Chapter 9

PORTION OF THE "STELE OF VULTURES," SCULPTURED WITH A SCENE REPRESENTING THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD AFTER A BATTLE.—In the Louvre; photo, by Messrs. Mansell & Co.

Considerable light is thrown upon the burial customs of the Sumerians by the scene sculptured in the third register, or section, on the reverse of the stele of Eannatum. Portions of the scene are preserved upon the fragments C and F, which we have already noted may be connected with each other by means of the fragment G, preserved in the British Museum. In this register we have a representation of the scenes following the victory of Eannatum, when the king and his army had time to collect their dead and bury themwith solemn rites and sacrifices beneath huge tells or burial-mounds. It will be remembered that a fragment of the top register portrays the collection of the dead upon the battlefield; here, on the left, we see the mounds in course of construction, under which the dead were buried.[27]The dead are quite nude, and are seen to be piled up in rows, head to head and feet to feet alternately. The two corpses at the base are sculptured lying flat upon the ground, and, as the tell rises, they appear to be arranged like the sticks of a fan. This arrangement was doubtless due to the sculptor's necessity of filling the semi-circular head of the tell, and does not represent the manner in which the corpses were actually arranged for burial. We may conclude that they were set out symmetrically in double rows, and that the position of every one was horizontal, additional rows being added until sufficient height had been attained.

Two living figures are sculptured on the fragment, engaged in the work of completing the burial. They are represented as climbing the pile of corpses, and they seem to be helping themselves up by means of a rope which they grasp in their right hands. On their heads they carry baskets piled up with earth, which they are about to throw upon the top of the mound. In the relief they appear to be climbing upon the limbs of the dead, but it is probable that they began piling earth from below and climbed the sides of the mound as it was raised. The sculptor has not seen how to represent the sides of the tell without hiding his corpses, so he has omitted the piled earth altogether, unless, indeed, what appears to be a rope which the carriers hold is really intended for the side of the mound in section. It has been suggested that the carriers are bearing offerings for the dead, but the baskets appear to be heaped with earth, not offerings, and the record in the text upon the stele, that Eannatum piled up twenty burial-mounds after his battle with the men of Umma, is sufficient justification for the view that the scene represents one of these mounds in course of construction.

Part of the Stele of the Vultures, sculptured with a sacrificial scene which took place at the burial of the dead after battle. The fragments represents the head of a bull, which is staked to the ground and prepared for sacrifice. The foot and robe probably belonged to a figure of Eannatum, who presided at the funeral rites.—Fragment F, Reverse;Déc.,pl. 4ter.

The continuation of the scene upon the other two fragments,[28]proves that the burial of the dead was attended with elaborate funeral rites, and the offering of sacrifices. To the right of the workers engaged in piling up the burial-mound may be seen a bull lying on his back upon the ground, and bound securely with ropes to two stout stakes driven into the soil close to its head and tail. He is evidently the victim, duly prepared for sacrifice, that will be offered when the burial-mound has been completed. In the field above the bull are sculptured other victims and offerings, which were set out beside the bull. We see a row of six lambs or kids, decapitated, and arranged symmetrically, neck to tail, and tail to neck. Two large water-pots, with wide mouths, and tapering towards the base, stand on the right of the bull; palm-branches, placed in them, droop down over their rims, and a youth, completely nude, is pouring water into one of them from a smaller vessel. He is evidently pouring out a libation, as we may infer from a similar scene on another early Sumerian relief that has been recovered.[29]Beyondthe large vessels there appear to be bundles of faggots, and in the field above them are sculptured a row of growing plants. These probably do not rise from the large vessels, as they appear to do in the sculpture, but form a separate row beyond the faggots and the vessels. At the head of the bull may be seen the foot and part of the robe of a man who directs the sacrifice. As in all the other registers upon the reverse of the stele Eannatum occupies a prominent position, we may conclude that this is part of the figure of Eannatum himself. He occupies the centre of the field in this register, and presides at the funeral rites of the warriors who have fallen in his service.

Fig. 48.—Part of the Stele of the Vultures, which was sculptured with a scene representing Eannatum deciding the fate of prisoners taken in battle. The point of the spear, which he grasped in his left hand, touches the head of the captive king of Kish.—Fragments C and F, Reverse;Déc.,pl. 3 and 4ter.

Of the last scene that is preserved upon the Stele of the Vultures very little remains upon the fragments recovered, but this is sufficient to indicate its character. Eannatum was here portrayed deciding the fate of prisoners taken in battle. Of his figure only the left hand is preserved; it is grasping a heavy spear or lance by the end of the shaft as in the second register. The spear passes over the shaven heads of a row of captives, and at the end of the row its point touches the head of a prisoner of more exalted rank, who faces the king and raises one hand in token of submission. A fragment of inscription behind the head of this captive gives the name "Al-[...], King of Kish," and it may be concluded with considerable probability that these words form a label attached to the figure of the chief prisoner, like the labels engraved near the head of Eannatum in the two upper registers, which describe him as "Eannatum, champion of the god Ningirsu." There is much more to be said for thisexplanation than for the possibility that the words formed part of an account of a war waged by Eannatum against Kish, which has been added to the record of his war with Umma. According to such a view the stele must have been larger than we have supposed, since it would have included additional registers at the base of the reverse for recording the subsequent campaigns and their illustration by means of reliefs. The monument would thus have been erected to commemorate all the wars of Eannatum. But that against Umma would be the most important, and its record, copied directly from the text of the treaty, would still occupy three quarters of the stone. Moreover, we should have to suppose that the scribe slavishly copied the text of the stele of delimitation even down to its title, and made no attempt to assimilate with it the later records, which we must assume he added in the form of additional paragraphs. Such a supposition is extremely unlikely, and it is preferable to regard the words behind the prisoner's head as a label, and to conclude that the connected text of the stele ended, as it appears to do, with the name and description of the stone, which is engraved as a sort of colophon upon the upper part of the field in the fourth register.

According to this alternative we need assume the existence of no registers other than those of which we already possess fragments, and the conception and arrangement of the reliefs gains immensely in unity and coherence. On the obverse we have only two registers, the upper one rather larger than the one below, and both devoted, as we have seen, to representations of Ningirsu and his attendant goddesses. The reverse of the stone, divided into four registers, is assigned entirely to Eannatum, who is seen leading his troops to the attack, returning in his chariot from the field of battle, performing funeral rites for his dead soldiers, and deciding the fate of captives he has taken. Thus the reliefs admirably illustrate the description of the war with Umma, and we may conclude that the Stele of the Vultures was either the actual stele of delimitation set up by Eannatum upon the frontier,or, as is more probable, an exact copy of its text, embellished with sculptures, upon a stone which Eannatum caused to be carved and set up within his own city as a memorial of his conquest. Indeed, we may perhaps make the further assumption that the stele was erected within the temple of Ningirsu, since it commemorates the recovery of Gu-edin, the territory that was peculiarly his own. The Stele of the Vultures, with its elaborate and delicate relief, would have been out of place upon the frontier of Gu-edin, where, we may conjecture, the memorial stone would have been made as strong and plain as possible, so as to offer little scope for mutilation. But, if destined to be set up within the shelter of Ningirsu's temple in Lagash, the sculptor would have had no restriction placed upon his efforts; and the prominent place assigned to Ningirsu in the reliefs, upon the face of the memorial, is fully in keeping with the suggestion that the Stele of the Vultures at one time stood within his shrine.

In favour of the view that the monument was not the actual stele of delimitation we may note that towards the close of its text some four columns were taken up with lists of other conquests achieved by Eannatum. But in all "kudurru-inscriptions," or boundary-stones, which were intended to safeguard the property or claims of private individuals, the texts close with a series of imprecations calling down the anger of the gods upon any one infringing the owner's rights in any way. Now in general character the text upon the Stele of the Vultures closely resembles the "kudurru-inscriptions," only differing from them in that it sets out to delimit, not the fields and estates of individuals, but the respective territories of two city-states. We should therefore expect that, like them, it would close with invocations to the gods. Moreover, the Cone of Entemena, the text of which was undoubtedly copied from a similar stele of delimitation, ends with curses, and not with a list of Entemena's own achievements. But if the short list of Eannatum's titles and conquests be omitted, the text upon the Stele of the Vultures would end with the series of invocations to Enlil and other deities, to which reference has already been made.We may therefore conclude that the original text, as engraved upon the stele of delimitation, did end at this point, and that the list of other conquests was only added upon the memorial erected in Ningirsu's temple.

Apart from the interest attaching to the memorial itself, this point has a bearing upon the date of the conquest of Umma in relation to the other successful wars conducted by Eannatum in the course of his reign. It might reasonably be urged that the subjugation of the neighbouring city of Umma would have preceded the conquest of more distant lands and cities, over which Eannatum succeeded in imposing his sway. In that case we must assume that the list of conquests upon the Stele of the Vultures was added at a later date. On the other hand, it is equally possible that the war with Umma took place well on in Eannatum's reign, and that, while the patesi and his army were away on distant expeditions, their ancient rival Umma refrained from taking advantage of their absence to gain control of the coveted territory of Gu-edin. Both cities may for years have respected the terms of Mesilim's treaty, and Lagash, while finding scope elsewhere for her ambition, may have been content to acquiesce in the claims of independence put forward by her nearest neighbour. Thus the list of Eannatum's conquests may well have been engraved upon the Stele of the Vultures at the time the treaty with Umma was drawn up. In accordance with this view we shall see there are reasons for believing that several of Eannatum's conquests did take place before his war with Umma, and it is quite possible to assign to this earlier period the others that are mentioned in the list.

The conquest of Kish stands in close relation to that of Umma, for, apart from the portrayal of the king of Kish as a captive upon the Stele of the Vultures, there is a passage in the main body of the inscription which would seem to connect the outbreak of war between Umma and Lagash with the influence of that city. In the broken passage recording the encouragement given to Eannatum by Ningirsu after the raid of Gu-edin, the names of Umma and Kish occur together,and the context of the passage suggests that Ningirsu here promises his patesi victory over both these cities.[30]We may, therefore, conjecture that the ambitious designs described by Entemena as actuating Ush, the patesi of Umma, in raiding the territory of Lagash, were fostered by the city of Kish. It is probable that Eannatum had already given proof of his qualities as a military leader, and had caused the king of Kish to see in Lagash a possible rival for the hegemony which the North had long enjoyed. To sow dissension between her and her neighbour Umma, would have appeared a most effective method of crippling her growing power, and it is possible that the king of Kish not only promised his support, but furnished a contingent of his own soldiers to assist in the attack. The representation of the captive king of Kish upon the Stele of the Vultures may possibly be interpreted as proving that he led his troops in person, and was captured during the battle. But the relief is, perhaps, not to be taken too literally, and may merely symbolize the defeat of his forces along with those of Umma, and his failure to render them any effective aid. On the other hand, in a text engraved upon one of his foundation-stones,[31]Eannatum boasts that he added the kingdom of Kish to his dominions: "Eannatum, patesi of Lagash, by the goddess Ninni who loves him, along with the patesiate of Lagash was presented with the kingdom of Kish." It would seem that in this passage Eannatum lays claim, not only to have defeated Kish, but also to exercising suzeranity over the northern kingdom.

With Eannatum's victory over Kish we must probably connect the success which he achieved over another northern city, Opis. For towards the end of the text upon the foundation-stone referred to above, these achievements appear to be described as a single event, or, at least, as two events of which the second closely follows and supplements the first. In the course of the formulæ celebrating the principal conquests of his reign, Eannatum exclaims: "By Eannatum was Elam broken in the head, Elam was driven back tohis own land; Kish was broken in the head, and the king of Opis was driven back to his own land."[32]When referring to the victory over Opis in an earlier passage of the same inscription, Eannatum names the king who attacked him, and, although he does not give many details of the war, it may be inferred that Opis was defeated only after a severe struggle. "When the king of Opis rose up," the text runs, "Eannatum, whose name was spoken by Ningirsu, pursued Zuzu, king of Opis, from the Antasurra of Ningirsu up to the city of Opis, and there he smote him and destroyed him."[33]We have already seen reasons for believing that the king of Kish took an active part in Umma's war with Lagash, and shared her defeat; and we may conjecture that it was to help and avenge his ally that Zuzu, king of Opis, marched south and attacked Eannatum. That he met with some success at first is perhaps indicated by the point from which Eannatum records that he drove him back to his own land. For the Antasurra was a shrine or temple dedicated to Ningirsu, and stood within the territory of Lagash, though possibly upon or near the frontier. Here Eannatum met the invaders in force, and not only dislodged them, but followed up his victory by pursuing them back to their own city, where he claims that he administered a still more crushing defeat. It is possible that the conquest of Ma'er, or Mari, took place at this time, and in connection with the war with Opis and Kish, for in one passage Eannatum refers to the defeat of these three states at the Antasurra of Ningirsu. Ma'er may well have been allied with Kish and Opis, and may have contributed a contingent to the army led by Zuzu in his attack on Lagash.

PORTION OF A BLACK BASALT MORTAR BEARING AN INSCRIPTION OF EANNATUM, PATESI OF SHIRPURLA.—Brit. Mus., No.90832; photo, by Messrs. Mansell & Co.

It is interesting to note that Kish and the king of Kish represented the most dreaded enemies of Lagash, at least during a portion of the reign of Eannatum. For on a mortar of black basalt which is preserved in the British Museum,[34]Eannatum, after recording that he has dedicated it to Ninâ, "the Lady of the HolyMountain," prays that no man may damage it or carry it away; and he then adds the petition, "May the King of Kish not seize it!" This ejaculation is eloquent of the dread which the northern kingdom inspired in the cities of the south, and we may see in it evidence of many a raid during which the temples of Lagash had been despoiled of their treasures. We may well ascribe the dedication of the altar and the cutting of the inscription to the early part of Eannatum's reign; at any rate, to a period before the power of Kish was broken in the south; and, if we are right in this supposition, the mortar may perhaps serve to date another group of Eannatum's campaigns. For in a passage on the second side of this monument it appears to be recorded that he had conquered the cities of Erech and Ur. The passage follows the invocations set forth by Eannatum upon the other side, in the course of which he prays that no one shall remove the mortar, or cast it into the fire, or damage it in any way; and it might be argued that the lines were an addition made to the original text of dedication at a considerably later period. In that case the passage would afford no proof that the conquest of Ur and Erech preceded that of Kish. But both sides of the monument have the appearance of having been engraved by the same hand, and we are probably justified in assuming that the whole of the inscription was placed upon the vessel at the time it was made. We may thus provisionally place the conquest of Ur and Erech before that of Kish. Further, in his foundation-inscriptions, Eannatum groups his conquest of Ur and Erech with that of Ki-babbar, "the place of the Sun-god," a term which may with considerable probability be identified with Larsa, the centre of the cult of the Sun-god in Southern Babylonia. It would thus appear that Eannatum conquered these cities, all situated in the extreme south of Babylonia at about the same period, and probably in the early part of his reign.

An indication that we are right in placing the southern conquests of Eannatum before the war with Umma may, perhaps, be seen in the invocations todeities engraved upon the Stele of the Vultures with which Eannatum sought to protect his treaty. In the course of the invocations Eannatum states that he has made offerings to the goddess Ninkharsag in the city of Kesh, to Enzu, the Moon-god, in Ur, and to Babbar, the Sun-god, in Larsa. These passages we may assume refer to offerings made by Eannatum in his character of suzerain, and, if this view is correct, we must conclude that the conquest of these cities had already taken place. The invocation to Enki perhaps presupposes that Eridu also was in the hands of Eannatum at this time, a corollary that would almost necessarily follow, if the three neighbouring cities of Ur, Erech, and Larsa had fallen before his arms. Accordingly, the list of gods by whom Eannatum and the men of Umma swore to preserve the treaty becomes peculiarly significant. They were selected on political as much as on purely religious grounds, and in their combined jurisdiction represented the extent of Eannatum's dominion in Sumer at the time. That a ruler should be in a position to exact an oath by such powerful city-gods was obviously calculated to inspire respect for his own authority, while the names of the gods themselves formed a sufficient guarantee that divine punishment would surely follow any violation of the treaty. The early successes gained by Eannatum, by which he was enabled to exercise suzerainty over the principal cities of Southern Babylonia, may well have been the cause of his arousing the active hostility of Kish and Opis. When he had emerged victorious from his subsequent struggle with the northern cities, we may assume that he claimed the title of king, which he employs in place of his more usual title of patesi in certain passages in the text of his treaty with Umma.

The other conquests recorded in the inscriptions of Eannatum fall into two groups. In all the lists of his victories that have come down to us—on the Stele of the Vultures, the foundation-stones, and the brick-inscriptions—the defeat of Elam is given the first place. This is probably not to be taken as implying that it was the first in order of time. It is true that the order in which the conquered districts and citiesare arranged is generally the same in the different lists, but this is not invariably the case. Apart from differences caused by the omission or insertion of names, the order is sometimes altered; thus the conquest of Arua is recorded before that of Ur on the Stele of the Vultures, whereas on the foundation-stones this arrangement is reversed. It would, therefore, be rash to assume that they were enumerated in the order of their occurrence; it is more probable that the conquered states and districts are grouped on a rough geographical basis, and that these groups are arranged according to the importance attaching to them. That Elam should always be mentioned first in the lists is probably due to the fact that she was the hereditary enemy of the cities of Sumer and Akkad, whose rulers could never be sure of immunity from her attacks. The agricultural wealth of Babylonia offered a tempting prey to the hardy tribes who dwelt among the hills upon the western border of Elam, and the dread of the raider and mountaineer, experienced by the dweller in the plain, is expressed by Eannatum in his description of Elam as "the mountain that strikes terror."[35]

That in their conflict with Eannatum the Elamites were, as usual, the aggressors, is clear from the words of the record upon his longer foundation-inscription—"by Eannatum was Elam broken in the head, Elam was driven back to his own land."[36]In other passages referring to the discomfiture of the Elamites, Eannatum adds the formula that "he heaped up burial-mounds," a phrase which would seem to imply that the enemy were only defeated with considerable loss.[37]It is not unlikely that we may fix the field of battle, upon which the forces of Elam were defeated, on the banks of the Asukhur Canal, which had been cut twogenerations before by Ur-Ninâ, Eannatum's grandfather; at least, the canal gives its name to a battlefield which is mentioned immediately before the name of Elam in one of the lists of conquests. It would thus seem that the Elamites were engaged in raiding the territory of Lagash when Eannatum fell upon them with his army and drove them northwards and across the Tigris.

Closely associated with Eannatum's success against the Elamites were his conquest of Shakh, of a city the reading of the name for which is unknown, and probably also of a land or district which bore the name of Sunanam. The conquest of this last place is only mentioned in a broken passage upon the Stele of the Vultures,[38]between the names of Elam and Shakh, and that of the unknown city, so that little can be inferred with regard to it. Shakh, on the other hand, whenever it is referred to in the inscriptions of Eannatum, follows immediately after the name of Elam, and it was not improbably a district on the Elamite frontier which Eannatum ravaged during his pursuit of the invaders. The city with the unknown name[39]was evidently a place of some importance, for not only was it governed by a patesi, but when its conquest is mentioned in the lists details are usually given. The interpretation of a phrase recording its patesi's action with regard to the emblem of the city is not quite certain, but it would appear that on the approach of Eannatum he planted it before the city-gate. The context would seem to imply that this was intended as an act of defiance, not of submission, for Eannatum states that he conquered the city and heaped up burial-mounds. The site of the city, like its name, is unknown, but since the records referring to it always follow those concerning Elam, we may provisionally regard it as having lain in the direction of the Elamite frontier.

The remaining group of Eannatum's conquests comprise the victories he achieved over Az, Mishime, and Arua. The first of these places was a city ruled bya patesi, whom Eannatum slew when he captured and destroyed it. It was formerly regarded as situated in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf, but the grounds on which this view was held have proved inadequate.[40]Moreover, Eannatum's references to Mishime and Arua do not assist us much in determining their positions, for he merely states that he destroyed and annihilated them. In a passage upon the Stele of the Vultures, however, a reference to the land of Sumer follows closely upon a record of the conquest of Arua,[41]which perhaps is an indication that all three places should be sought in Southern Babylonia. We are thus without data for settling definitely the region in which this group of cities lay, and we are equally without information as to the period of his reign in which Eannatum captured or destroyed them. The fact that they are mentioned last in the lists is no proof that they were among his most recent conquests; it may merely be due to their relatively small importance. In support of this suggestion we may note that in the longest of his foundation-inscriptions Eannatum refers to them once only, while his successes against Elam and the northern cities are celebrated in two or three separate passages.

From the preceding discussion of the campaigns of Eannatum it will have been seen that during his reign a considerable expansion took place in the power and influence of Lagash. From being a city-state with her influence restricted to her own territory, she became head of a confederation of the great Sumerian cities, she successfully disputed with the northern cities the hegemony in Babylonia, and she put a check upon the encroachments of Elam, the hereditary foe of Sumer and Akkad alike. According to the view of Eannatum's conquests which has been put forward, the first expansion of the city's influence took place southwards.The cities of Ur, Erech, Larsa, Kesh, and probably Eridu, had already become her vassal states, before Kish and Opis attempted to curtail her growing power; and in the war which followed it is probable that we may see a struggle between the combined forces of Sumer on the one hand, and those of Akkad on the other. One of the most important episodes in this conflict was the war with Umma, since the raid by the men of that city into the territory of Lagash furnished the occasion for the outbreak of hostilities. The issue of the conflict placed Lagash in the position of the leading city in Babylonia. The fact that from this time forward Eannatum did not permanently adopt the title of "king" in his inscriptions, may perhaps be traced to his preference for the religious title of "patesi," which emphasized his dependence upon his own city-god Ningirsu.

The military character of Eannatum is reflected in his inscriptions, which in this respect form a striking contrast to those of his grandfather, Ur-Ninâ. While the earlier king's records are confined entirely to lists of temples and other buildings, which he erected or restored in Lagash and its neighbourhood, the texts of Eannatum are devoted almost exclusively to his wars. From a few scattered passages, however, we gather that he did not entirely neglect the task of adding to and beautifying the temples in his capital. Thus he built a temple for the goddess Gatumdug, and added to other buildings which were already standing in Ur-Ninâ's time. But his energies in this direction were mainly devoted to repairing the fortifications of Lagash, and to putting the city in a complete state of defence. Thus he boasts that he built the wall of Lagash and made it strong. Since Ur-Ninâ's time, when the city-wall had been thoroughly repaired, it is probable that the defences of the city had been weakened, for Eannatum also records that he restored Girsu, one of the quarters of the city, which we may suppose had suffered on the same occasion, and had been allowed to remain since then in a partly ruined condition. In honour of the goddess Ninâ he also records that he rebuilt, or perhaps largely increased, thequarter of the city which was named after her, and he constructed a wall for the special protection of Uru-azagga, another quarter of Lagash. In fact, the political expansion, which took place at this period in the power of Lagash, was accompanied by an equally striking increase in the size and defences of the city itself.

During the reign of Eannatum it is clear that the people of Lagash enjoyed a considerable measure of prosperity, for, although they were obliged to furnish men for their patesi's army, the state acquired considerable wealth from the sack of conquered cities, and from the tribute of grain and other supplies which was levied upon them as a mark of their permanent subjection. Moreover, the campaigns could not have been of very long duration, and, after the return of the army on the completion of a war, it is probable that the greater part of it would be disbanded, and the men would go back to their ordinary occupations. Thus the successful prosecution of his foreign policy by Eannatum did not result in any impoverishment of the material resources of his people, and the fertile plains around the city were not left untilled for lack of labour. Indeed, it would appear that in the latter part of his reign he largely increased the area of land under cultivation. For in his longer foundation-inscriptions, after recording his principal conquests, he states: "In that day Eannatum did (as follows). Eannatum, ... when his might had borne fruit, dug a new canal for Ningirsu, and he named it Lummadimdug." By the expression "when his might had borne fruit," it is clear that Eannatum refers to the latter part of his reign, when he was no longer obliged to place his army incessantly in the field, and he and his people were enabled to devote themselves to the peaceful task of developing the material resources of their own district in Sumer.

Another canal, which we know was cut by Eannatum, was that separating the plain of Gu-edin from the territory of Umma, but this was undertaken, not for purposes of irrigation, but rather as a frontier-ditch to mark the limits of the territory of Lagash inthat direction. There is little doubt, however, that at least a part of its stream was used for supplying water to those portions of Gu-edin which lay along its banks. Like the canal Lummadimdug, this frontier-ditch was also dedicated to Ningirsu, and in the inscription upon a small column which records this fact, the name of the canal is given as Lummagirnuntashagazaggipadda. But this exceedingly long title was only employed upon state occasions, such as the ceremony of dedication; in common parlance the name was abbreviated to Lummagirnunta, as we learn from the reference to it upon Entemena's Cone. It is of interest to note that in the title of the stone of delimitation, which occurs upon the Stele of the Vultures, reference is made to a canal named Ug-edin, the title of the stone being given as "O Ningirsu, lord of the crown ..., give life unto the canal Ug-edin!" In the following lines the monument itself is described as "the Stele of Gu-edin, the territory beloved of Ningirsu, which I, Eannatum, have restored to Ningirsu"; so that it is clear that the canal, whose name is incorporated in that of the stele, must have had some connection with the frontier-ditch. Perhaps the canal Ug-edin is to be identified with Lummagirnunta, unless one of the two was a subsidiary canal.

BRICK OF EANNATUM, PATESI OF SHIRPURLA, RECORDING HIS GENEALOGY AND CONQUESTS, AND COMMEMORATING THE SINKING OF WELLS IN SHIRPURLA.—Brit. Mus., No.85977;photo, by Messrs. Mansell & Co.

For the supply of his principal irrigation-canal with water after the period of the spring-floods, Eannatum did not depend solely upon such water as might find its way in from the river, before the surface of the latter sank below the level of the canal-bed; nor did he confine himself to the laborious method of raising it from the river to his canal by means of irrigation-machines. Both these methods of obtaining water he doubtless employed, but he supplemented them by the construction of a reservoir, which should retain at least a portion of the surplus water during the early spring, and store it up for gradual use in the fields after the water-level in the river and canals had fallen. In the passage in his foundation-inscription, which records this fact, he says: "For Ningirsu he founded the canal Lummadimdug and dedicated it to him; Eannatum, endowed with strength by Ningirsu, constructed thereservoir of Lummadimdug, with a capacity of three thousand six hundredgurof water."[42]It is true that his reservoir was not of very imposing dimensions, but its construction proves that Eannatum or his engineers had studied the problem of irrigation in a scientific spirit, and had already evolved the method of obtaining a constant water-supply which is still regarded as giving the best results.

Smaller canals were possibly dug during Eannatum's reign for supplying water to those quarters of Lagash which he improved or added to; and we also know that, where canalization was impracticable, he obtained water by sinking wells. Within the enclosure of Ningirsu's temple, for instance, he constructed a well for supplying the temple with water, and some of the bricks have been recovered which lined the well on the inside.[43]On these he inscribed his name beside those of the gods by whom he had been favoured; and, after giving a list of his more important conquests, he recorded that he had built the well in the spacious forecourt of the temple, and had named it Sigbirra, and had dedicated it to Ningirsu. From the reference to his conquests in the inscription upon the bricks, it is clear that the sinking of the well, like the cutting of the irrigation-canal Lummadimdug, took place in the later years of Eannatum's reign.

The phrase with which the well-inscription of Eannatum ends may be taken as indicating the measure of prosperity to which the state of Lagash attained under his rule. "In those days," it says, "did Ningirsu love Eannatum." But Eannatum's claim to remembrance rests, as we have seen, in a greater degree upon his military successes, by means of which he was enabled to extend the authority of Lagash over the whole of Sumer and a great part of Akkad. He proved himself strong enough at the same time to defend his empire from the attack of external foes, and it is probable that, after his signal defeat of the Elamites, he was not troubled by further raids from that quarter. Threetimes in the course of his inscriptions he states that "by Eannatum, whose name was uttered by Ningirsu, were the countries broken in the head," and it would appear that his boast was justified. The metaphor he here employs is taken from the heavy battle-mace, which formed an effective weapon in the warfare of the period. It may be seen in use in the scene sculptured upon the principal monument of Eannatum's reign, where Ningirsu himself is portrayed as breaking the heads of his foes. This representation of the city-god of Lagash, one of the finest examples of early Sumerian sculpture, in itself admirably symbolizes the ambition and achievements of the ruler in whose reign and by whose order it was made.

[1]"Déc. en Chaldée," p. xl.; cf. Thureau-Dangin, "Königsinschriften," pp. 10 ff.

[2]With the lower part of Col. IV. (pl. xl.), ll. 5-8, cf. Col. V., ll. 23-29.

[3]Literally, "devoured.".

[4]Col. I., ll. 10 ff. ("Déc. en Chaldée," p. xlvii.).

[5]Obv., Col. VII. (lower part) and Col. VIII. ff.

[6]Cone-Inscription, Col. I., ll. 32 ff.

[7]"Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum," Pt. VII., pl. 1 f., No. 23580.

[8]"Déc. en Chaldée," p. xliv., Galet E.

[9]Cone-Inscription, Col. II., ll. 11-18.

[10]Cf. Obv., Col. XIX.-XXII., and Rev., Col. III.-V.

[11]Obv., Col. XVI.—Rev., Col. V.

[12]The fragments A-F have been published in "Déc. en Chaldée" on the following plates: Plate 4, A, B, and C, Obverse (it should be noted that on the plate the letters B and C should be interchanged); Plate 3, A, B, and C, Reverse (the letters B and C are here placed correctly); Plate 4 (bis), D and E, Obverse; Plate 3 (bis), D and E, Reverse; Plate 4 (ter), F, Obverse and Reverse. The fragment G, which connects C with F, is published in "Cun. Texts in the Brit. Mus.," Pt. VII., pl. 1.

[13]These are known by the symbols D and E; see p.131, Fig. 46. In the course of its transport from Tello to Constantinople the upper part of fragment D was unfortunately damaged, so that the god's brow, and his eye, and the greater part of his nose are now wanting (see "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 4 bis). In the block the missing portions have been restored from a squeeze of the fragment taken at Tello by M. de Sarzec (cf. "Déc.," p. 194 f.).

[14]Cf. Heuzey, "Rev. d'Assyr.," III., p. 10. Its first adoption by the Semites is seen on the recently discovered monument of Sharru-Gi, an early king of Kish; see below, Chap. VIII., p.220f.

[15]See above, p.128f.

[16]The fragment is known as B; "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 4 (see above, p. 129, n. 1). For her headdress, see above, p. 51, Fig. 18.

[17]Fragment G; see above, p.129, n 1.

[18]Fragments C and F; see above, p.129, n. 1.

[19]"Déc. en Chaldée," p. xliii., Galet A, Col. V. f.

[20]These are numbered A, D (which is joined to E), and B; see above, p129, n. 1.

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