Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief in the Louvre. The
attendant standing behind the king has been obliterated, but
we see clearly the contour of his shoulder, and his hands
holding the reins. It is a large stele of close-grained
white limestone, rounded at the top, and covered with scenes
and inscriptions on both its faces. One of these faces
treats only of religious subjects. Two warlike goddesses,
crowned with plumed head-dresses and crescent-shaped horns,
are placed before a heap of weapons and various other
objects, which probably represent some of the booty
collected in the campaign. It would appear that they
accompany a tall figure of a god or king, possibly that of
the deity Ningirsu, patron of Lagash and its kings. Ningirsu
raises in one hand an ensign, of which the staff bears at
the top the royal totem, the eagle with outspread wings
laying hold by his talons of two half-lions back to back;
with the other hand he brings a, club down heavily upon a
group of prisoners, who struggle at his feet in the meshes
of a large net.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the fragment of a bas-relief in
the Louvre. This is the human sacrifice after the victory,
such as we find it in Egypt—the offering to the national
god of a tenth of the captives, who struggle in vain to
escape from fate. On the other stele the battle is at its
height. Idingiranagin, standing upright in his chariot,
which is guided by an attendant, charges the enemy at the
head of his troops, and the plain is covered with corpses
cut down by his fierce blows: a flock of vultures accompany
him, and peck at each other in their struggles over the
arms, legs, and decapitated heads of the vanquished. Victory
once secured, he retraces his steps to bestow funeral
honours upon the dead.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the fragment of a bas-relief in
the Louvre. The bodies raised regularly in layers form an
enormous heap: priests or soldiers wearing loin-cloths mount
to its top, where they pile the offerings and the earth
which are to form the funerary mound. The sovereign,
moreover, has, in honour of the dead, consigned to execution
some of the prisoners, and deigns to kill with his own hand
one of the principal chiefs of the enemy.
The design and execution of these scenes are singularly rude; men and beasts—indeed, all the figures—have exaggerated proportions, uncouth forms, awkward positions, and an uncertain and heavy gait. The war ended in a treaty concluded with Enakalli, vicegerent of Grishban, by which Lagash obtained considerable advantages. Idingiranagin replaced the stele of Meshilim, overthrown by one of Enakalli’s predecessors, and dug a ditch from the Euphrates to the provinces of Guedln to serve henceforth as a boundary. He further levied a tribute of corn for the benefit of the goddess Nina and her consort Ningirsu, and applied the spoils of the campaign to the building of new sanctuaries for the patron-gods of his city.