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Some are well known, as Nin-girsu, Zamama, and Papsukal. Many of them are found in other branches of the religious literature or in invocations attached to historical texts, commemorative of some work undertaken and completed by the kings; but a large proportion of these powers, not often distinguishable from mere spirits, only appear once in the literary remains of Babylonia.
In this respect, however, Nippur was an exception, and in later times the Bel cult was affected by the same influences that led Gudea to group around the sanctuary to Nin-girsu, edifices sacred to other gods and goddesses.
The temple of Nin-girsu is sanctified anew by purification rites, and the statue is formally presented to the god amidst sacrifices and offerings of rich gifts. The front, sides, and back of Gudea's images were covered with inscriptions, partly of a commemorative character, but in part, also, conveying a dedication to Nin-girsu.
In the second list, the position of Nin-girsu at the head is due to the fact that the inscription commemorates the dedication of a sanctuary to that god. But Nin-girsu, despite his rank as the chief god of Lagash, belongs to a second class of deities.
The narrative of the second cylinder begins at the moment when the building of the temple was finished, and when all was ready for the great god Nin-girsu to be installed therein, and its text is taken up with a description of the ceremonies and rites with which this solemn function was carried out.
The attempt has been made by Amiaud to arrange the pantheon of this oldest period in a genealogical order. In Gudea's long list of deities, he detects three generations, the three chief gods and one goddess, as the progenitors of Sin, Shamash, Nin-girsu, Bau, and others. The gods of this second division give rise to a third class, viewed again as the offspring of the second.
It was his duty to receive the prayers of Shirpurla and render them propitious; he superintended and blessed Ningirsu's journey when he visited Eridu or returned from that city, and he made special intercessions for the life of Gudea. The minister of Ningirsu's harîm was the god Shakanshabar, and he was installed near to Nin-girsu that he might issue his commands, both great and small.
Like Nin-girsu, Nin-si-a was a god of war, and his worship, imported perhaps from some ancient site to Lagash, falls into desuetude, as the attribute accorded to him becomes the distinguishing trait of the chief deity of the place. Gal-alim. Among the various deities to whom Gudea gives praise for the position and glory which he attains is Gal-alim.
We have already come across several instances; thus Nin-girsu, the lord of Girsu, has been shown to be a form of Ninib, itself an ideogram, the reading of which, it will be recalled, is still uncertain; and again, Nin-khar-sag has been referred to, as one of the titles of the great goddess Belit.
The temple sacred to him at Girsu was called E-ninnu, and also by a longer name that described the god as the one 'who changes darkness into light, the reference being to the solar character of the god Nin-ib with whom Nin-girsu is identified.
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