The relative order of these three patesis may now be regarded as definitely fixed, and, though it is possible that the names of others are missing which should be set within the period, the tablets themselves furnish indications that in any case the interval between Enannatum II. and Urukagina was not a long one. It had for some time been suspected that Enlitarzi and Lugal-anda lived at about the same period, for a steward named Shakh was employed by the wife of Enlitarzi as well as by Barnamtarra, the wife of Lugal-anda.[25] This inference has now been confirmed by the discovery of a document proving that Lugal-anda was Enlitarzi's son; for a clay cone has been found, inscribed with a contract concerning the sale of a house, the contracting parties being the family of Lugal-anda, described as "the son of Enlitarzi, the priest," and the family of Barnamtarra, Lugal-anda's future wife.[26] Moreover, we have grounds for believing that Lugal-anda was not only the last of the three patesis whose names have been recovered, but was Urukagina's immediate predecessor. An indication that this was the case may be seen in the fact that the steward Eniggal, who is frequently mentioned in tablets of his reign, was also employed by Urukagina and his wife Shagshag. Confirmation of this view has been found in the text upon a tablet, dated in the first year of Urukagina's reign as king, in which mention is made of Barnamtarra, Lugal-anda's wife.[27] This only leaves an interval before the reign of Enlitarzi, in which Enetarzi, the remaining patesi, is to be set.
That this was not a long period is clear from the fact that Enlitarzi himself occupied the throne soon after Enannatum II., an inference we may draw from a double date upon a sale-contract, dated in the patesiate of Entemena, patesi of Lagash, and in the priesthood of Enlitarzi, chief priest of Ningirsu.[28] There can be no doubt of the identity of Enlitarzi, the priest here referred to, with Enlitarzi, the patesi, for the wife of the priest, who is mentioned in the contract, bears the same name as the wife of the patesi.[29] Since, therefore, Enlitarzi already occupied the high position of chief priest of Ningirsu during the reign of Entemena, it is reasonable to conclude that his reign as patesi was not separated by any long interval from that of Entemena's son and successor. The internal evidence furnished by the texts thus supports the conclusion suggested by an examination of the tablets themselves, all of which are distinguished by a remarkable uniformity of type, consisting, as they do, of baked clay tablets of a rounded form and written in a style which closely resembles that of Urukagina's royal inscriptions. The interval between the death of Entemena and Urukagina's accession was thus a short one, and the fact that during it no less than four patesis followed one another in quick succession suggests that the period was one of unrest in Lagash.
Like Enlitarzi, Enetarzi also appears to have been chief priest of Ningirsu before he secured the throne; at least we know that a priest of that name held office at about this period. The inscription from which this fact may be inferred is an extremely interesting one,[30] for it consists of the earliest example of a letter or despatch that has yet been found on any Babylonian site. It was discovered at Tello during the recent excavations of Commandant Cros, and, alike in the character of its writing and in its general appearance, it closely resembles the tablets of accounts from the patesis' private archive, to which reference has already been made. The despatch was written by a certain Lu-enna, chief priest of the goddess Ninmar, and is addressed to Enetarzi, chief priest of the god Ningirsu. At first sight its contents are scarcely those which we should expect to find in a letter addressed by one chief priest to another. For the writer informs his correspondent that a band of Elamites had pillaged the territory of Lagash, but that he had fought with the enemy, and had succeeded in putting them to flight. He then refers to five hundred and forty of them, whom he probably captured or slew. The reverse of the tablet enumerates various amounts of silver and wool, and certain royal garments, which may have formed part of the booty taken, or recaptured, from the Elamites; and the text ends with what appears to be a reference to the division of this spoil between the patesi of Lagash and another high official, and with directions that certain offerings should be deducted for presentation to the goddess Ninmar, in whose temple the writer was chief priest.
That a chief priest of Ninmar should lead an army against the enemies of Lagash and should send a report of his success to the chief priest of Ningirsu, in which he refers to the share of the spoil to be assigned to the patesi, may be regarded as an indication that the central government of Lagash was not so stable as it once had been under the more powerful members of Ur-Ninâ's dynasty. The reference to Enetarzi suggests that the incursion of the Elamites took place during the reign of Enannatum II. We may thus conclude that the last member of Ur-Ninâ's dynasty did not possess his father's ability to direct the affairs of Lagash and allowed the priests of the great temples in the city to usurp many of the privileges which had hitherto been held by the patesi. It is probably to this fact that the close of Ur-Ninâ's dynasty may be traced. The subsequent struggle for the patesiate appears to have taken place among the more important members of the priesthood. Of those who secured the throne, Enlitarzi, at any rate, was succeeded by his son, by whom, however, he may have been deposed,[31] and no strong administration appears to have been established, until Urukagina, abandoning the traditions of both the priesthood and the patesiate, based his government on the support he secured from the people themselves. Such appears to have been the course of events at this time, although the paucity of our historical materials renders it impossible to do more than hazard a conjecture.
Fig. 52. Fig 53.—Impression of a seal of Lugal-anda, patesi of Lagash (Shirpurla), engraved with the emblem of Lagash, and with figures of animals, heroes, and mythological creatures. Below is a reconstruction of the cylinder-seal, indicating its size.—See Allotte de la Fuÿe, Rev. d'Assyr., Vol. VI., No. 4, pl. i.
In addition to the tablets of accounts concerning the household expenditure of the patesis, and the letter to Enetarzi from Lu-enna, the principal relics of this period that have come down to us are numbers of clay sealings, some of which bear impressions of the seals of the patesi Lugal-anda, his wife Barnamtarra, and his steward Eniggal. They afford us no new historical information, but are extremely valuable for the study of the artistic achievements and religious beliefs of the Sumerians.[32] From the traces upon their lower sides, it is clear that they were employed for sealing reed-baskets or bundles tied up in sacking formed of palm-leaves and secured with cords. In consequence of the rough character of the lumps of clay, no single one presents a perfect impression, but, as several examples of each have been found, it is possible in some cases to reconstruct the complete design and to estimate the size of the original seal. In the accompanying blocks reproductions are given of the designs upon the cylinder-seals of Lugal-anda which can be most completely restored. The principal group of figures in the larger of the two consists of two rampant lions in conflict with a human-headed bull and a mythical and composite being, half-bull and half-man, whose form recalls the description of Ea-bani in the legend of Gilgamesh. To the left of the inscription is the emblem of Lagash, and below is a row of smaller figures consisting of two human-headed bulls, two heroes and a stag. The figures on the smaller cylinder represent the same types, but here the emblem of Lagash is reduced to the eagle without the lions, which was peculiarly the emblem of Ningirsu. The mythological being who resembles Ea-bani is repeated heraldically on each side of the text in conflict with a lion.