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So much, however, is now certain, that simultaneous with the governors of Lagash and the older kings of Ur, there was an independent state in Northern Babylonia with its seat at Agade. Indeed the history of this state can now be traced back six centuries beyond that of Lagash.
Again, the warlike character of the patron deity of Girsu would lead to an identification with Nin-shakh of Uruk, possessing the same traits; and the incorporation of Uruk as a part of the same empire which included Lagash and its quarters, would be the last link bringing about the full equation between the three.
The cone, I venture to think, is merely the conventionalized shape of a votive object originally intended to be stuck into some part of a sacred building. The large quantity of cones that have been found at Lagash, Nippur, and elsewhere is an indication of their popular use.
Both interpretations have a scholastic aspect, however, and the very fact that there are two interpretations, justifies the suspicion that neither furnishes the real explanation why the number seven was chosen. It by no means follows from the names borne by the zikkurats at Lagash and Uruk that they actually consisted of seven stories.
In Agade Anunit has a similar rôle; in Lagash Nina was the determiner of fate, and the mother of the goddesses. +762+. These names appear to be titles signifying 'mistress, 'lady, and this is probably the meaning of the name of the great goddess who finally ousted or absorbed her sisters, Ishtar.
Nin-girsu, it will be recalled, has also traits which connect him with agricultural life, and Ninâ being the daughter of Nin-si-a, one of the forms under which Ningirsu-Ninib appears, we may connect Nisaba directly with the cults of which Lagash formed the center. Nisaba must have been the consort of one of the agricultural gods, whose jurisdiction falls within Gudea's empire.
+761+. A very early female divinity is Bau, worshiped particularly at the city Lagash and by King Gudea. Her function as patron of productiveness is probably indicated in the spring festival held in her honor on New Year's Day, in which she is worshiped as the giver of the fruits of the earth. There are several local female deities that seem to be substantially identical in character with Bau.
In commercial documents of the Persian period, which have been found during the excavations at Nippur, Larak is described as lying "on the bank of the old Tigris", a phrase which must be taken as referring to the Shatt el-Hai, in view of the situation of Lagash and other early cities upon it or in its immediate neighbourhood.
These kings of Agade extended their jurisdiction as far north, at least, as Nippur on the one side and Sippar on the other. It is not until about the middle of the third millennium before this era, that Babylon comes into prominence. In the south, as already intimated, the rulers of Lagash and the dynasty of Ur are the earliest of which we have any record.
That the columns at Nippur were erected in accordance with recognized custom follows from De Sarzec's discovery of two enormous round columns within the sacred quarter of Lagash. In the light of Peters' excavations, the significance of the columns at Lagash becomes clear.
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