[Illustration: Fig. 39.--Figure of Lupad, a high official of the city of Umma, inscribed with a text recording a purchase of land in Lagash (Shirpurla); from Tello.--In the Louvre; cf. Comptes rendus, 1907, p. 518.] [Illustration: Fig 40.--Statue of Essar, King of Adab, preserved in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople; from Bismâya.] In order to assign a date to such figures as that of Lupad, it is necessary, in the absence of other evidence, to be guided entirely by the style of the sculpture and the character of the writing. Several such figures of archaic Sumerian type have been recovered, and three of them represent kings who ruled in different cities at this early period. The finest of these is a standing figure of Esar, King of Adab, which was found in the course of the American excavations at Bismâya, and is now preserved in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. Its discoverers claimed that it was the earliest example of Sumerian sculpture known,[13] but it may be roughly placed at about the time of Ur-Ninâ's dynasty. A second king is represented by two fragments of a statuette from Tello, inscribed in archaic characters with a dedicatory text of E-abzu, King of Umma,[14] while the third is a seated figure of a king of the northern city or district of Ma'er, or Mari, and is preserved in the British Museum.[15] The same uncertainty applies to the date of Ur-Enlil, a patesi of Nippur, whose name is mentioned on one of the fragments of votive vases from that city which were found together on the south-east side of the temple-tower.[16] As in the case of Esar, King of Adab, we can only assign these rulers approximately to the period of the earlier rulers of Lagash. It is in the city of Lagash that our knowledge of Sumerian history may be said to begin. The excavation of the site has yielded an abundance of material from which it is possible to arrange her rulers for long periods in chronological order, and to reconstruct the part they played in conflicts between the early city-states. It is true that some of her earlier kings and patesis remain little more than names to us, but with the accession of Ur-Ninâ we enter a period in which our knowledge of events is continuous, so far at least as the fortunes of the city were concerned. With the growth of her power it is also possible to trace in some detail the relations she maintained with other great cities in the land. [Illustration: Emblems of the city of Lagash (Shirpurla) and of the god Ningirsu. The upper drawing represents a perforated plaque dedicated to Ningirsu by Ur-Ninâ. Below is a brick stamped with the figure of Imgig, the lion-headed eagle of Ningirsu.--In the Louvre; Cat. No. 7 and _Déc._, pl. 31 _bis_, No. 1.]