A History of Sumer and Akkad: An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchyKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
A History of Sumer and Akkad: An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchy
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Akkadians; Babylonia -- History; Sumerians
The representation of Ningirsu clubbing his enemies forms only a
portion of a larger scheme which occupied the whole of the upper part
of the Stele of the Vultures. Though his is the principal figure of
the composition, it is not set in the centre of the field but on the
extreme right, the right-hand edge of the fragments illustrated on
p. 131 representing the actual edge of the stele. On the left behind
the god and standing in attendance upon him was a goddess, parts of
whose head and headdress have been recovered upon a fragment from the
left edge of the stele.[16] She wears a horned crown, and behind her
is a standard surmounted by an emblem in the form of an eagle with
outspread wings. She is sculptured on a smaller scale than the figure
of Ningirsu, and thus serves to indicate his colossal proportions; and
she stood on a fillet or lintel, which cuts off the upper register
from a second scene which was sculptured below it. The fragment of the
stele in the British Museum[17] preserves one of Ningirsu's feet and a
corner of the net with the prisoners in it, and both are represented
as resting on the same fillet or lintel. This fragment is a piece of
some importance, for, by joining two other pieces of the stele in the
Louvre,[18] it enables us to form some idea of the scene in the lower
register. Here, too, we have representations of deities, but they are
arranged on a slightly different plan. We find upon the fragment from
the right of the stele (C) part of the head and headdress of a goddess
very like that in the register above. Here she faces to the left, and
on another fragment (F), which joins the British Museum fragment upon
the left, is a portion of a very complicated piece of sculpture. This
has given rise to many conjectures, but there appears to be little
doubt that it represents the forepart of a chariot. We have the same
curved front which is seen in the chariot of Eannatum upon the reverse
of the stele, and the same arrangement of the reins which pass through
a double ring fixed in the front of the chariot and are hitched over
a high support. Here the support and the front of the chariot are
decorated with a form of the emblem of Lagash, the spread eagle and
the lions, and we may therefore conclude that the chariot is that of
Ningirsu; indeed, on the left of the fragment a part of the god's plain
garment may be detected, similar to that which he wears in the upper
register. He is evidently standing in the chariot, and we may picture
him riding in triumph after the destruction of his foes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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