United States or Burundi ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Gudea's inscriptions enable us to realize with what fervour they carried out the rebuilding of a temple, and how the whole resources of the nation were devoted to the successful completion of the work.
The Sumerian origin of ceremonies of purification is confirmed by Gudea's purification of the city before beginning the building of the temple, and again before the transference of the god from his old temple to the new one.
O Son of Enlil, O warrior, what commands shall I faithfully carry out? O Ningirsu, I have built thy temple, and with joy would I lead thee therein, and my goddess Bau would install at thy side." We are told that the god accepted Gudea's prayer, and thereby he gave his consent to be removed from the old temple of E-ninnû to his new one which bore the same name.
One of Gudea's inscriptions begins with the significant statement, 'Nin-gish-zida is the god of Gudea'; and elsewhere when speaking of him, he is 'my god, or 'his god. None of the ancient Babylonian rulers make mention of him except Gudea, though in the incantation texts he is introduced and significantly termed 'the throne-bearer' of the earth.
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 older buildings, the bricks were merely piled together, without cement. Afterwards straw was mixed with the clay, but as early as Gudea's days the bitumen, abounding in the valley, became the common cement employed in all edifices of importance. The decoration was confined largely to the façades, the doors, and the floors.
This reproach, for which until recently there was considerable justification, has been finally removed by the working out of the texts upon Gudea's cylinders. For picturesque narrative, for wealth of detail, and for striking similes, it would be hard to find their superior in Babylonian and Assyrian literature.
Gal-alim may have been again a merely local deity belonging to one of the towns that fell under Gudea's rule, and whose attributes again were so little marked that this god too disappeared under the overshadowing importance of Nin-girsu. He and another god, Dun-shagga, are viewed as the sons of Nin-girsu.
In the chapter on the pantheon before Hammurabi, the identity of Nin-ib with the chief god of Gudea's district, Nin-girsu, has been pointed out. The solar character of the latter being clear, it follows that Nin-ib, too, is originally a personification of the sun, like Nin-gish-zida and Nin-shakh, whose rôles are absorbed by Nin-ib.
It is, in fact, one of the three towns that combined with Shirpurla to create the great capitol bearing the latter name; and Jensen has called attention to a passage in one of Gudea's inscriptions in which the goddess is brought into direct association with the town, so that it would appear that Ninâ is the patron of Ninâ, in the same way that Nin-girsu is the protector of Girsu.
Word Of The Day