Fig. 54. Fig. 55.—Impression of a seal of Lugal-anda, patesi of Lagash (Shirpurla), engraved with figures of animals, mythological beings, and a bearded hero. Below is a reconstruction of the cylinder-seal, indicating its size.—See Allotte de la Fuÿe, Rev. d'Assyr., Vol. VI., No. 4, pl. ii.
The occurrence of this figure and those of the other heroes upon the seals is important, as it points to a knowledge on the part of the earlier Sumerians, of the principal legends that were incorporated in the great national epic of Babylon.[33] The sealings are no less important for the study of Sumerian art, and they prove that seal-cutting must have already been practised by the Sumerians for a considerable length of time. While the designs are of a very decorative character, it is interesting to note how the artist has attempted to fill up every portion of his field, an archaic trait which is in striking contrast to the Semitic seals of the Sargonic period. Another peculiarity which may here be referred to is the employment, on the larger seal below the inscription, of a sort of arabesque pattern, an ingenious and symmetrical combination of straight lines and curves, the course of which may be followed without once passing along the same line a second time. It has been suggested that this pattern may have formed the engraver's monogram or signature,[34] but it is more likely to have been a religious symbol, or may perhaps be merely decorative, having been added to fill in a blank space remaining in the field of the seal. The discovery of these seal-impressions enables us to realize that, in spite of the period of political unrest through which Lagash was now passing, her art did not suffer, but continued to develop along its own lines. In fact, her sculptors and engravers were always ready to serve the reigning patesi, whoever he might be.
Although, as we have seen, the exact relation of the three patesis, Enetarzi, Enlitarzi, and Lugal-anda, to the dynasty of Ur-Ninâ is still a matter for conjecture, there is no doubt that with Urukagina, at any rate, a complete break took place, not only in the succession, but also in the traditions and principles which had guided for so long the ruling family at Lagash. That Urukagina did not obtain the throne by right of succession is clear from the total absence of any genealogies in his inscriptions. He does not even name his father,[35] so that we may trace his succession to his own initiative. He himself ascribes to Ningirsu his elevation to the throne, and the phrase that follows suggests that this was not accomplished without a struggle. When describing in detail the drastic reforms which he had carried out in the internal administration of the state, he prefaces his account by stating that they took place when Ningirsu had given him the kingdom of Lagash and had established his might. In view of these very reforms, we may regard it as extremely probable that he headed a reaction against certain abuses which had characterized the recent government of the city, and that, in usurping the throne, he owed his success to a wide-spread feeling of discontent among the great body of the people.
Further evidence of a complete break in the succession may be seen in the change of the patron deity, whose protection the reigning house enjoyed. Urukagina no longer invoked the god on whom the dynasty of Ur-Ninâ had relied for intercession with Ningirsu,[36] and in his place addressed himself to Ninshakh. The very title which Urukagina himself adopted is probably significant of his antagonism to the family which for so long had directed the destinies of the state. While even the great conqueror Eannatum had proudly clung to the title of "patesi," and his successors on the throne had followed his example, in every one of his own inscriptions that have been recovered Urukagina rejects it in favour of that of "king."
It would appear that he did not inaugurate this change immediately upon his accession, and that for at least a year he continued to use the title employed by his predecessors. For some of the tablets of accounts from the private archive of the patesis, to which reference has already been made,[37] appear to be dated in the first year of Urukagina's patesiate; while the other documents of this class, which refer to him, are dated from the first to the sixth year of his reign as king. So that, if there is no gap in the sequence, we may conclude that he discarded the former title after having occupied the throne for one year. His dropping of this time-honoured designation may well have accompanied the abolition of privileges and abuses with which it had become associated in the mind of the people. Indeed, the tone of his inscriptions reflects no feeling of veneration for the title of patesi, nor does he appear anxious to commemorate the names of those who had borne it. Thus in one of his texts, when he has occasion to give a brief historical summary of an earlier struggle between Lagash and Umma, he names the ruler of the latter city, but he ascribes the former's victory to Ningirsu, and does not seem to have referred to Enannatum I. and Entemena, in whose reigns the events took place.[38]
But it is in the reforms themselves, which Urukagina introduced, that we find the most striking evidence of the complete severance he made from the cherished traditions of his predecessors. In a series of very striking texts, of which we now possess three versions,[39] he has left us a record of the changes he introduced in the internal administration of the country. In the condition in which at least two of these versions have come down to us a literary artifice is employed, which enhances and emphasizes in a remarkable degree the drastic character of his reforms. Before enumerating these, the writer provides a striking contrast by describing the condition of the country which preceded their introduction by the king. We are thus confronted with two companion pictures, the main features of which correspond, while their underlying characters are completely changed. In the two sections of each text the general phraseology is much the same, the difference consisting in the fact that, while the first describes the oppression and injustice which had existed in the state of Lagash "since distant days, from the beginning," the second section enumerates the reforms by which Urukagina claimed that he had ameliorated the people's lot. Though some of the references they contain are still obscure, the texts afford us a welcome glimpse of the economic conditions that prevailed in Sumer. In contrast to other royal inscriptions found at Tello, they give us information concerning the daily life and occupations of the people; and at the same time they reveal beneath the official decorum of a Sumerian court an amount of oppression and misery, the existence of which would not be suspected from the pious foundation-inscriptions and votive texts of the period.