Gudea was a ruler (ensi) of the city of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia who ruled ca. Lagash ( is modern Tell al-Hiba, Iraq. Located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding 2144 - 2124 BC. The 22nd century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2200 BC to 2101 BC The 22nd century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2200 BC to 2101 BC He probably did not come from the city, but had married Ninalla, daughter of the ruler Urbaba (2164 - 2144 BC) of Lagash, thus gaining entrance to the royal house of Lagash. The 22nd century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2200 BC to 2101 BC The 22nd century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2200 BC to 2101 BC Lagash ( is modern Tell al-Hiba, Iraq. Located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk He was succeeded by his son Ur-Ningirsu.
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Inscriptions
Inscriptions mention temples built by Gudea in Ur, Nippur, Adab, Uruk and Bad-Tibira. Ur ( Sumerian:urim; Akkadian: ?) is modern Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq, and was a city in ancient Sumer. Nippur (URUENLIL; Sumerian: Nibru Akkadian: Nibbur) from the Sumerian for 'lord wind' (Enlil is modern ? in Afak Al Qadisyah Adab (modern Bismaya (or Bismya Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian city between Telloh and Nippur. Uruk ( URU UNUG, Sumerian: unug Akkadian: uruk) from the Akkadian rendering of the Sumerian Toponym 'unug' is modern Bad-tibira, identified as modern Tell al-Madineh, between Ash-Shatrah and Senkerch (ancient Larsa) in southern Iraq, was an ancient This indicates the growing influence of Gudea in Sumer. His predecessor Urbaba had already made his daughter Enanepada high priestess of Nanna at Ur, which indicates a great deal of political power as well. Ur ( Sumerian:urim; Akkadian: ?) is modern Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq, and was a city in ancient Sumer.
Title
Gudea chose the title of ensi (town-king or governor), not the more exalted lugal (Akkadian sharrum); though he did style himself "god of Lagash". Gudea claimed to have conquered Elam and Anshan, but his inscriptions emphasize the building of irrigation channels and temples, and the creation of precious gifts to the gods. Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops A temple (from the Latin word Templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities such as prayer and sacrifice or analogous rites Materials for his buildings and statues were brought from all parts of western Asia: cedar wood from the Amanus mountains, quarried stones from Lebanon, copper from northern Arabia, gold and precious stones from the desert between Canaan and Egypt, dolerite from Magan (Oman), and timber from Dilmun (Bahrain). Cedar ( Cedrus) is a genus of Coniferous Trees in the Plant family Pinaceae. The Nur Mountains (Nur Dağları or the "Mountains of Holy Light" also the Amanus or Gâvur Mountains) is a Mountain range in the Hatay Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Diabase (ˈdaɪəbeɪs or Dolerite is a Mafic, Holocrystalline, Igneous rock equivalent to Volcanic Basalt or plutonic Magan was an ancient region which was referred to in Sumerian cuneiform texts of around 2300 BC as a source of Copper and Diorite for Mesopotamia Lumber or timber is Wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural Material for Construction, or Dilmun (sometimes transliterated Telmun) is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian Civilizations as a trade partner source of raw material copper and Entrepot
As the power of the Akkadian empire waned, Lagaš again declared independence, this time under Puzer-Mama, who declared himself lugal, or king, of Lagaš. Puzer-Mama was a ruler of Lagash before Gudea. Though he adopted the title of Lugal, Puzer-Mama shows kinship with future Lagashite kings in the religiosity Thereafter, this title would not be associated with Lagaš, at least until the end of the Gudean period. Lagašite rulers, including Ur-Ningirsu and Ur-Bau, whose reigns predated Gudea, referred to themselves as ensi, or governor, of Lagaš, and reserved the term lugal only for their gods or as a matter of rank in a relationship, but never as a political device. The continued use of ‘lugal’ in reference to deities seems to indicate a conscious attempt on the parts of the rulers to assume a position of humility in relation to the world--whether this was honest humility or a political ploy is unknown.
Statues of Gudea
Twenty-six statues of Gudea have been found so far during excavations of Adad-nadin-ahhe and Telloh with most of the rest coming from the art trade (These having unknown provenances and sometimes doubtful authenticity). seven statues of Gudea have been found so far (A-AA A-K were found during Ernest de Sarzec 's excavations in the court of the palace of Adad-nadin-ahhe in The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from" means the Origin, or the source, of something or the history of the ownership or location The early statues were made of limestone, steatite and alabaster); later, when wide-ranging trade-connections had been established, the more costly exotic diorite was used. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a Metamorphic rock, a talc- Schist. Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct Minerals Gypsum (a hydrous sulfate of Calcium) and Calcite Diorite (ˈdaɪəraɪt is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive Igneous rock composed principally of Plagioclase Feldspar (typically Diorite had already been used by old Sumerian rulers (Statue of Entemena). Entemena, son of En-anna-tum I, reestablished Lagash as a power in Sumer. These statues include inscriptions describing trade, rulership and religion.
Religion
The pleas to the gods under Gudea and his successors appear more creative and honest: Whereas the Akkadian kings followed a rote pattern of cursing the progeny and tearing out the foundations of those that vandalize a stele, the Lagašite kings send various messages. A stele (from Greek:, stēlē, ˈstiːli plural stelae,, stēlai, ˈstiːlaɪ also found Latinised singular stela Times were violent after the Akkadian empire lost power over southern Mesopotamia, and the god receiving the most attention from Gudea was Ningirsu--a god of battle. Ninurta ( Nin Ur: Lord of the Earth/Plough in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology was the god of Nippur, identified with Ningirsu Though there is only one mention of martial success on the part of Gudea, the many trappings of war which he builds for Ningirsu indicate a violent era. Southern Mesopotamian cities defined themselves through their worship, and the decision on Gudea’s part for Lagaš to fashion regalia of war for its gods is indicative of the temperament of the times.
Though obviously the foundation and progeny curse was not the only religious invocation by the political powers during the Akkadian empire, but it demonstrates a certain standardization, and with it, stagnation, of the position of the gods that likely didn’t sit well with the people of Lagaš. Ur-Ningirsu I, with whom the Gudean dynasty of Lagaš begins, leaves little in the way of inscriptions, and though some mention of various gods seems to indicate a more central role, it isn’t until Gudea that there can be a side by side comparison with the old curse of Sargon. The inscription on a statue of Gudea as architect of the House of Ningirsu (Dietz Otto Edzard, Gudea and His Dynasty, pp. 31 – 38), warns the reader of doom if the words are altered, but there is a startling difference between the warnings of Sargon or his line and the warnings of Gudea. The one is length, Gudea’s curse lasts nearly a quarter of the inscription’s considerable length (pp. 36 – 38), and another is creativity. The gods will not merely reduce the offender’s progeny to ash and destroy his foundations, no, they will, “let him sit down in the dust instead of on the seat they set up for him”. He will be, “slaughtered like a bull… seized like an aurochs by his fierce horn”. (p. 38)
But these differences, though demonstrating a Lagašite respect of religious figures simply in the amount of time and energy they required, isn’t as telling as the language Gudea uses to justify any punishment. Whereas Sargon or Naram-Sin simply demand punishment to any who change their words, based on their power, Gudea defends his words through tradition, “since the earliest days, since the seed sprouted forth, no one was (ever) supposed to alter the utterance of a ruler of Lagaš who, after building the Eninnu for my lord Ningirsu, made things function as they should”. The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of (p. 37) Changing the words of Naram-Sin, the living god, is treason, because he is the king. But changing the words of Gudea, simple governor of Lagaš, is unjust, because he made things work right.
Reforms
The social reforms instituted during Gudea’s rulership, which included the cancellation of debts and allowing women to own family land, may have been honest reform or a return to old Lagašite custom. Social norms have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values beliefs attitudes and behaviors
His era was especially one of artistic development. But it was Ningirsu who received the majority of Gudea’s attention. Ningirsu the war god, for whom Gudea built maces, spears, and axes, all appropriately named for the destructive power of Ningirsu—enormous and gilt. A mace is a simple Weapon that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful blows This is an article about a particle accelerator For uses of spear, see Spear or Spear (disambiguation. The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape split and cut Wood, Harvest timber, as a Weapon
In matters of trade, Lagash under Gudea had extensive commercial communications with distant realms. According to his own records, Gudea brought cedars from the Amanus and Lebanon mountains in Syria, diorite from eastern Arabia, copper and gold from central and southern Arabia and from Sinai, while his armies were engaged in battles in Elam on the east. Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Diorite (ˈdaɪəraɪt is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive Igneous rock composed principally of Plagioclase Feldspar (typically The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran.
Cylinder A, written after the life of Gudea, paints an attractive picture of southern Mesopotamia during the Lagaš supremacy. In it, “The Elamites came to him from Elam… loaded with wood on their shoulders… in order to build Ningirsu’s House” (p. Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. 78), the general tone being one of brotherly love in an area that has known only regional conflict and rebellion.
However, the common intimation that Gudea was a peaceful ruler (as made by Edzard), who funded his projects through trade, ignores the attention paid to Ningirsu, as well as the martial nature of Southern Mesopotamia in general. While Gudea was not likely an autocrat who ruled over all of Southern Mesopotamia, this part of the world was full of religious fervor and universal conflict. An autocracy is a Form of government in which the Political power is held by a single self-appointed ruler
Gudea built more than the House of Ningirsu, he restored tradition to Lagaš. His use of the title ‘ensi’, when he obviously held enough political influence, both in Lagaš and in the region, to justify ‘lugal’, demonstrates the same political tact as his emphasis on the power of the divine.
And it worked. Ur-Ningirsu II, the next ruler of Lagaš, took as his title, “Ur-Ningirsu, ruler of Lagaš, son of Gudea, ruler of Lagaš, who had built Ningirsu’s house” (p. 183).
Later influence
We have a fairly good idea of what Gudea looked like because he had his numerous statues or idols, depicting himself with unprecedented, lifelike realism, placed in temples throughout Sumer. Gudea took advantage of artistic development because he evidently wanted posterity thousands of years later to know what he looked like. And in that he has succeeded—a feat available to him as royalty but not to the common people who couldn't afford to have statues engraved of themselves.
More telling is the deification of Gudea, placing him, if not into the Pantheon, closer than your average person. A pantheon (from Greek Πάνθειον - pantheion, literally "a temple of all gods " neut Gudea, following Sargon, was one of the first rulers to claim divinity for himself, or have it claimed for him after his death. And because of this deification, it isn't surprising to find what appear to be some of his exploits added to the epic cycle of the mythical Gilgamesh (N. Gilgamesh was the son of Lugalbanda and the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II first dynasty of Uruk ruling circa 2600 BC according to the Sumerian king K. Sandars, 1972, The Epic of Gilgamesh).
Gudea naturally was a hard act to follow, and the influence of Lagaš declined, until it suffered the fate that defined Southern Mesopotamia, military defeat, this time to Ur-Nammu, whose Third Dynasty of Ur then became the reigning power in Southern Mesopotamia. Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, ca 2112-2095 BC Middle chronology) founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur refers simultaneously to a 21st to 20th century BC ( Short chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of
References
- ^ Edzard, Dietz Otto. (1997). Gudea and His Dynasty. University of Toronto Press Incorporated. Toronto, Buffalo, London. .
- ^ Frayne, Douglas R. (1993). Sargonic and Gutian Periods. University of Toronto Press Incorporated. Toronto, Buffalo, London. .
- ^ Black, J. A. ; Cunningham, G. , Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E. , and Zólyomi, G. (1998-). The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.. Oxford.
- F. Johansen, "Statues of Gudea, ancient and modern". Mesopotamia 6, 1978.
- A. Parrot, Tello, vingt campagnes des fouilles (1877-1933). (Paris 1948).
- N. K. Sandars, "Introduction" page 16, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Penguin, 1972.
- H. Steible, "Versuch einer Chronologie der Statuen des Gudea von Lagas". Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 126 (1994), 81-104.
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