Early princes of Babylonia and Assyria

The earliest monuments that can be approximately dated come from Lagash (Tello). Here we hear of a "king of Kengi," as well as of a certain Me-silim[?], king of Kis, who had dealings with Lugal-suggur, high-priest of Lagash, and the high-priest of a neighbouring town, the name of which is provisionally transcribed Gis-ukh (formerly written Gis-ban and confounded with the name of Opis). According to Scheil, Gis-ukh is represented by Jokha, south of Fara and west of the Shatt el-Hai, and since two of its rulers are called kings of Te on a seal-cylinder, this may have been the pronunciation of the name (They are also called high-priests of Gunammide and a contract tablet speaks of "Te in Babylon," but this was probably not the Të of the seal.

It must be remembered that the reading of most of the early Sumerian proper names is merely provisional, as we do not know how the ideographs of which they are composed were pronounced in either Sumerian or Assyrian). At a later date the high-priests of Lagash made themselves kings, and a dynasty was founded there by Ur-Nina. In the ruins of a building, attached by him to the temple of Nina, terra cotta bas reliefs[?] of the king and his sons have been found, as well as the heads of lions in onyx, which remind us of Egyptian work and onyx plates. These were "booty" dedicated to the goddess Bau. E-anna-du[?], the grandson of Ur-Nina, made himself master of the whole of southern Babylonia, including "the district of Sumer" together with the cities of Erech, Ur and Larsa (?). He also annexed the kingdom of Kis, which, however, recovered its independence after his death. Gis-ukh was made tributary, a certain amount of grain being levied upon each person in it, which had to be paid into the treasury of the goddess Nina[?] and the god Ingurisa[?].

The so-called "Stele of the Vultures," now in the Louvre, was erected as a monument of the victory. On this various incidents in the war are represented. In one scene the king stands in his chariot with a curved weapon in his right hand formed of three bars of metal bound together by rings (similar, as M. L. Heuzey has pointed out, to one carried by the chief of an Asiatic tribe in a tomb of the 12th dynasty at Beni-Hasan in Egypt), while his kilted followers with helmets on their heads and lances in their hands march behind him. In another a flock of vultures is feeding on the bodies of the fallen enemy; in a third a tumulus is being heaped up over those who had been slain on the side of Lagash. Elsewhere we see the victorious prince beating down a vanquished enemy, and superintending the execution of other prisoners who are being sacrificed to the gods, while in one curious scene he is striking with his mace a sort of wicker-work cage filled with naked men. In his hand he holds the crest of Lagash and its god-a lion-headed eagle with outstretched wings, supported by two lions which are set heraldically back to back. The sculptures belong to a primitive period of art.

E-anna-du[?]'s campaigns extended beyond the confines of Babylonia. He overran a part of Elam and took the city of Az[?] on the Persian Gulf. Temples and palaces were repaired or erected at Lagash and elsewhere, the town of Nina--which probably gave its name to the later Nins or Nineveh--was rebuilt, and canals and reservoirs were excavated. He was succeeded by his brother En-anna-turn I[?], under whom Gis-ukh once more became the dominant power. As En-anna-turn has the title only of highpriest, it is probable that he acknowledged Ur-lumma of Gis-ukh as his suzerain. His son and successor Entemena[?] restored the prestige of Lagash. Gis-ukh was subdued and a priest named Illi was made its governor. A tripod of silver dedicated by Entemena to his god is now in the Louvre. A frieze of lions devouring ibexes and deer, and incised with great artistic skill, runs round the neck, while the eagle crest of Lagash adorns the globular part. The vase is a proof of the high degree of excellence to which the goldsmith's art had already attained. A vase of calcite, also dedicated by Entemena, has been found at Nippur.

The eighth successor of TJr-Ninã was Uru-duggina, who was overthrown and his city captured by Lugal-zaggisi, the highpriest of Gis-ukh. Lugal-zaggisi was the founder of the first empire in Asia of which we know. He made Erech his capital and calls himself king of Kengi. In a long inscription which he caused to be engraved on hundreds of stone vases dedicated to El-ill of Nippur, he declares that his kingdom extended "from the Lower Sea of the Tigris and Euphrates," or Persian Gulf, to "the Upper Sea" or Mediterranean. It was at this time that Erech received the name of "the City," which it continued to bear when written ideographically.

See also: Babylonia and Assyria

This article was originally based on content from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Update as needed.