Chapter 6

[7]Cf. Radau, "Early Babylonian History," pp. 30 ff., 215 ff.

[8]Cf. King, "Chronicles," I., p. 16. This explanation is preferable to Lehmann-Haupfs emendation of the figures, by which he suggests that a thousand years were added to it by a scribal error. The principle of emending the figures in these later chronological references is totally unscientific. For the emenders, while postulating mechanical errors in the writing of the figures, still regard the calculations of the native scribes as above reproach; whereas many of their figures, which are incapable of emendation, are inconsistent with each other.

[9]For references, see King, "Chronicles," I., p. 77. n. 1.

[10]Op. cit., pp. 93 ff.

[11]Op. cit., Chap. IV. f. Meyer also adopts this view ("Geschichte des Altertums," Bd. I., Hft. II., p. 340 f.).

[12]Cf. "Chronicles," I., pp. 90 ff.

[13]The purely arbitrary character of the assumption is well illustrated by the different results obtained by those who make it. By clinging to Berossus's date of 2232 B.C., Thureau-Dangin assigns to the second dynasty of the Kings' List a period of 168 years of independent rule in Babylon (cf. "Zeits. für Assyr.," XXI., pp. 176 ff., and "Journal des savants," 1908, pp. 190 ff.), and Ungnad 177 years ("Orient. Lit.-Zeit.," 1907, col. 638, 1908, col. 63 ff.). Lehmann-Haupt, in his suggested reconciliation of the new data with his former emendation of the Bavian date, makes the period 80 years ("Klio," 1908, pp. 227 E). Poebel, ignoring Berossus and attempting to reconcile the native chronological notices to early kings, makes it 160 years (cf. "Zeits. für Assyr.," XXI., pp. 162 ff.). The latest combination is that proposed by Schnabel, who accepts the date of 2232 B.C. for both the system of Berossus and that represented by the Kings' List, but places the historical beginning of the First Dynasty in 2172 B.C.; this necessitates a gap of 120 years between Dynasties I. and III. ("Mitteil. der Vorderas. Gesellschaft," 1908, pp. 241 ff.). But all these systems are mainly based on a manipulation of the figures, and completely ignore the archaeological evidence.

[14]See below, Chap. XI.,pp. 313 ff.

[15]Cf. Hilprecht, "Math., Met., and Chron. Tabl.," p. 55, n. 1.

[16]Thureau-Dangin would assign only one hundred years to this period (cf. "Journal des savants," 1908, p. 201).

[17]The period may well have been longer, especially if Manishtusu should prove to have been the contemporary of Urukagina.

[18]See below,pp. 176, n. 2,209 f.

[19]For a list of the kings and rulers of Sumer and Akkad with their approximate dates, see the List of Rulers at the end of the volume.

[20]See the plate oppositep. 62. The objects have been previously published by Hayes Ward in "Proc. Amer. Orient. Soc.," Oct., 1885, and "Amer. Journ. Arch.," vol. iv. (1888), pp. 39 ff. They subsequently found their way into a London sale-room, where they were bought as forgeries and presented as such to the British Museum.

[21]Our knowledge of Sumerian art is mainly derived from the finds at Tello, since the objects from other early sites are not yet published. For its best and fullest discussion, see Heuzey's descriptions in "Découvertes en Chaldée," his "Catalogue des antiquités chaldéennes," "Une Villa royale chaldéenne," and the "Revue d'Assyriologie"; cf. also Perrot and Chipiez, "Histoire de l'art," vol. ii. The finest examples of Semitic art have been found at Susa (see De Morgan, "Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse,"passim). A scientific treatment of the subject is adopted by Meyer in "Sumerier und Semiten," but he is inclined to assign too much credit to the Semite, and to overestimate his share in the artistic development of the two races.

[22]See below,p. 267, Fig. 66.

[23]See the photographic reproduction in "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 22, Fig. 5.

[24]For the use of these perforated sculptures, see below,p. 110 f.

[25]The rite is represented upon other Sumerian monuments such as the Stele of the Vultures (see below,p. 140). Heuzey suggests that the liturgy may have forbidden the loss of the libation-water, the rite symbolizing its use for the profit of vegetation; cf. "Catalogue des antiquités chaldéennes," p. 118.

[26]See the plate oppositep. 52.

[27]Cf. Heuzey, "Déc. en Chaldée," p. 218; "Catalogue," p. 149.

[28]See "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 24, Fig. 4, pp. 216 ff.

[29]See the plate oppositep. 268.

[30]For the seated statue of Gudea as the architect of Gatumdug's temple, see the plate oppositep. 66; and for descriptions of the statues, see Chap. IX.,p. 269 f.

[31]See the very beautiful drawing in outline which Heuzey prints on the title-page of his Catalogue.

[32]Cf. Heuzey, "Déc. en Chaldée," p. 158.

[33]It should be noted that of the seven objects from Nippur and other south-Babylonian sites which were submitted to analysis by Herr Otto Helm in Danzig, only two contained a percentage of tin (cf. "Zeitschrift für Ethnologie," 1901, pp. 157 ff.). Of these a nail (op. cit., p. 161) is from a stratum in Nippur, dated by Prof. Hilprecht himself after 300 A.D. The "stilusartige Instrument," which, like the nail, contained over five per cent, of tin, was not found at Nippur, but is said to have come from a mound about thirty miles to the south of it. Nothing is therefore known with accuracy as to its date. The percentage of antimony in the other objects is comparatively small, and the dates assigned to them are not clearly substantiated. These facts do not justify Hilprecht's confident statement in "Explorations," p. 252. Meyer also credits the earliest Sumerians with using bronze beside copper, and he describes the axe-heads and arm-rings found in the early graves as of bronze (cf. "Geschichte des Altertums," Bd. I., Hft. II., p. 416 f.); but he also describes the little foundation-figures from the oldest stratum at Tello as of bronze, whereas analysis has proved them to be copper.

[34]This point is made by Sayce (cf. "The Archaeology of the Cuneiform Inscriptions," p. 59 f.), who, however, holds the definite opinion that nothing of bronze has been discovered on the earlier sites (op. cit., p. 55 f.).

[35]Cf. Berthelot, "La chimie au moyen âge," tome I., Appendix IX., p. 391 f.; "Introduction à l'étude de la chimie," p. 227 f., and Heuzey in "Déc. en Chaldée," p. 238; antimony is said to have been known and used by itself, though not as an alloy (Berthelot, "Introd.," p. 223), but there is no proof of the date of the fragment from Tello, which was analysed. It may be added that the votive figures of Gudea's reign, which are preserved in the British Museum and are usually regarded as of bronze (cf. the plate opposite p. 272), should, since they came from Tello, be more accurately described as of copper.

[36]See Loftus, "Chaldaea and Susiana," p. 268 f., who describes all the objects as of copper. One of the knives excavated by Loftus was subsequently analysed and found to be copper (see "Report of the British Assoc.," Nottingham, 1893, p. 715); this analysis was confirmed by that of Dr. J. H. Gladstone (published in the "Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.," vol. xvi., p. 98 f.). A careful analysis of the metal objects found by members of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft at Fâra in 1902 and 1903, and styled by them as bronze (see "Mitteilungen," No. 17, p. 6), would probably result in proving the absence of any alloy.

[37]See the blocks onp. 256.

[38]See the plate oppositep. 272.

[39]See "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 45, Fig. 1.

[40]See Fig. 27, and cf. Hilprecht, "Explorations," p. 539 f.

[41]Like the brick-stamps, they may sometimes have been made of clay burnt to an extreme hardness.

[42]See the stamped figure published on the plate oppositep. 72from a terra-cotta in the British Museum.

[43]The ringed staff occurs as a sacred emblem upon cylinder-seals, and is sometimes carried by heroes (cf. p. 82, Fig. 34). A colossal example of one, made of wood and sheathed in copper, was found at Tello by De Sarzec (see Heuzey, "Rev. d'Assyr.," IV., p. 112, and "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 57, Fig. 1), but the precise use and significance of the object has not been determined.

[44]See the plate oppositep. 76, and see below,p. 174 f.

[45]It should be noted that a few of the early cylinder-seals found at Fâra Andrae considers to have been engraved with the help of the wheel (see "Mitteil. der Deutsch. Orient-Gesellschaft," No. 17, p. 5). The suggestion has also been made that, on the introduction of harder stones, the cutting tool may have been tipped with a flake of corundum; cf. Hayes Ward, "Cylinders and other Oriental Seals," p. 13.

[46]For early examples, see above,p. 49.

[47]See further, Chap. XII.

[48]See below,p. 175.

[49]See the plate oppositep. 124.

[50]See Heuzey, "Catalogue," p. 387.

[51]See above,p. 79, Fig. 30.

[52]See above,p. 78, and below,p. 167 f.

In their origin the great cities of Babylonia were little more than collections of rude huts constructed at first of reeds cut in the marshes, and gradually giving place to rather more substantial buildings of clay and sun-dried brick. From the very beginning it would appear that the shrine of the local god played an important part in the foundation and subsequent development of each centre of population. Of the prehistoric period in Babylonia we know little, but it may be assumed that, already at the time of the Sumerian immigration, rude settlements had been formed around the cult-centres of local gods. This, at any rate, was the character of each town or city of the Sumerians themselves during the earliest periods to which we can trace back their history. At Fâra, the most primitive Sumerian site that has yet been examined, we find the god Shuruppak giving his own name to the city around his shrine, and Ningirsu of Lagash dominates and directs his people from the first. Other city-gods, who afterwards became powerful deities in the Babylonian pantheon, are already in existence, and have acquired in varying degrees their later characters. Enki of Eridu is already the god of the deep, the shrine of Enzu or Nannar in the city of Ur is a centre of the moon-cult, Babbar of Larsa appears already as a sun-god and the dispenser of law and justice, while the most powerful Sumerian goddess, Ninni or Nanâ of Erech, already has her shrine and worshippers in the city of her choice.

By what steps the city-gods acquired their latercharacters it is impossible now to say, but we may assume that the process was a gradual one. In the earlier stages of its history the character of the local god, like that of his city, must have been far more simple and primitive than it appears to us as seen in the light of its later development. The authority of each god did not extend beyond the limits of his own people's territory. Each city was content to do battle on his behalf, and the defeat of one was synonymous with the downfall of the other. With the gradual amalgamation of the cities into larger states, the god of the predominant city would naturally take precedence over those of the conquered or dependent towns, and to the subsequent process of adjustment we may probably trace the relationships between the different deities and the growth of a pantheon. That Enki should have been the god of the deep from the beginning is natural enough in view of Eridu's position on an expanse of water connected with the Persian Gulf. But how it came about that Ur was the centre of a moon-cult, or that Sippar in the north and Larsa in the south were peculiarly associated with the worship of the sun, are questions which cannot as yet be answered, though it is probable that future excavations on their sites may throw some light upon the subject.

In the case of one city excavation has already enabled us to trace the gradual growth of its temple and the surrounding habitations during a considerable portion of their history. The city of Nippur stands in a peculiar relation to others in Sumer and Akkad, as being the central shrine in the two countries and the seat of Enlil, the chief of the gods. Niffer, or Nuffar, is the name by which the mounds marking its site are still known. They have been long deserted, and, like the sites of many other ancient cities in Babylonia and Assyria, no modern town or village is built upon them or in their immediate neighbourhood. The nearest small town is Sûk el-'Afej, about four miles to the south, lying on the eastern edge of the Afej marshes, which begin to the south of Niffer and stretch away to the west. The nearest large town is Dîwânîya, on the left bank of the Euphrates twenty miles to the south-west.In the summer the marshes in the neighbourhood of the mounds consist of pools of water connected by channels through the reed-beds, but in the spring, when the snows have melted in the Taurus and the mountains of Kurdistan, the flood-water converts the marshes into a vast lagoon, and all that meets the eye are isolated date-palms and a few small hamlets built on rising knolls above the water-level.

Although, during the floods, Niffer is at times nearly isolated, the water never approaches within a considerable distance of the actual mounds. This is not due to any natural configuration of the soil, but to the fact that around the inner city, the site of which is marked by the mounds, there was built an outer ring of habitations at a time when the enclosed town of the earlier periods became too small to contain the growing population. The American excavations, which have been conducted on the site between the years 1889 and 1900, have shown that the earliest area of habitation was far more restricted than the mounds which cover the inner city.[1]In the plan on p. 88 it will be seen that this portion of the site is divided into two parts by the ancient bed of the Shatt en-Nîl. The contours of the mounds are indicated by dotted lines, and each of them bears a number in Roman figures. Mound III. is that which covered E-kur, the temple of Enlil, and it was around the shrine, in the shaded area upon the plan, that the original village or settlement was probably built. Here in the lowest stratum of the mound were found large beds of wood-ashes and animal bones, the remains of the earliest period of occupation.

Early Babylonian plan of the temple of Enlil at Nippur and its enclosure, drawn upon a clay tablet dating from the first half of the second millennium B.C. The labels on the plan are translated from notes on the original.—Cf. Fisher, "Excavations at Nippur," I., pl. 1.

It is difficult to trace through all its stages the early growth of the city, but it would seem that the shrine in the centre of the town was soon raised upon an artificial mound to protect it during periods of inundation. Moreover, as at Fâra, the original settlement must have expanded quickly, for even below the mounds to the south-west of the Shatt en-Nîl, strata have been found similar in character to those underthe temple-mound, as well as bricks and wells of the pre-Sargonic period. In reconstructing the plan of the later areas occupied by the temple and its enclosure, considerable assistance has been obtained from an ancient plan of the temple, drawn upon a clay tablet that was found at Nippur. From the form of thecharacters inscribed upon it, it does not appear to date from an earlier period than the first half of the second millennium B.C., but it may well be a copy of an older original since the form of its temple-enclose appears to agree with that in the time of Narâm-Sin as revealed by the excavations. In it the position of E-kur is marked at one end of a great enclosure surrounded by an irregular wall. The enclosure is cut by a canal or sluice, on the other side of which stood temple-storehouses.

NIPPUR: The inner city after Fischer

The position of gates in the wall are marked, and it will be noted that a large stream, labelled the Euphrates, washes its upper side, while on its other sides are terraces and moats. These details are incorporated in the accompanying plan, but their suggested relation to the remains uncovered in the course of the excavations is largely conjectural. Moreover the period in the temple's history represented by the tablet is not certainly established, and some of the details such asthe ground-plan of the temple itself may reproduce its later form.

The most striking feature in the temple-area, which was uncovered in the course of the excavations, is the great temple-tower, or ziggurat, erected by Ur-Engur, and faced by him with kiln-baked bricks bearing his name and inscription.[2]The ziggurat in its later and imposing form was built by him, though within its structure were found the cores of earlier and smaller towers, erected by Narâm-Sin and during the pre-Sargonic period. In fact, Ur-Engur considerably altered the appearance of the temple. In addition to building the ziggurat, he raised the level of the inner court above Narâm-Sin's pavement, and he straightened the course of the outer wall, using that of Narâm-Sin as a foundation where it crossed his line. His wall also included mounds XII. and V., in the latter of which many of the temple-archives have been found. During the Kassite period these were stored in buildings in mound X., across the Shatt en-Nîl in the area included within the inner city during the later periods. An alteration in the course of the river from the north-east to the south-west side of the temple area probably dates from the period of Samsu-iluna, who upon a cone found indébrisin the temple-court records that he erected a dam and dug out a new channel for the Euphrates. His object in doing so was probably to bring a supply of water within reach of the later extension of the city on the south-west side.

The excavations on the site of Nippur and its temple have illustrated the gradual increase in the size of a Sumerian city, and the manner in which the temple of the city-god retained its position as the central and most important building. The diggings, however, have thrown little light upon the form the temple assumed during periods anterior to the Dynasty of Ur. In fact, we do not yet know the form or arrangement of an early Sumerian temple; for on early sites such as Fâra, Surghul, and Bismâya, the remains of no important building were uncovered, while the scanty remains of Ningirsu's temple at Tello date fromthe comparatively late period of Ur-Bau and Gudea. On the latter site, however, a number of earlier constructions have been discovered, and, although they are not of a purely religious character, they may well have been employed in connection with the temple service. Apart from private dwellings, they are the only buildings of the early Sumerians that have as yet been recovered, and they forcibly illustrate the primitive character of the cities of this time.

The group of oldest constructions at Tello was discovered in the mound known as K, which rises to a height of seventeen metres above the plain. It is the largest and highest after the Palace Tell, to the south-east of which it lies at a distance of about two hundred metres.[3]Here, during his later excavations on the site, M. de Sarzec came upon the remains of a regular agricultural establishment, which throw an interesting light upon certain passages in the early foundation-inscriptions referring to constructions of a practical rather than of a purely religious character. It is true the titles of these buildings are often difficult to explain, but the mention of different classes of plantations in connection with them proves that they were mainly intended for agricultural purposes. Their titles are most frequently met with in Entemena's records, but Ur-Ninâ refers by name to the principal storehouse, and the excavations have shown that before his time this portion of the city had already acquired its later character. Here was situated the administrative centre of the sacred properties attached to the temples, and possibly also those of the patesi himself. It is true that the name of Ningirsu's great storehouse does not occur upon bricks or records found in the ancient structures upon Tell K, but it is quite possible that this was not a name for a single edifice, but was a general title for the whole complex of buildings, courts and outhouses employed in connection with the preparation and storage of produce from the city's lands and plantations.

SOUTH-EASTERN FACADE OF A BUILDING AT TELLO, ERECTED BY UR-NINA, KING OF SHIRPURLA.—Déc. en Chald., pl. 54.

At a depth of only two and a half metres from the surface of the tell M. de Sarzec came upon abuilding of the period of Gudea, of which only the angle of a wall remained. But, unlike the great Palace Tell, where the lowest diggings revealed nothing earlier than the reign of Ur-Bau, a deepening of his trenches here resulted in the recovery of buildings dating from the earliest periods in the history of the city. In accordance with the practice of the country, as each new building had been erected on the site, the foundations of the one it had displaced were left intact and carefully preserved within the new platform, in order to raise the building still higher above the plain and form a solid substructure for its support. To this practice we owe the preservation, in a comparatively complete form, of the foundations of earlier structures in the mound. At no great depth beneath Gudea's building were unearthed the remains of Ur-Ninâ's storehouse. Comparatively small in size, it is oriented by its angles, the two shorter sides facing north-west and south-east, and the two longer ones south-west and north-east, in accordance with the normal Sumerian system.[4]It was built of kiln-baked bricks, not square and flat like those of Gudea or of Sargon and Narâm-Sin, but oblong and plano-convex, and each bore the mark of a right thumb imprinted in the middle of its convex side. A few of the bricks that were found bear Ur-Ninâ's name in linear characters, and record his construction of the "House of Girsu," while one of them refers to the temple of Ningirsu. These may not have been in their original positions, but there is little doubt that the storehouse dates from Ur-Ninâ's reign, and it may well have been employed in connection with the temple of the city-god.

Built upon a platform composed of three layers of bricks set in bitumen, the walls of the building were still preserved to the height of a few feet. It is to be noted that on none of the sides is there a trace of any doorway or entrance, and it is probable that access was obtained from the outside by ladders of wood, or stairways of unburnt brick, reaching to the upper story. At D and E on the plan are traces of what may have been either steps or buttresses, butthese do not belong to the original building and were added at a later time. The absence of any entrance certainly proves that the building was employed as a storehouse.[5]Within the building are two chambers, the one square (A), the other of a more oblong shape (B). They were separated by a transverse passage or corridor (C), which also ran round inside the outer walls, thus giving the interior chamber additional security. The double walls were well calculated to protect the interior from damp or heat, and would render it more difficult for pillagers to effect an entrance. Both in the chambers and the passages a coating of bitumen was spread upon the floor and walls. Here grain, oil, and fermented drink could have been stored in quantity, and the building may also have served as a magazine for arms and tools, and for the more precious kinds of building material.

TELLO: Store-House of Ur-Ninâ.

Around the outside of the building, at a distanceof about four metres from it, are a series of eight brick bases, two on each side, in a direct line with the walls.[6]On these stood pillars of cedar-wood, of which the charred remains were still visible. They probably supported a great wooden portico or gallery, which ran round the walls of the building and was doubtless used for the temporary storage of goods and agricultural implements. On the north-east side of the building a brick pavement (F) extended for some distance beyond the gallery, and at the southern angle, within the row of pillars and beneath the roof of the portico, was a small double basin (G) carefully lined with bitumen. At a greater distance from the house were two larger basins or tanks (I and K), with platforms built beside them of brick and bitumen (J and L); with one of them was connected a channel or water-course (M). At a later time Eannatum sunk a well not far to the west of Ur-Ninâ's storehouse, and from it a similar water-course ran to a circular basin; a large oval basin and others of rectangular shape were found rather more to the north. These, like Ur-Ninâ's tanks, were probably employed for the washing of vessels and for the cleansing processes which accompanied the preparation and storage of date-wine, the pressing of oil, and the numerous other occupations of a large agricultural community.

TELLO: Building anterior to Ur-Ninâ after De Sarzec

A still earlier building was discovered at a depth of five metres below that of Ur-Ninâ, but it is more difficult to determine the purpose to which it was put. It was built upon a solid platform (C), which has the same orientation as Ur-Ninâ's storehouse and rises above the groundlevel marked by the remains of a brick pavement (D). It is strange that the building itself is not in the centre of the platform and for some unknown reason was set at a slight angle to it. It consists of two chambers, each with a doorway, the smaller chamber (A) on a level with the platform, the larger one (B) considerably below it, from which it must have been reached by a ladder. At intervals along the surface of the walls were cavities lined with bitumen, which may have supported the wooden columns of a superstructure, or possibly the supports of an arched roof of reeds. It is possible that we here have a form of religious edifice, but the depth of the larger chamber suggests that, like Ur-Ninâ's building, it was employed as a sort of store-house or treasure-chamber.

The bricks of the building were small and plano-convex, with thumb-impressions and without inscriptions, so that it is impossible to recover the name of its builder. But the objects found at the same deep level indicate a high antiquity, and present us with a picture of some of the inhabitants of the country at a time when this building, which was one of the oldest constructions at Lagash, stood upon the surface of the mound. The circular relief, sculptured with the meeting of the chieftains,[7]was found in fragments near the building. Another archaic piece of sculpture of the same remote period, which was also found in the neighbourhood, represents a figure, crowned with palm-branches; one hand is raised in an attitude of speech or adoration, and on the right are two standards supporting what appear to be colossal mace-heads. The sex of the figure is uncertain, but it may well be that of a woman; the lines below the chin which comefrom behind the ear, are not necessarily a beard, but may be intended for a thick lock of hair falling over the right shoulder. The scene probably represents an act of worship, and an archaic inscription on the field of the plaque appears to record a list of offerings, probably in honour of Ningirsu, whose name is mentioned together with that of his temple E-ninnû. It is interesting to note that in this very early age the temple of the city-god of Lagash already bore its later name.

Fig. 38.—Archaic plaque from Tello, engraved in low relief with a scene of adoration. In an inscription on the stone, which appears to enumerate a list of offerings, reference is made to Ningirsu and his temple E-ninnû.—Déc., pl. 1bis, Fig. 1.

The earliest written records of the Sumerians which we possess, apart from those engraved upon stone and of a purely votive character, concern the sale and donation of land, and they prove that certain customs were already in vogue with regard to the transfer of property, which we meet with again in later historical periods. A few such tablets of rounded form and fashioned of unburnt clay were found at Lagash on Tell K, and slightly below the level of Ur-Ninâ's building;[8]they may thus be assigned to a period anterior to his reign. Others of the same rounded form, but of baked clay, have been found at Shuruppak. It is a significant fact that several of these documents, after describing the amount of land sold and recording the principal price that was paid for it, enumerate a number of supplementary presents made by the buyer to the seller and his associates.[9]The presents consist of oxen, oil, wool and cloth, and precisely similar gifts are recorded on the Obelisk of Manishtusu.[10]It would thus appear that even in this early period the system of land tenure was already firmly established, which prevailed in both Sumer and Akkad under the earlier historical rulers.

From the Shuruppak tablets we also learn the names of a number of early rulers or officials of that city, in whose reigns or periods of office the documents were drawn up. Among the names recovered are those of Ur-Ninpa, Kanizi and Mash-Shuruppak, but they are given no titles on the tablets, and it isimpossible to say whether their office preceded that of the patesi, or whether they were magistrates of the city who were subordinate to a ruler of higher rank. Another of these early deeds of sale is inscribed, not upon a tablet, but on the body of a black stone statuette that has been found at Tello.[11]From the text we learn that the buyer of the property was a certain Lupad, and the figure is evidently intended to represent him. Although it was found on the site of Lagash, and the text records a purchase of land in that city, it is remarkable that Lupad is described as a high official of the neighbouring city of Umma, which was the principal rival of Lagash during the greater part of its history. The archaic character ofthe sculpture, and the early form of writing upon it, suggest a date not much later than that of Ur-Ninâ, so that we must suppose the transaction took place at a period when one of the two rival cities acknowledged the suzerainty of the other. Unlike other Sumerian figures that have been recovered, Lupad's head has a slight ridge over the brow and below the cheek-bones. This has been explained by Heuzey as representing short hair and beard, but it more probably indicates the limits of those portions of the head and face that were shaved.[12]Thus Lupad presents no exception to the general Sumerian method of treating the hair.

Fig. 39.—Figure of Lupad, a high official of the city of Umma, inscribed with a text recording a purchase of land in Lagash (Shirpurla); from Tello.—In the Louvre; cf. Comptes rendus, 1907, p. 518.

Fig 40.—Statue of Essar, King of Adab, preserved in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople; from Bismâya.

In order to assign a date to such figures as that of Lupad, it is necessary, in the absence of other evidence, to be guided entirely by the style of the sculpture and the character of the writing. Several such figures of archaic Sumerian type have been recovered, and three of them represent kings who ruled in different cities at this early period. The finest of these is a standing figure of Esar, King of Adab, which was found in the course of the American excavations at Bismâya, and is now preserved in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. Its discoverers claimed that it was the earliest example of Sumerian sculpture known,[13]but it may be roughly placed at about the time of Ur-Ninâ's dynasty. A second king is represented by two fragments of a statuette from Tello, inscribed in archaic characters with a dedicatory text of E-abzu, King of Umma,[14]while the third is a seated figure of a king of the northern city or district of Ma'er, or Mari, and ispreserved in the British Museum.[15]The same uncertainty applies to the date of Ur-Enlil, a patesi of Nippur, whose name is mentioned on one of the fragments of votive vases from that city which were found together on the south-east side of the temple-tower.[16]As in the case of Esar, King of Adab, we can only assign these rulers approximately to the period of the earlier rulers of Lagash.

It is in the city of Lagash that our knowledge of Sumerian history may be said to begin. The excavation of the site has yielded an abundance of material from which it is possible to arrange her rulers for long periods in chronological order, and to reconstruct the part they played in conflicts between the early city-states. It is true that some of her earlier kings and patesis remain little more than names to us, but with the accession of Ur-Ninâ we enter a period in which our knowledge of events is continuous, so far at least as the fortunes of the city were concerned. With the growth of her power it is also possible to trace in some detail the relations she maintained with other great cities in the land.

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