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And yet we are but at the beginning of discoveries. What has been found is but an earnest of the harvest that is yet in store. It is but two years since that the French excavator, de Sarzec, discovered a library of 30,000 tablets at Tello in southern Chaldæa, which had already been formed when Gudea ruled over the city in B.C. 2700, and was arranged in shelves one above the other.
When the purification of E-ninnû was completed and the way between the old temple and the new made ready, all the inhabitants of the city prostrated themselves on the ground. "The city," says Gudea, "was like the mother of a sick man who prepareth a potion for him, or like the cattle of the plain which lie down together, or like the fierce lion, the master of the plain, when he coucheth."
Before the patesi himself it seemed that a fair cushion was placed, and upon the cushion was set a mould, and within the mould was a brick. And on the right hand the patesi beheld an ass that lay upon the ground. Such was the dream of Gudea, and he was troubled because he could not interpret it.
It is again in the inscriptions of Gudea that we come across the first mention of this ship. This ruler tells us that he built the 'beloved ship' for Nin-girsu, and gave it the name Kar-nuna-ta-uddua, the ship of 'the one that rises up out of the dam of the deep. The ship of Nabu is of considerable size, and is fitted out with a captain and crew, has masts and compartments.
It seems to me that the use of Anu here is purely metaphorical for 'high' or 'lofty, and that the king merely wishes to emphasize the dignity of his station by declaring himself to be the heavenly priest, somewhat as we should say 'priest by divine grace, or 'supreme priest. Nin-si -a. Ur-Bau and Gudea alone of the ancient rulers refer to this god.
The statues of themselves which the rulers from the days of Gudea on were fond of erecting were dedicated by them as offerings to the gods, and this avowed aim tempers, in a measure, the vanity which no doubt was the mainspring of their action.
The fastenings of the main entrance were decorated with dragons shooting out their tongues, and the bolt of the great door was fashioned like a raging hound. After this description of the construction and adornment of the temple the text goes on to narrate how Gudea arranged for its material endowment.
A goddess who can hardly be distinguished from Bau is Ga-tum-dug. Indeed, from the fact that she is also the 'mother of Lagash, it might seem that this is but another name for Bau. For Gudea, Ga-tum-dug is the mother who produced him. He is her servant and she is his mistress. Lagash is her beloved city, and there he prepares for her a dwelling-place, which later rulers, like Entena, embellish.
The texts also throw an interesting light on the truly Oriental manner in which, when approaching one deity for help, the cooperation and assistance of other deities were first secured. Thus Gudea solicited the intercession of Ningirsu and Gatumdug before applying to the goddess Ninâ to interpret his dream. The extremely human character of the gods themselves is also well illustrated.
Gudea, accordingly, does not omit to include 'the lady of Mar' in his list of the chief deities to whom he pays his devotions; and on the assumption of the general favor in which the city of Mar stood as a sacred town, we may account for the fact that a much later ruler, Dungi, of the dynasty of Ur, erects a temple to her honor. Pa-sag.
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