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Updated: June 18, 2025
Beside the god was the divine eagle, the emblem of Lagash; his feet rested upon the whirlwind, and a lion crouched upon his right hand and upon his left. The figure spoke to the patesi, but he did not understand the meaning of the words.
The association of the number fifty with Ningirsu-Ninib leads to the name E-ninnu, 'house of fifty, for his temple in Lagash. Again, the position of Anu in the pantheon accounts for the name E-adda, 'house of the father, given to his temple, just as E-nin-makh, 'the house of the great lady, the name of a chapel in Babylon, at once recalls a goddess like Ishtar.
The ideographs descriptive of the edifice suggest a corn magazine of some kind. One is reminded of the storehouses for grain in Egypt. A comparison of the two texts in question makes it probable that Ab-gi and E-bi-gar are synonymous. Rawlinson, iv. 27, no. 6; 11, 45-46. It is noticeable that there is no mention made of a special god of Lagash, which points to the later origin of the name. Inscr.
When Uru-azagga becomes a part of Lagash, Bau's dignity is heightened to that of 'mother of Lagash. As the consort of Ningirsu, she is identified with the goddess Gula, the name more commonly applied to the 'princely mistress' of Nin-ib, whose worship continues down to the days of the neo-Babylonian monarchy.
A direct indication of this personification of heaven without the deification appears in the epithet 'child of Anu, bestowed upon the goddess Bau. The reference to the heavens in this connection is an allusion to Bau's position as the patroness of that quarter of Lagash known as the 'brilliant town, and where Bau's temple stood.
In fact, the Babylonian principalities arise from the extension of the city's jurisdiction, just as the later Babylonian empire is naught but the enlargement, on a greater scale, of the city of Babylon. Of these old Babylonian cities the most noteworthy, in the south, are Eridu, Lagash, Ur, Larsa, Uruk, Isin; and in the north, Agade, Sippar, Nippur, Kutha, and Babylon.
The cities of these Semites and Sumerians were divided into two groups, one in the south, near the sea, the other more to the north, where the Euphrates and the Tigris are separated by a narrow strip of land. The southern group consisted of seven, Eridu lying nearest the coast. Uru was the most important. Lagash was to the north of Eridu.
In order to maintain the large household represented by such an organization as that of the temple of Enlil of Nippur, that of Ningirsu at Lagash, that of Marduk at Babylon, or that of Shamash at Sippar, large holdings of land were required which, cultivated by agents for the priests, or farmed out with stipulations for a goodly share of the produce, secured an income for the maintenance of the temple officials.
A purely local deity, if the reading and interpretation offered by Jensen, 'King of the city Erim, is correct. The mention of the deity in an inscription of Ur-Bau, who calls himself the 'beloved servant' of this god, would be due to the circumstance that the district within which the city in question lay was controlled by the rulers of Lagash.
Another ruler of Lagash whose name is doubtfully read as E-dingir-ra-na-gin, but who is even earlier than Ur-Bau, declares that he has been 'called' by Innanna to the throne. She is mentioned by the side of Nin-khar-sag.
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