“I,” says Gudea, “made the lordly temple of the God who enlightens the darkness; of costly woods I made it for him; with wood from Lebanon (Amanus); wood of seventy and fifty cubits. I raised its roof twenty-five cubits high.” From the copper and silver mines of the Taurus, near “the great pass,” “the gate of Syria,” copper was brought for the great pillars. Marble also from the “Mountain of Canaan,” (Tidalum), in Phœnicia, for the foundations. He sent ships to upper Egypt, where gold was obtained for the porch of the temple. “To the country of Gubi and to the country of Nituk which possesses every kind of tree, vessels to be laden with all sorts of trees for Sippara I have sent.” Sippara, “The City of the Bright Flame,” was another name by which Zirgul was known. Reference to this comes in the inscriptions concerning the “God who enlightens the darkness.” Then of his statues he says: “Strong stone being brought from Magan (Sinaitic peninsula) I made an image therewith that my name may be remembered gloriously.” Again of this statue he says: “Neither in silver, nor in copper, nor in tin, nor in bronze let any one undertake the execution. An image yielding none of these no man will demand as spoil; made of hard stone may it remain in the place thereof, forever.” These statues thus had a peculiar religious significance. Placed in the sacred temple, always before the god to whose service they were dedicated, they were supposed to represent the king constantly in life, and like the “Ka” statues of the Egyptian kings, to be the residence of the soul of the departed prince which was thus ever reverently before his god. Thus we can understand the terrible curse pronounced by Gudea upon whosoever should remove this statue from its place. This and the companion statues from Tel-Loh, were nevertheless sent to Paris and placed in the Louvre, where they will receive more distinction than has been accorded them for ages. Perhaps this, and also the fact that the inscriptions on them could not be read until they were placed where competent Assyriologists could have access to them, may induce the Ka of Gudea to revoke his maledictions should they threaten this later disturber of his repose. However this may be, the view thus given of this far off time, of which we have no trace in history, is one of the most interesting archæological discoveries of the century.