Ur-Ningirsu, the official, was high-priest of the goddess Ninâ, and he also held the offices of priest of Enki and high-priest of Anu. Moreover, he was a man of sufficient importance to stamp his name upon bricks which were probably used in the construction of a temple at Lagash.[39] That he was Dungi's contemporary is known from an inscription upon a votive wig and headdress in the British Museum, which is made of diorite and was intended for a female statuette.[40] The text engraved upon this object states that it was made by a certain Bau-ninam for his lady and divine protectress, who was probably the goddess Bau, as an adornment for her gracious person, and his object in presenting the offering was to induce her to prolong the life of Dungi, "the mighty man, the King of Ur." The important part of the text concerns Bau-ninam's description of himself as a craftsman, or subordinate official, in the service of Ur-Ningirsu, "the beloved high-priest of Ninâ." From this passage it is clear that Ur-Ningirsu was high-priest in Lagash at a period when Dungi, king of Ur, exercised suzerainty over that city. If therefore we are to identify him with Gudea's son and successor, we must conclude that he had meanwhile been deposed from the patesiate of Lagash, and appointed to the priestly offices which we find him holding during Dungi's reign. The alternative suggestion that Ur-Ningirsu may have fulfilled his sacerdotal duties during the lifetime of Gudea while he himself was still crown-prince,[41] is negatived by the subsequent discovery that during the reign of Dungi's father, Ur-Engur, another patesi, named Ur-abba, was on the throne of Lagash; for tablets have been found at Tello which are dated in the reign of Ur-Engur and also in the patesiate of Ur-abba.[42] To reconcile this new factor with the preceding identification, we must suppose that Ur-Ningirsu's deposition occurred in the reign of Ur-Engur, who appointed Ur-abba as patesi in his place. According to this view, Ur-Ningirsu was not completely stripped of honours, but his authority was restricted to the purely religious sphere, and he continued to enjoy his priestly appointments during the early part of Dungi's reign. There is nothing impossible in this arrangement, and it finds support in account-tablets from Tello, which belong to the period of Ur-Ningirsu's reign. Some of the tablets mention supplies and give lists of precious objects, which were destined for "the king," "the queen," "the king's son," or "the king's daughter," and were received on their behalf by the palace-chamberlain.[43] Although none of these tablets expressly mention Ur-Ningirsu, one of the same group of documents was drawn up in the year which followed his accession as patesi, another is dated in a later year of his patesiate, and all may be assigned with some confidence to his period.[44] The references to a "king" in the official account-lists point to the existence of a royal dynasty,