Upon the largest portion of the stele that has been recovered, formed of two fragments joined together,[13] we have the scene which illustrates Eannatum's metaphor of the net. Almost the whole of this portion of the monument is occupied with the figure of a god, which appears of colossal size if it is compared with those of the patesi and his soldiers upon the reverse of the stele. The god has flowing hair, bound with a double fillet, and, while cheeks and lips are shaved, a long beard falls in five undulating curls from the chin upon the breast. He is nude to the waist, around which he wears a close-fitting garment with two folds in front indicated by double lines. It was at first suggested that we should see in this figure a representation of some early hero, such as Gilgamesh, but there is no doubt that we should identify him with Ningirsu, the city-god of Lagash. For in his right hand the god holds the emblem of Lagash, the eagle with outspread wings, clawing the heads of two lions; and the stele itself, while indirectly perpetuating Eannatum's fame, was essentially intended to commemorate victories achieved by Ningirsu over his city's enemies. This fact will also explain the rest of the scene sculptured upon the lower fragment. For the god grasps in his right hand a heavy mace, which he lets fall upon a net in front of him containing captive foes, whose bodies may be seen between its broad meshes struggling and writhing within it. On the relief the cords of the net are symmetrically arranged, and it apparently rises as a solid structure to the level of the god's waist. It thus has the appearance of a cage with cross-bars and supports of wood or metal. But the rounded corners at the top indicate that we may regard it as a net formed of ropes and cordage. That it should rise stiffly before the god may be partly due to the imperfect knowledge of perspective characteristic of all early art, partly perhaps to the desire of the sculptor to allow the emblem of Lagash, grasped in the god's left hand, to rest upon it; unless indeed the emblem itself is a part of the net, by means of which the god is holding it up. In any case the proximity of the emblem to the net is not fortuitous. Within the net are the foes of Lagash, and with the mace in his right hand Ningirsu is represented as clubbing the head of one of them which projects from between the meshes. [Illustration: Fig. 46.--Part of the Stele of the Vultures, sculptured with a scene representing Ningirsu clubbing the enemies of Lagash (Shirpurla), whom he has caught in his net.--Fragments D and E, Obverse; _Déc._, pl. 4 _bis_.]