintaining
commercial relations with each other, unhampered by the striving of any
one of them for political supremacy.
It is possible that we may trace the unparalleled building activity,
which characterized Gudea's reign, in part to a development in
the art of building, which appears to have taken place at about
this period. It has been suggested that both Gudea and Ur-Engur,
the founder of the Dynasty of Ur, participated in the same great
architectural movement,[21] and proof of this has been seen in their
common employment of the smaller square brick, measuring from about
twelve to thirteen inches, which was more easy to handle than the
larger bricks employed by Ur-Bau and at the time of the Dynasty of
Akkad. The inherent advantages of this form of brick are attested by
its retention, with but slight variations, down to the end of the
Babylonian empire. That Gudea himself set considerable store by the
form of the bricks which he employed would seem to follow from the
passage in his first cylinder-inscription, where he describes the
ceremonies with which he inaugurated their manufacture, including the
offer of sacrifices and the pouring of a libation into the sacred
mould.[22] The use of an improved material may well have incited him
to rebuild the greater number of the sanctuaries in Lagash on their
ancient sites, but enlarged and beautified in accordance with the
new architectural ideas. From another passage in his texts it would
seem that he definitely claimed to have inaugurated a novel form of
building, or decoration, such as no patesi before him had employed.[23]
The meaning of the phrase is not quite certain, but it may, perhaps,
have reference to the sculptured reliefs with which he adorned E-ninnû.
It may also refer to the use of raised pilasters for the adornment of
facades and external walls, a form that is characteristic of later
Babylonian architecture, but is not found in the remains of buildings
at Lagash before Gudea's time.
In addition to E-ninnû, the great temple of the city-god Ningirsu,
Gudea records that he rebuilt the shrines dedicated to Bau and
Ninkharsag, and E-anna, the temple of the goddess Ninni, and he erected
temples to Galalim and Dunshagga, two of Ningirsu's sons. In Uru-azagga
he rebuilt Gatumdug's temple, and in Girsu three temples to Nindub,
Meslamtaea, and Nindar, the last of whom was associated with the
goddess Ninâ, in whose honour he made a sumptuous throne. In Girsu,
too, he built a temple to Ningishzida, his patron god, whom he appears
to have introduced at this time into the pantheon of Lagash. One of the
most novel of his reconstructions was the E-pa, the temple of the seven
zones, which he erected for Ningirsu. Gudea's building probably took
the form of a tower in seven stages, a true ziggurat, which may be
compared with those of Ur-Engur. But the work on which he most prided
himself was the rebuilding of E-ninnû, and to this he devoted all the
resources of his city. From a study of the remains of this temple that
were uncovered at Tello by M. de Sarzec, it would appear that Gudea
surrounded the site of Ur-Bau's earlier building with an enclosure,
of which a gateway and a tower, decorated with pilasters in relief,
are all that remains.[24] These were incorporated in the structure of
the late palace at Tello, a great part of which was built with bricks
from the ancient temple. It is difficult to determine the relation of
these slight remains at Tello, either to the building described by
Gudea himself, or to the plan of a fortified enclosure which one of
the statues of Gudea, as an architect, holds upon his knees. That the
plan was intended, at any rate, for a portion of the temple is clear
from the inscription, to the effect that Gudea prepared the statue for
E-ninnû, which he had just completed.
[Illustration: Fig. 65.--Tablets with architect's rule and stilus,
which the statues B and F of Gudea bear upon their knees. A ground-plan
is engraved on the upper tablet from statue B.--_Déc._, pl. 15, Figs. 1
and 2.]
The detailed account of the building of this temple, which Gudea
has left us, affords a very vivid picture of the religious life of
the Sumerians at this epoch, and of the elaborate ritual with which
they clothed the cult and worship of their gods. The record is given
upon two huge cylinders of clay, one of which was inscribed while
the work of building was still in progress, and the other after the
building and decoration of the temple had been completed, and Ningirsu
had been installed within his shrine. They were afterwards buried as
foundation-records in the structure of the temple itself, and so have
survived in a wonderfully well-preserved condition, and were recovered
during the French excavations at Tello.[25] From the first of the
cylinders we learn that Gudea decided to rebuild the temple of the
city-god in consequence of a prolonged drought, which was naturally
ascribed to the anger of the gods. The water in the rivers and canals
had fallen, the crops had suffered, and the land was threatened with
famine, when one night the patesi had a vision, by means of which the
gods communicated their orders to him.
Gudea tells us that he was troubled because he could not interpret the
meaning of the dream, and it was only after he had sought and received
encouragement from Ningirsu and Gatumdug that he betook himself to
the temple of Ninâ, the goddess who divines the secrets of the gods.
From her he learnt that the deities who had appeared to him in his
vision had been Ningirsu, the god of his city, Ningishzida, his patron
deity, his sister Nidaba, and Nindub, and that certain words he had
heard uttered were an order that he should build E-ninnû. He had
beheld Nindub drawing a plan upon a tablet of lapis-lazuli, and this
Ninâ explained was the plan of the temple he should build. Ninâ added
instructions of her own as to the gifts and offerings the patesi was
to make to Ningirsu, whose assistance she promised him in the carrying
out of the work. Gudea then describes in detail how he obtained from
Ningirsu himself a sign that it was truly the will of the gods that he
should build the temple, and how, having consulted the omens and found
them favourable, he proceeded to purify the city by special rites. In
the course of this work of preparation he drove out the wizards and
sorcerers from Lagash, and kindled a fire of cedar and other aromatic
woods to make a sweet savour for the gods; and, after completing the
purification of the city, he consecrated the surrounding districts,
the sacred cedar-groves, and the herds and cattle belonging to the
temple. He then tells us how he fetched the materials for the temple
from distant lands, and inaugurated the manufacture of the bricks with
solemn rites and ceremonies.
[Illustration: Fig. 66. Figure of a god seated upon a throne, who
may probably be identified with Ningirsu, the city-god of Lagash
(Shirpurla). Epoch of Gudea.--_Déc._, pl 22, Fig. 5; Cat No. 24.]
We are not here concerned with Gudea's elaborate description of the new
temple, and of the sumptuous furniture, the sacred emblems, and the
votive objects with which he enriched its numerous courts and shrines.
A large part of the first cylinder is devoted to this subject, and the
second cylinder gives an equally elaborate account of the removal of
the god Ningirsu from his old shrine and his installation in the new
one that had been prepared for him. This event took place on a duly
appointed day in the new year, after the city and its inhabitants had
undergone a second course of purification. Upon his transfer to his
new abode Ningirsu was accompanied by his wife Bau, his sons, and his
seven virgin daughters, and the numerous attendant deities who formed
the members of his household. These included Galalim, his son, whose
special duty it was to guard the throne and place the sceptre in the
hands of the reigning patesi; Dunshagga, Ningirsu's water-bearer;
Lugal-kurdub, his leader in battle; Lugal-sisa, his counsellor and
chamberlain; Shakanshabar, his grand vizir; Uri-zi, the keeper of
his harîm; Ensignun, who tended his asses and drove his chariot; and
Enlulim, the shepherd of his kids. Other deities who accompanied
Ningirsu were his musician and flute-player, his singer, the cultivator
of his lands, who looked after the machines for irrigation, the
guardian of the sacred fish-ponds, the inspector of his birds and
cattle, and the god who superintended the construction of houses within
the city and fortresses upon the city-wall. All these deities were
installed in special shrines within E-ninnû, that they might be near
Ningirsu and ready at any moment to carry out his orders.
The important place which ritual and worship occupied in the national
life of the Sumerians is well illustrated by these records of the
building and consecration of a single temple. Gudea's work may have
been far more elaborate than that of his predecessors, but the general
features of his plan, and the ceremonies and rites which he employed,
were doubtless fixed and sanctified by long tradition. His description
of Ningirsu's _entourage_ proves that the Sumerian city-god was
endowed with all the attributes and enjoyed all the privileges of the
patesi himself, his human counterpart and representative. His temple
was an elaborate structure, which formed the true dwelling-place of
its owner and his divine household; and it included lodgings for the
priests, treasure-chambers, storehouses, and granaries, and pens and
stabling for the kids, sheep and cattle destined for sacrifice. It is
interesting to note that in the course of building Gudea came across
a stele of Lugal-kisalsi, an earlier king of Erech and Ur.[26] From
the name which he gave it we may infer that he found it in Girnun,
which was probably one of the shrines or chapels attached to E-ninnû;
and he carefully preserved it and erected it in the forecourt of
the temple. In the respect which he showed for this earlier record,
he acted as Nabonidus did at a later day, when he came across the
foundation-inscriptions of Narâm-Sin and Shagarakti-Buriash in the
course of his rebuilding of E-babbar and E-ulmash, the temples of
Shamash and of the goddess Anunitu.
[Illustration: SEATED FIGURE OF GUDEA, PATESI OF SHIRPURLA. _In the
Louvre; photo. by Messrs. Mansell & Co._]
Of the artistic productions of Gudea's period the most striking that
have come down to us are the series of diorite statues of himself,
which were found together in the late palace at Tello. From the
inscriptions upon them it is clear that they were originally prepared
by the patesi for dedication in the principal temples of Lagash, which
he either founded or rebuilt. Three were installed in E-ninnû, of which
one is the statue of the architect with the plan, and another, a seated
figure, is the only one of the series of colossal proportions. Three
more were made for the temple of Bau, and others for Ninni's temple
E-anna, and the temples of the goddesses Gatumdug and Ninkharsag.
The small seated figure, destined for the temple of Ningishzida, is
the only one of which we possess the head, for this was discovered
by Commandant Cros during the more recent diggings at Tello, and was
fitted by M. Heuzey to the body of the figure which had been preserved
in the Louvre for many years.[27] From the photographic reproduction
it will be seen that the size of the head is considerably out of
proportion to that of the body; and it must be admitted that even the
larger statues are not all of equal merit. While in some of them the
stiffness of archaic convention is still apparent, others, such as the
seated statues for E-ninnû and that of the architect with the rule from
the temple of Gatumdug, are distinguished by a fine naturalism and a
true sense of proportion.
Some interesting variations of treatment may also be noted in two of
the standing statues from the temple of Bau. One of these is narrow
in the shoulders and slender of form, and is in striking contrast to
the other, which presents the figure of a strong and broad-shouldered
man. It would seem that the statues were sculptured at different
periods of Gudea's life, and from the changes observable we may infer
that he ascended the throne while still a young man and that his
reign must have been a long one. The diorite which he used for them
was very highly prized for its durability and beauty, and the large
block that was required for his colossal figure appears, when the
carving was completed, to have been regarded as far more precious than
lapis-lazuli, silver, and other metals.[28] Certainly the preparation
of so hard a stone presented more difficulty than that of any other
material, and that Gudea's sculptors should have learnt to deal
successfully with such large masses of it argues a considerable advance
in the development of their art.
The small copper figures of a kneeling god grasping a cone are also
characteristic of Gudea's period, but in design and workmanship they
are surpassed by the similar votive figure which dates from Ur-Bau's
reign.[29] A fine example of carving in relief is furnished by the oval
panel, in which Gudea is represented as being led into the presence of
his god;[30] a similar scene of worship, though on a smaller scale, is
engraved upon his cylinder-seal.[31] A happy example of carving in the
round, as exhibited by smaller objects of this period, is his small
mace-head of breccia decorated with the heads of three lions. In design
this clearly resembles the mace-head referred to on one of the statues
from E-ninnû, though, unlike it, the small mace-head was probably not
gilded, since the inscription upon it mentions the mountain in Syria
whence the breccia was obtained. But other carved objects of stone
that have been recovered may well have been enriched in that way, and
to their underlying material they probably owe their preservation. The
precious metal may have been stripped from these and the stone cores
thrown aside; but similar work in solid gold or silver would scarcely
have escaped the plunderer's hands.
With the exception of the period of drought, in consequence of which
Gudea decided to rebuild Ningirsu's temple, it is probable that during
the greater part of his reign the state of Lagash enjoyed unparalleled
abundance, such as is said to have followed the completion of that
work. The date-formula for one of his years of rule takes its title
from the cutting of a new canal which he named Ningirsu-ushumgal, and
there is no doubt that he kept the elaborate system of irrigation,
by which Lagash and her territories were supplied with water, in a
perfect state of repair. Evidence of the plentiful supplies which
the temple-lands produced may be seen in the increase of the regular
offerings decreed by Gudea. On New Year's day, for instance, at
the feast of Bau, after he had rebuilt her temple, he added to the
marriage-gifts which were her due, consisting of oxen, sheep, lambs,
baskets of dates, pots of butter, figs, cakes, birds, fish, and
precious woods, etc. He also records special offerings of clothing and
wool which he made to her, and of sacrificial beasts to Ningirsu and
the goddess Ninâ. For the new temple of Gatumdug he mentions the gift
of herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, together with their herdsmen
and shepherds, and of irrigation-oxen and their keepers for the sacred
lands of E-ninnû. Such references point to an increase in the revenues
of the state, and we may infer that the people of Lagash shared the
prosperity of their patesi and his priesthood.
[Illustration: Mace-head of breccia, from a mountain near the "Upper
Sea" or Mediterranean, dedicated to Ningirsu by Gudea.--_Déc._, pl. 25
_bis_, Fig. 1.]
While Gudea devoted himself to the service of his gods, he does not
appear to have enriched the temples at the expense of the common
people. He was a strict upholder of traditional privileges, such as
the freedom from taxation enjoyed by Gu-edin, Ningirsu's sacred plain;
but he did not countenance any acts of extortion on the part of his
secular or sacred officials. That Gudea's ideal of government was one
of order, law, and justice, and the protection of the weak, is shown by
his description of the state of Lagash during the seven days he feasted
with his people after the consecration of E-ninnû. He tells us that
during this privileged time the maid was the equal of her mistress,
and master and slave consorted together as friends; the powerful and
the humble man lay down side by side, and in place of evil speech
only propitious words were heard; the laws of Ninâ and Ningirsu were
observed, and the rich man did not wrong the orphan, nor did the
strong man oppress the widow. This reference to what was apparently
a legal code, sanctioned by the authority of the city-god and of a
goddess connected with the ancient shrine of Eridu, is of considerable
interest. It recalls the reforms of the ill-fated Urukagina, who
attempted to stamp out the abuses of his time by the introduction of
similar legislation.[32] Gudea lived in a happier age, and he appears
to us, not as a reformer, but as the strong upholder of the laws in
force.
That the reign of Gudea was regarded by the succeeding generations in
Lagash as the golden age of their city may perhaps be inferred from
his deification under the last kings of the Dynasty of Ur. There is no
evidence that, like Sar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin, he assumed divine
honours during his own lifetime, for in his inscriptions his name is
never preceded by the determinative of divinity, and it also occurs
without the divine prefix upon the seals of Gimdunpae, his wife, and of
Lugal-me, his scribe. In the later period his statues were doubtless
worshipped, and it has been suggested that the perpetual offerings of
drink and food and grain, which he decreed in connection with one of
them,[33] prove that it was assimilated from the first to that of a
god.[34] But the names of his statues suggest that they were purely
votive in character, and were not placed in the temples in consequence
of any claim to divinity on Gudea's part.
It was the custom of the Sumerian patesis to give long and symbolical
names to statues, stelæ and other sacred objects which they dedicated
to the gods, and Gudea's statues do not form an exception to this rule.
Thus, before he introduced the statue with the offerings into E-ninnû,
he solemnly named it "For-my-king-have-I-built-this-temple-may-life-be
-my-reward!" A smaller statue for E-ninnû was named "[The-Shepherd]-who
-loveth-his-king-am-I-may-my-life-be-prolonged!", while to the colossal
statue for the same temple he gave the title "Ningirsu-the-king-whose
-weighty-strength-the-lands-cannot-support-hath -assigned-a-favourable
-lot-unto-Gudea-the-builder-of-the-temple." The small standing statue
for the temple of Ninkharsag bore the equally long name "May-Nintud
(_i.e._ Ninkharsag)-the-mother-of-the-gods-the-arbiter-of-destinies
-in-heaven-and-upon-earth-prolong-the-life-of-Gudea-who-hath-built
-the-temple!", and another small statue for the temple of Bau was named
"The-lady-the-beloved-daughter-of-the-pure-heaven-the-mother-goddess
-Bau-in-Esilsirsir-hath-given-Gudea-life." The statue for the temple
of Ningishzida was named "To-Gudea-the-builder-of-the-temple-hath-life
-been-given," and that for E-anna bore the title "Of-Gudea-the-man-who
-hath-constructed-the-temple-may-the-life-be-prolonged!" It will be seen
that these names either assert that life and happiness have been granted
to Gudea, or they invoke the deity addressed to prolong his life. In
fact, they prove that the statues were originally placed in the temples
like other votive objects, either in gratitude for past help, or to
ensure a continuance of the divine favour.
[Illustration: BRONZE CONES, EACH OF WHICH IS HELD BY THE KNEELING
FIGURE OF A GOD, AND BEARS A VOTIVE INSCRIPTION OF GUDEA, PATESI OF
SHIRPURLA.--_Brit. Mus., Nos._ 91056 _and_ 91058.]
[Illustration: BRONZE VOTIVE FIGURES BEARING INSCRIPTIONS OF ARAD-SIN,
KING OF LARSA, AND BUR-SIN, KING OF UR.--_Brit. Mus., Nos._ 91144
_and_ 91017.]
Such evidence as we possess would seem to show that at the time of
Gudea no Sumerian ruler had ever laid claim to divine rank. It is true
that offerings were made in connection with the statue of Ur-Ninâ
during Lugal-anda's reign,[35] but Ur-Ninâ had never laid claim to
divinity himself. Moreover, other high personages treated their own
statues in the same way. Thus Shagshag, the wife of Urukagina, made
offerings in connection with her own statue, but there is no evidence
that she was deified. In fact, during the earlier periods, and also in
Gudea's own reign, the statue was probably intended to represent the
worshipper vicariously before his god.[36] Not only in his lifetime,
but also after death, the statue continued to plead for him. The
offerings were not originally made to the statue itself, but were
probably placed near it to represent symbolically the owner's offerings
to his god.
This custom may have prepared the way for the practice of deification,
but it did not originate in it. Indeed, the later development is first
found among the Semitic kings of Akkad, and probably of Kish, but
it did not travel southward until after the Dynasty of Ur had been
established for more than a generation. Ur-Engur, like Gudea, was not
deified in his own lifetime, and the innovation was only introduced by
Dungi. During the reigns of the last kings of that dynasty the practice
had been regularly adopted, and it was in this period that Gudea was
deified and his cult established in Lagash along with those of Dungi
and his contemporary Ur-Lama I.[37] By decreeing that offerings should
be made to one of his statues, Gudea no doubt prepared the way for his
posthumous deification, but he does not appear to have advanced the
claim himself. That he should have been accorded this honour after
death may be regarded as an indication that the splendour of his reign
had not been forgotten.
Gudea was succeeded upon the throne of Lagash by his son Ur-Ningirsu,
and with this patesi we may probably establish a point of contact
between the rulers of Lagash and those of Ur. That he succeeded his
father there can be no doubt, for on a ceremonial mace-head, which
he dedicated to Ningirsu, and in other inscriptions we possess, he
styles himself the son of Gudea and also patesi of Lagash. During his
reign he repaired and rebuilt at least a portion of E-ninnû, for the
British Museum possesses a gate-socket from this temple, and a few
of his bricks have been found at Tello recording that he rebuilt in
cedar-wood the Gigunû, a portion of the temple of Ningirsu, which Gudea
had erected as symbolical of the Lower World.[38] Moreover, tablets
have been found at Tello which are dated in his reign, and from these
we gather that he was patesi for at least three years, and probably
longer. From other monuments we learn that a highly placed religious
official of Lagash, who was a contemporary of Dungi, also bore the name
of Ur-Ningirsu, and the point to be decided is whether we may identify
this personage with Gudea's son.
[Illustration: GATE-SOCKET OF GUDEA, PATESI OF SHIRPURLA, INSCRIBED
WITH A TEXT RECORDING THE RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS
NINA.--_Brit. Mus., No._ 90849; _photo. by Messrs. Mansell & Co._]
Ur-Ningirsu, the official, was high-priest of the goddess Ninâ, and
he also held the offices of priest of Enki and high-priest of Anu.
Moreover, he was a man of sufficient importance to stamp his name
upon bricks which were probably used in the construction of a temple
at Lagash.[39] That he was Dungi's contemporary is known from an
inscription upon a votive wig and headdress in the British Museum,
which is made of diorite and was intended for a female statuette.[40]
The text engraved upon this object states that it was made by a certain
Bau-ninam for his lady and divine protectress, who was probably the
goddess Bau, as an adornment for her gracious person, and his object
in presenting the offering was to induce her to prolong the life of
Dungi, "the mighty man, the King of Ur." The important part of the
text concerns Bau-ninam's description of himself as a craftsman, or
subordinate official, in the service of Ur-Ningirsu, "the beloved
high-priest of Ninâ." From this passage it is clear that Ur-Ningirsu
was high-priest in Lagash at a period when Dungi, king of Ur, exercised
suzerainty over that city. If therefore we are to identify him with
Gudea's son and successor, we must conclude that he had meanwhile been
deposed from the patesiate of Lagash, and appointed to the priestly
offices which we find him holding during Dungi's reign.
The alternative suggestion that Ur-Ningirsu may have fulfilled his
sacerdotal duties during the lifetime of Gudea while he himself was
still crown-prince,[41] is negatived by the subsequent discovery
that during the reign of Dungi's father, Ur-Engur, another patesi,
named Ur-abba, was on the throne of Lagash; for tablets have been
found at Tello which are dated in the reign of Ur-Engur and also
in the patesiate of Ur-abba.[42] To reconcile this new factor with
the preceding identification, we must suppose that Ur-Ningirsu's
deposition occurred in the reign of Ur-Engur, who appointed Ur-abba
as patesi in his place. According to this view, Ur-Ningirsu was not
completely stripped of honours, but his authority was restricted to
the purely religious sphere, and he continued to enjoy his priestly
appointments during the early part of Dungi's reign. There is nothing
impossible in this arrangement, and it finds support in account-tablets
from Tello, which belong to the period of Ur-Ningirsu's reign. Some
of the tablets mention supplies and give lists of precious objects,
which were destined for "the king," "the queen," "the king's son,"
or "the king's daughter," and were received on their behalf by the
palace-chamberlain.[43] Although none of these tablets expressly
mention Ur-Ningirsu, one of the same group of documents was drawn
up in the year which followed his accession as patesi, another is
dated in a later year of his patesiate, and all may be assigned with
some confidence to his period.[44] The references to a "king" in the
official account-lists point to the existence of a royal dynasty,
whose authority was recognized at this time in Lagash. In view of the
evidence afforded by Bau-ninam's dedication we may identify the dynasty
with that of Ur.
The acceptance of the synchronism carries with it the corollary that
with Ur-Ningirsu's reign we have reached another turning point in the
history, not only of Lagash, but of the whole of Sumer and Akkad. It
is possible that Ur-Engur may have founded his dynasty in Ur before
Gudea's death, but there is no evidence that he succeeded in forcing
his authority upon Lagash during Gudea's patesiate; and, in view of
the comparative shortness of his reign, it is preferable to assign
his accession to the period of Gudea's son. Sumer must have soon
acknowledged his authority, and Lagash and the other southern cities
doubtless formed the nucleus of the kingdom on which he based his claim
to the hegemony in Babylonia. This claim on behalf of Ur was not fully
substantiated until the reign of Dungi, but in Sumer Ur-Engur appears
to have met with little opposition. Of the circumstances which led to
Ur-Ningirsu's deposition we know nothing, but we may conjecture that
his acknowledgment of Ur-Engur's authority was not accompanied by the
full measure of support demanded by his suzerain. As Gudea's son and
successor he may well have resented the loss of practical autonomy
which his city had enjoyed, and Ur-Engur may in consequence have
found it necessary to remove him from the patesiate. Ur-abba and his
successors were merely vassals of the kings of Ur, and Lagash became a
provincial city in the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad.
[1] See above, pp. 236 f., 241.
[2] It has been suggested that Ur-E was Narâm-Sin's contemporary,
since his name and that of Narâm-Sin are both found on the same tablet
(see Thureau-Dangin, "Rec. de tabl.," pp. iii. f., 45, No. 83, and
"Königsinschriften," p. 59, n. 1); but the phrase in which Narâm-Sin's
name occurs, like that which precedes it, appears to refer to a past
event. On the other hand, Ur-Babbar is mentioned on this tablet in the
same phrase with Narâm-Sin, and, although no title follows his name, we
may probably identify him with "Ur-Babbar, the patesi," referred to on
another tablet of this class (_op. cit._, No. 132); here and in similar
passages, where Lagash is not named, it is obviously implied. The
name of Lugal-bur is found upon a tablet of the Sargonic period (see
Thureau-Dangin, "Rev. d'Assyr.," Vol. V., p. 68).
[3] "Rec. de tabl.," p. 73, No. 181.
[4] _Op. cit._, Nos. 184 and 183.
[5] See Thureau-Dangin, "Rev. d'Assyr.," Vol. V., p. 68.
[6] "Rec. de tabl.," Nos. 185-187.
[7] See Heuzey, "Rev. d'Assyr.," Vol. II., p. 79.
[8] See Thureau-Dangin, "Rev. d'Assyr.," Vol. V., p. 98, and
"Königsinschriften," p. 62 f.
[9] "Rec. de tabl.," Nos. 188-190.
[10] It is improbable that we should identify Ka-azag, the patesi, with
Ka-azag, the father of Ninkagina, who dedicated a mace-head to Uri-zi
on behalf of her own life and that of Nammakhni, the patesi (cf. "Cun.
Texts in the Brit. Mus.," I., pl. 50). For Ninkagina was Nammakhni's
mother, and Ka-azag was therefore his grandfather. But if Nammakhni's
grandfather had held the patesiate, his daughter would not have omitted
the title after his name; moreover, Nammakhni himself obtained the
patesiate through marriage, not by inheritance.
[11] See Heuzey, "Rev. d'Assyr.," Vol. II., p. 79.
[12] "Rec. de tabl.," Nos. 192 ff., 207, and 209-211.
[13] See below, pp. 274 ff.
[14] See the opposite plate; and cf. "Cun. Texts," Pt. I., pl. 50.
[15] See De Sarzec, "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 7.
[16] See Thureau-Dangin, "Königsinschriften," pp. 60 ff.
[17] See above, p. 18 f.
[18] For his inscribed monuments, see "Königsinschriften," pp. 66 ff.
[19] See De Sarzec, "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 16-19.
[20] See "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 9.
[21] Cf. Heuzey, "Catalogue des antiquités chaldéennes," p. 49.
[22] Cylinder A, col. XVIII., ll. 5 ff.
[23] Statue B, col. VI., l. 77--col. VII. l. 6.
[24] Cf. Heuzey, "Comptes rendus," 1894, p. 34; and see above, p. 18 f.
[25] For their text, see De Sarzec, "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 33-36;
Price, "The Great Cylinder Inscriptions A and B of Gudea"; and
Toscanne, "Les Cylindres de Gudéa"; for their translation see
Thureau-Dangin, "Les Cylindres de Goudéa," and "Königsinschriften," pp.
88 ff.; a summary and discussion of their contents are given by King
and Hall, "Egypt and Western Asia," pp. 195 ff.
[26] Cf. Cylinder A, col. XXIII., ll. 8 ff.; see above, p. 199 f.
[27] See the plate opposite p. 268; and cf. Heuzey, "Rev. d'Assyr.,"
Vol. VI., pp. 18 ff.
[28] Cf. Statue B, col. VII., ll. 49-54.
[29] See De Sarzec, "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 8 _bis_, Fig. 1, and Heuzey,
"Catalogue," pp. 300 ff.
[30] See above, p. 47, Fig. 12.
[31] See Heuzey, "Rev. d'Assyr.," V., p. 135; "Déc. en Chaldée," p. 293
f.
[32] See above, pp. 178 ff.
[33] See Statue B, col. I.
[34] Cf. Scheil, "Rec. de trav.," Vol. XVIII., p. 64.
[35] See above, p. 169.
[36] Cf. Genouillac, "Tabl. sum. arch.," p. lvi. f.
[37] See further, Chap. X., pp. 288, 298 f.
[38] See Thureau-Dangin, "Zeits. für Assyr.," XVIII., p. 132.
[39] See "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 37, No. 8. A comparison of this brick
with one of Ur-Ningirsu, the patesi (see No. 9 on the same plate), will
show the similarity in the forms of the characters employed.
[40] See the plate opposite p. 206.
[41] Cf. Winckler, "Untersuchungen zur altorientalischen Geschichte,"
p. 42.
[42] See Thureau-Dangin, "Rev. d'Assyr.," Vol. V., p. 7.
[43] See Thureau-Dangin, _op. cit._, p. 70, and "Rec. de tabl.," p. v.
[44] One of the tablets of the group is dated by the construction of
the temple of Ningirsu; this need not be referred to Gudea's building
of E-ninnû, but rather to Ur-Ningirsu's work upon the temple, or even
to a later reconstruction.