Photograph by Messrs.
Mansell & Co.
Ur, Isin, and,Larsam succeeded one another in the position of leading
city in Babylonia, holding Mppur, Eridu, Erech, Shirpurla, and the other
chief cities in a condition of semi-dependence upon themselves. We may
note that the true reading of the name of the founder of the dynasty
of Ur has now been ascertained from a syllabary to be Ur-Engur; and an
unpublished chronicle in the British Museum relates that his son Dungi
cared greatly for the city of Eridu, but sacked Babylon and carried off
its spoil, together with the treasures from E-sagila, the great temple
of Marduk. Such episodes must have been common at this period when each
city was striving for hegemony. Meanwhile, Shirpurla remained the centre
of Sumerian influence in Babylonia, and her patesis were content to owe
allegiance to so powerful a ruler as Dungi, King of Ur, while at all
times exercising complete authority within their own jurisdiction.
During the most recent diggings that have been carried out at Telloh a
find of considerable value to the history of Sumerian art has been
made. The find is also of great general interest, since it enables us
to identify a portrait of Gudea, the most famous of the later Sumerian
patesis. In the course of excavating the Tell of Tablets Captain Cros
found a little seated statue made of diorite.
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