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 4 ter.
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 this explanation 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.