Gudea

Gudea was a ruler (ensi) of the city of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia who ruled ca. 2144 - 2124 BC. He probably did not come from the city, but had married Ninalla, daughter of the ruler Urbaba (2164 - 2144 BC) of Lagash, thus gaining entrance to the royal house of Lagash. He was succeeded by his son Ur-Ningirsu.

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Inscriptions mention temples built by Gudea in Ur, Nippur, Adab, Uruk and Bad-Tibira. This indicates the growing influence of Gudea in Sumer. His predecessor Urbaba had already made his daughter Enanepada high priestess of Nanna at Ur, which indicates a great deal of political power as well.

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Gudea chose the title of ensi (town-king), not the more exalted lugal (Akkadian sharrum); though he did style himself "god of Lagash". Gudea claimed to have conquered Elam and Anshan, but his inscriptions emphasize the building of irrigation channels and temples, and the creation of precious gifts to the gods. Materials for his buildings and statues were brought from all parts of western Asia: cedar wood from the Amanus mountains, quarried stones from Lebanon, copper from northern Arabia, gold and precious stones from the desert between Canaan and Egypt, dolerite from Magan (Oman), and timber from Dilmun (Bahrain).

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Lagash: Lagash or Sirpurla was one of the oldest cities of Sumer and later Babylonia. It is represented by a rather low, long line of ruin mounds, now known as Tell al-Hiba in Iraq, northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk. It is positioned on the dry bed of an ancient c...

Mesopotamia: :For other uses see Mesopotamia (disambiguation)....

2144: redirect 22nd century...