Surviving fragments from the obverse of the  two-sided ‘Stele of the Vultures’ from  the Temple of Ningirsu at Girsu 

now in the Musée du Louvre (AO 50): image from the museum website (my additions in black)   

According to the website of the Musée du Louvre (AO 50), tsix of the seven fragments of an inscribed, double-sided, limestone stele that are exhibited there were found on the site of the Temple of Ningirsu at Girsu in the late 19th century:

1. ✴fragments D, E and F were found ‘not far from the so-called Ur-Nanshe construction’ of the temple;
   

2. ✴fragments A and C were at the foot of Tell K (the mound upon which this temple stood); and
   

3. ✴fragment B was found ‘at the Palace in obvious reuse’.
   

The Louvre acquired fragment G from the British Museum in 1993.  As reconstructed by the museum, the original stele would have been about 180cm high, 130 cm wide and 11 cm deep. 

As we shall see, the surviving fragments of the inscriptions (RIME 1.9.3.1; CDLI, P431075) that accompanied the reliefs on both sides of the stele leave us in no doubt that Eanatum, the ensi of Lagash, commissioned it in commemoration of  his victory in a border dispute with Umma.  Indeed, the inscription on each of the edges identifies:

1. “Eanatum, kur gu2 gar-gar (the subjugator of the lands of Ningirsu)”, (lines 630’-632’ and 633’-635’).
   

Sébastien Rey (referenced below, at p. 285) argued that this stele must have been:

1. ✴originally given a place of honour in the temple that Ur-Nanshe, Eanatum’s grandfather, had built on Tell K; and
   

2. ✴subsequently displayed equally prominently in its successor, which was built by Enmetena, Eanatum’s nephew,  where it probably remained until Lagash fell to Lugalzagesi (who had been the ensi of Umma  before he became king of Uruk). 
   

As Rey pointed out (at p. 301), it was surely at this point (or soon thereafter) that:

1. “The sacred complex [at Girsu] was plundered and razed to the ground, creating a destruction horizon across Tell K that contained some of the defaced and shattered fragments of objects that were formerly the supreme emblems of [the] power and prestige [of Girsu and thus of Lagash].  Of paramount importance were the artefacts that celebrated historically important victories that had been inflicted by the rulers of Lagash on the state of Umma, and chief among them was the ‘Stele of the Vultures’.” 
   

As Renate van Dijk-Coombes (referenced below, at pp. 198-9) observed, as soon as these fragments were laid out in what would have been their respective positions, it became obvious that the stele had what might be dubbed:

1. ✴a historical side, on which the reliefs depict a battle and its immediate aftermath (in four registers, ‘read’ from bottom to top); and
   

2. ✴a mythological side, in which the reliefs (in two registers) depict the imagined actions thereafter of a male and a female deity. 
   

The stele owes its modern name to the relief on the reverse of fragment A, the final scene in the ‘historical’ sequence, which depicts a flock of vultures carrying off the remains of fallen enemy soldiers.  

Surviving Fragments of the Inscription 

Eanatum’s Conception and Destiny  

Jerrold Cooper (referenced below, 1983, at p. 26) observed that, although the details of Eanatum’s  campaign(s) against Umma are poorly preserved in this inscription:

1. “... the events leading up to [it/them] are well preserved and rather remarkable: 
   

2. ✴the god Ningirsu, angered at Umma's expropriation of his land, engenders [the birth of] ... Eanatum, who is suckled by the goddess Ninhursag and given his name by the goddess Inanna; after which
   

3. ✴Eanatum utters an imprecation against the ruler of Umma, and then has a dream in which Ningirsu appears to him and predicts that:
   

4. •Umma will lose its northern allies and will be defeated by Eanatum [see below]; ...  [and]
   

5. •the ruler of Umma will [subsequently] die at the hands of his own subjects.”
   

This summary represents an important interpretation of the following text:

1. “ ... the ensi of Umma committed an aggressive act: he pressed into Lagash, up to its frontier.  Akurgal, king of Lagash, son of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash [and father of Eanatum] ... The ... Lion of the Heart of the Princely Way, Ningirsu, in his (own) voice, made a claim(?) within the wind:
   

2. ‘Umma, my settled grasses, my own possessions, in the field of the Gu'edena, [on the border with Umma], Lagash shall ... its .... Lord Ningirsu, the hero of Enlil, ... does proclaim(?).’
   

3. Ningirsu implanted the semen of Eanatum in the womb ... He (Ningirsu) rejoiced over him:
   

4. ✴Inanna:
   

5. •took a place at his side;
   

6. •named him: ‘the one who is fitting for the Eanna of Inanna of the Great Oval’; and
   

7. •seated him on the right knee of Ninhursag.
   

8. ✴Ninhursag extended her right breast to him.
   

9. ✴Ningirsu, the one who had implanted his semen in the womb, rejoiced.
   

10. Ningirsu, laid his giant hand (five cubits, one span!) upon him and, with great joyfulness, gave him the kingship of Lagash”, (lines 9’-82’).
    

Thus, it seems that: ‘cometh the hour; cometh the man’: Ningirsu’s response to the threat from Umma was to arrange for the the birth of a son, Eanatum, and to appoint:

1. ✴Inanna as what we might call his godmother; and
   

2. ✴Ninhursag as his wet nurse (although, as we shall see, Eanatum later referred to her as ‘my mother’).
   

3. Ningirsu then declares Umma as his enemy because its leader has misappropriated the Gu’edena and appears to the (apparently now fully grown) Eanatum in a dream:
   

4. “To him who lay sleeping, to him who lay sleeping, [Ningirsu] came to stand by his head. To Eanatum, who lay sleeping, his beloved king, Ningirsu, came to stand by his head.  ... [Ningusu then spoke to the sleeping Eanatum]:
   

5. ‘... Umma, like Kish, shall therefore wander about and shall surely be removed by means of ones seized by anger(?):
   

6. ✴on your right side, I shall let Utu come forth upon you; [and]
   

7. ✴on your forehead, ... . 
   

8. ... Eanatum, .... I shall smite [the leading men of Umma ??]  and I shall make their myriad corpses stretch to the horizon. ... They [presumably the people of Umma] shall raise a hand against him [the ensi of Umma ??] and they shall kill him in the heart of Umma”, (lines 143’-150’).  
   

Eanatum’s Victory over Umma

Unfortunately, the surviving text on the course of Eanatum’s war with Lagash is mostly lost: we simply read that”

1. “They fought each other, and [an enemy] shot an arrow towards Enanatum.  He was penetrated by the arrow, but he broke it off(?).  In front of [the enemy army], he made noises with ... A man of the wind ... Eanatum, like a destructive storm of rain, left behind a deluge in Umma ... Eanatum, a man of just words, had a border territory [held by ?] Umma marked off and left it under the control of Umma.  He erected a stele in that place.  The ensi of Umma ...  He defeated Umma and heaped up ... 20 tumuli there”, (lines 153’-181’). 
   

After this victory, the ensi of Umma (who clearly survived the battle) was forced to swear on the casting nets of Enlil, Ninhursag, Enki, Sin and Utu to respect Ningirsu’s rights over the disputed territory.  Furthermore, he alerted each of these gods to the existence of the respective oaths by sending messages carried by:

1. ✴two doves to Enlil, king of heaven and earth, at the Ekur in Nippur (lines 263’-267’);
   

2. ✴two doves to ‘my mother’, Ninhursag at Kesh, (lines 315’-318’);
   

3. ✴two doves to Enki, king of the Abzu, (lines 368’-372’);
   

4. ✴four doves to Sin, ‘my king’, the impetuous calf of Enlil, (lines 428’-438’); and
   

5. ✴two doves to Utu, king of vegetation, at the Ebabbar at Larsa, (lines 488’-490’).
   

In each of these cases, the deity in question was instructed that, should the oath be broken, he/she should send his/her casting net down from the sky to envelop Umma.  Interestingly the situation with the earth goddess Ninki is slightly different (possibly because she did not have a casting net): the text explaining how she was sent the news is now lost, but, in the event that the oath was broken, she was instructed to release snakes from the ground and make them sink their fangs into the feet of (presumably the people of) Umma (lines 513’-563’). 

Eanatum’s ‘Foreign’ Victory List   

Finally, we come to the list of Eanatum’s ‘foreign victories’, which was prefaced by the following list of his divine patrons: 

1. “Eanatum, lugal (king) of Lagash:
   

2. ✴given strength/power by Enlil;
   

3. ✴fed wholesome milk by Ninhursag;
   

4. ✴given a good name by Inanna;
   

5. ✴given wisdom by Enki;
   

6. ✴chosen by the heart of Nanshe, the powerful mistress, kur gu2 gar-gar (the subjugator of the lands) of Ningirsu;
   

7. ✴the beloved of Dumuzi-Abzu;
   

8. ✴nominated by Hendursag;
   

9. ✴beloved friend of Lugaluru;
   

10. ✴beloved husband of Inanna”, (lines 564’-587’).
    

In the list itself, we read that:

1. “Eanatum, lugal (king) of Lagash [long list of divine patrons], defeated:
   

2. ✴Elam and Shubur/Subartu, the lands of timber and goods;
   

3. ✴[a now-illegible location];
   

4. ✴Susa; 
   

5. ✴the ensi of Arawa/Urua, [although he] marched ahead of Arawa’s standards [see Gàbor Zólyomi, referenced below, for this translation] and heaped up tumuli;
   

6. ✴[unknown number of unknown locations]];
   

7. ✴Arua, which he obliterated; 
   

8. ✴[unknown number of unknown locations];
   

9. ✴the [leader of ??] shue3 Kiengi (the land of Sumer); 
   

10. ✴[unknown number of unknown locations]; 
    

11. ✴Ur ...; [and
    

12. ✴[unknown number of unknown locations]”, (lines 588’-605’).  
    

Reliefs on the Historical Side of the Stele 

Surviving reliefs from the historical side of the Stele of the Vultures 

Left: fragments B and D-G, now in the Musée du Louvre (AO 50): images from museum website

Reconstruction of missing reliefs from Licia Romano (referenced below, 2007, Figure 2, at p. 22)   

The reliefs on this side of the stele were arranged in four registers, which should be ‘read’  from the bottom.  According to Sébastien Rey (referenced below), Eanatum is probably depicted in all four registers:

1. ✴in the very fragmentary lowest register (see pp. 248-9), he was probably depicted standing to the left, thrusting a long spear (along the bottom of fragments B and F) towards the head of an enemy (presumably the enemy commander); 
   

2. ✴in the second register (see p. 249), he was probably depicted seated and facing left (see the feet preserved to the right in fragment F), towards:
   

3. •a tethered bull lying belly-up on the ground (fragment F);
   

4. •a ritual scene in which a naked celebrant pours a libation into a large pot of what seem to be date palms (fragment G): and
   

5. •two men wearing kilts carrying baskets of earth on their heads, presumably to cover the heap of corpses to at the extreme left (fragment B);
   

6. ✴in the third register (see p. 250), he stands in a chariot in the top register (sat the head of his army, facing right, in the top register (fragment D), holding a long spear in his left hand and an ‘S-shaped’ weapon in his right hand (see p. 250); and
   

7. ✴in the top register (see p. 251), he is shown again with an ‘S-shaped’ weapon in his right hand  (although it is now held close to his chest), as he stands ahead of a phalanx of his men as thay marh over the bodied of the enemy dead. 
   

Also in the top register, a flock of vultures are depicted (in fragment A) carrying off the remains of fallen enemy soldiers, which have been taken from the ‘messy heap’ of bodies depicted in fragment C (see p. 250). 

1. “For the god Ningirsu, warrior of the god Enlil: Eanatum, ensi of Lagash: 
   

2. ✴á-sum-ma (granted power by) Ningirsu;
   

3. ✴[the one] who restored to Ningirsu his beloved Gu’edena;
   

4. ✴[the one] who subjugates the lands for Ningirsu; 
   

5. ... built the E-za for the god Ningirsu out of silver and lapis lazuli.  He [also] built for him a storehouse, a building of alabaster stone, and amassed piles of grain for him (there).  Eanatum:
   

6. [the one to whom] Ningirsu granted the gidru (sceptre).
   

7. His personal god is Sul-MUSHxPA.” 
   

I wonder whether Sébastien Rey’s ‘S-shaped weapon’ in fragments D and E is actually the gidru (sceptre) that Ningiirsu granted to Eanatum as the symbol of his kingship.  

Reliefs on the Mythical Side of the Stele 

Surviving reliefs from the mythical side of the Stele of the Vultures

Image from Giovanni Lovisetto (referenced below, Figure 15, at p. 59)

Reconstruction of missing reliefs from Licia Romano (referenced below, 2007, Figure 1, at p. 21)  

Sébastien Rey (referenced below, at pp. 246-8) argued that, on the mythological side of the stel:

1. ✴in the upper register:
   

2. •the large male figure standing at the centre, who holds:
   

3. -a mace in his right hand; and
   

4. -in his left hand, a casting-net full of naked prisoners of war that is topped by Ningirsu’s emblem, a lion-headed eagle (= the Anzu bird) grasping two lions;
   

5. is almost certainly Ningirsu himself; and
   

6. •the small head of the figure behind him in front of a battle standard belonged to a goddess whom he identified as Ninhursag; and
   

7. ✴in the lower register:
   

8. •the chariot was probably driven by Ningirsu (albeit that only part of his skirt now survives); and 
   

9. •the small head to the right probably belonged to the same goddess as the one in the upper register.
   

He also argued (at p. 247) that, although the goddess is often depicted as standing in reconstructions of both registers: 

1. “... it should probably be assumed that [she] was shown seated, [as in the reconstruction above], possibly on a throne decorated [with symbols of her usual attributes].”  
   

Identity of the Goddess of Fragments B and C  

Relief on the obverse of fragment C: head of a goddess in front of an eagle standard

Left: image of the relief, from the website of the Musée du Louvre (AO 50) 

Right: Sketch of the head of the goddess, from Licia Romano (referenced below, 2008, Figure 2c, at p. 52) 

Sébastien Rey (referenced below, at p. 246) asserted (at p. 246) that this (probably seated) goddess is:

1. “... [Eanatum’s] mother, Ninhirsag, .... the Lady of the Mountain, who] is closely associated with her son in all the myths relating to [Ningirsu], and she appears in fragments B and C wearing [an Anzu] crown.”
   

He also observed (at p. 247) that:

1. “... the tips of some mace heads [are visible] behind her shoulders [in fragment B], a set of motifs that can also be made out ... on fragment C.”
   

He argued (at p. 246) that the identification of this goddess as Ninghursag is strengthened by the fact that, in fragment C, she is seated in front of a standard topped with ‘another [Anzu bird] or an eagle’, but, as Piotr Steinkeller (referenced below, 2019, at p. 1000, note 63) observed, it is clear from photographs that the bird’s head on this standard is not that of IM-dugud (=Anzi bird).   Furthermore, although (as we shall see) Steinkeller agreed that this goddess is Ninhursag, not all scholars agree: for example: Renate van Dijk-Coombes (referenced below, at p. 201) argued that she is ‘probably Ninhursag or possibly Inanna (and she pointed out, at note 8, that she is sometimes identified as Nisaba).  It is therefore necessary to consider the available evidence more closely.

Evidence of the Relief on the Berlin Vase

Image of goddess with similar iconography to the goddess on fragments B and C, of unknown provenience.   

Now in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin (VA 7248): image from website of the Morgan Library 

Although (as mentioned above) Piotr Steinkeller (referenced below, 2019, at p. 1000 and note 63) observed that the bird on the standard behind the goddess on fragment C is not an Anzu bird, he nevertheless argued that her identification as Ninhursag: 

1. “... is assured by the fact that there is a head of  [the Anzu bird] drawn within [her] crown.  The same feature, which obviously references Ningirsu/Ninurta as Ninhursag’s son, appears also in the representation of a seated goddess on an inscribed Lagash bowl made of stone [illustrated above].  Because of this, the goddess [depicted on fragments B and C] needs to be identified as Ninhursag.” 
   

There is little doubt that the goddess portrayed on the wears the same crown as the goddess of fragments B and C, allowing us to assume that:

1. ✴the Berlin vase originated in Lagash/Girsu; and
   

2. ✴the goddess depicted on it is also depicted on fragments B and C. 
   

Furthermore, Steinkeller is surely correct in asserting that the Anzu ‘badge’ on the crowns of the goddess in these three images references (or symbolises) Ningirsu.  However, it is not clear that  Ninhursag was regarded as the mother of Ningirsu at Lagash at this time (albeit that she plays this role in the later myths about Ningirsu’s capture of the Anzu bird); indeed it seems unlikely, since we know from the inscription on the stele that Eanatum himself sent doves to:

1. “.... my mother, Ninhursag at Kesh, (lines 315’-318’). 
   

If this is accepted, then there is no obvious reason why the goddess under discussion here should be identified as Ninhursag, who apparently did not even have a shrine at Lagash/Girsu at this time.  

To take this further, we should look at the now-fragmentary inscription (RIME 1.9.5.25; CDLI, P431142) on the vase:

1. “... [a now unknown man] built:
   

2. ✴E-engur of Zulum for [the goddess Nanshe];
   

3. ✴Abzu-pasira for the god Enki, king of Eridu; [and]
   

4. ✴the giguna (reed shrine) of the sacred grove for] the goddess Ninhur[sag].
   

5. ... [When a now unknown goddess] granted [a now unknown favour to a now unknown man], he set up (this) bursag vessel for her. ...”
   

We know that Enmetena (Eanatum’s nephew) recorded work on all three of these structures (in the same order) in at least two inscriptions:

1. ✴RIME 1.9.5.12; CDLI, P431129, lines 22-32; and
   

2. ✴RIME 1.9.5.17; CDLI, P431134, lines 26-36.
   

This is presumably why Douglas Frayne (referenced below at pp. 229) included the inscription on the Berlin vase in his section on Enmetena: he commented (at p. 228) that:

1. “The relief on the vase depicts a seated goddess en face holding a date cluster(?) ... in her hand; she wears a single horned crown on her head [and] various rays emanate from her shoulders. The iconography is utterly distinctive of the goddess Inanna, [and] the depiction of the goddess is strikingly similar to one found on a stele [of Ur-Nanshe, Eanatum’s grandfather - see below].”
   

Interestingly, as Frayne pointed out (at p. 193):

1. “The reign of Enmetena was a period of territorial expansion for Lagash, [as] evidenced by the annexation of the city of Patibira (located about 33 km SW of Girsu).  There, Emetena (re)built the temple of the city’s chief gods Inanna and Lugalemush ... ”
   

This is recorded (inter alia) in the inscription (RIME 1.9.5.3; CDLI, P431119) on numerous foundation cones from this temple:

1. “For Inanna and for Lugalemush, Enmetena, ensi of Lagash, built their beloved temple, and affixed (this) clay nail for them. ... At that time, Enmetena, ensi of Lagash, and Lugal-kigine-dudu, ensi of Uruk, formed a brotherhood.” 
   

It is therefore possible that Enmetena dedicated bursag vessel under discussion here for Inanna at the temple that he (re) built for her at Patibira.   

Stele of Ur-Nanshe 

Left: Front of an inscribed stele from Lagash (RIME 1.9.1.6a, P431039)

Now in the Iraq Museum (IM 61404): image from Wikimedia   

Right: sketch of this relief  by Claudia Suter (referenced below, Figure 1, at p. 346)  

Although 10 of the surviving inscriptions of Ur-Nanshe mention his building of the Ibgal temple of Inanna at Lagash, the inscription (RIME 1.9.1.6a, P431039) on the stele illustrated above is the only one that is devoted entirely to his building of this temple, which is, moreover, mentioned twice:

1. ✴the caption under the image of Ur-Nanshe on the reverse (surface a; lines 1-5) records that:
   

2. “Ur-Nanshe, son of Gunidu, ensi of Lagash, built the Ibgal (= ‘Grear Oval’)”; and
   

3. ✴ this information is repeated at the start of the main text on this side (surface e; lines 1-7). 
   

Interestingly, this is also the only one of the many surviving inscriptions of Ur-Nanshe in which he uses the title ensi: in all of the others, he is described as lugal (king) of Lagash.  

According to Julia Asher-Greve and Joan Goodnick Westenholz (referenced below, at p. 165 - see also their Plate 5, at p. 384), the stele from Lagash is the oldest known object to carry an image of a deity who can be securely identified as a goddess.  They also observed that she:

1. “... is represented on the main side of the stele, sitting on a throne standing on an inscribed platform [although the inscription here is now illegible].  She is shown in partial frontal view with extremely long hair and a date cluster in her hands: 
   

2. ✴her en face image is given its own space; while
   

3. ✴the profile figures [of Ur-Nanshe and his entourage on the other aurfaces, including part of the royal family engaged in rituals (procession and banquet), share the space on the reverse and small sides of the stele.
   

4. The image field with only the goddess alludes to a niche for a cult statue.”
   

According to Douglas Frayne (referenced below, 2008, at p. 87), this stele was found ‘on the surface of al-Hiba [Lagash]’.  However, given the iconography of its reliefs and the nature of its inscriptions, Asher-Greve and Goodnick Westenholz (as above) assumed that the stele commemorated Ur-Nanshe’s inauguration of the Ibgal.  Giovanni Lovisetto (referenced below, at pp. 54-5) was of the same opinion: he described the iconography of the reliefs as follows: 

1. “Interestingly, the throne and [the goddess’] feet are placed on a sort of a podium, possibly signalling that this is a depiction of a statue, in front of which the five male figures [Ur-Nanshe and one other figure on the reverse; one large figure between Ur-Nanshe and the goddess; and two smaller figures approaching the goddess from her right] are performing a libation ritual, perhaps during the inauguration of the Inanna temple itself. ...  Even though the name of the goddess is not preserved in the inscription, the reference to the Ibgal [in the inscriptions] and the fact that the stele was found nearby have led most scholars to identify this figure as Inanna.” 
   

Inanna and Ninhursag in the Inscription of the Stele of the Vultures

As we have seen, each of these goddesses is named on a number of occasions in the surviving part of the inscription (RIME 1.9.3.1; CDLI, P431075) on the Stele of the Vultures:

1. ✴when Eanatum was born:
   

2. •Inanna:
   

3. -took a place at his side;
   

4. -named him ‘the one who is fitting for the Eanna of Inanna of the Ibgal’; and
   

5. -seated him on the right knee of Ninhursag (lines 52’-62’); and
   

6. •Ninhursag extended her right breast to him, (lines 63’-70’); 
   

7. ✴after Eanatum’s final victory over Umma, he forced the ensi of Umma to swear on the casting nets of five different deities to respect the terms imposed upon them and alerted each of them to the existence of these oaths:
   

8. •Inanna did not feature among these deities; while 
   

9. •Ninhursag was the second of them, and Eanatum alerted her by sending two doves to ‘my mother, Ninhursag’ at Kesh (see lines 315’-319’); and
   

10. ✴in the preface to his ‘foreign victory list’, Eantaum:
    

11. •described himself (unusually) as lugal (king) of Lagash who, after his birth, had been breast fed by Ninhursag and given a good name by Inanna (lines 569’-572’); and
    

12. •added at the end of the  preface that he was the dam kiag2 (beloved husband) of Inanna, (lines 586’-587’).
    

In a broadly contemporary inscription (RIME 1.9.3.5; CDLI, P431079) on the so-called  ‘Eanatum Boulder’ from Lagash, Eanatum recorded that, after he had repelled an invasion of the city by King Zuzu, of Akshak and his allies from Kish and Mari: 

1. “... because Inanna so loved [him, ... she] gave him the nam-lugal (kingship) of Kish in addition to the nam-ensi2 (rulership) of Lagash”, (lines 98-106).  
   

Identity of the Goddess of Fragments B and C: Conclusions  

1. 
   

2. 
   

3. 
   

4. 
   

5. 
   

6. 
   

Anzu

A third important iconographical figure of this side of the stele is the so-called Anzu bird, which appears in:

1. ✴in at least three places (marked A in the drawing above), as an emblem of some sort on: 
   

2. •a battle standard;
   

3. •the top of Ningirsu’s battle-net; and
   

4. •adorning his chariot; and
   

5. ✴as a lion’s head surrounded by feathers in the so-called ‘Anzu crown’ of both. figures of the goddess (marked a in this drawing).
   

As we have seen, this figure:

1. ✴may have been reflected in the archaic ‘Feathered Figure Plaque’; and/or
   

2. ✴was certainly represented on two earlier objects from Lagash/Girsu:
   

3. •the mace of Mesilim; and
   

4. •the so-called ‘Plaque of the Anzu Bird’  of Ur-Nanshe.
   

I discuss the identity of the goddess wearing the ‘Anzu crown’, the iconographical significance of the Anzu bird and its association with Ningirsu below.

It is difficult to know what Eanatum gained from these many and widespread victories recorded in these inscriptions: while we can imagine that they brought him both booty and prestige (and perhaps the right to tribute and military conscripts on an on-going basis), the extent of his political influence over the conquered cities is unclear.  As noted above, Aage Westenholz (referenced below, 2020, at pp. 697-8) argued that Eanatum’s victories over cities that were far from Lagash does not prove that he established anything approaching a Sumerian state, centred on Lagash.  While this is certainly true, it does seem to me that Eanatum’s claim that:

1. ✴Inanna had given him the kingship of Kish; and
   

2. ✴Kish had ‘trembled before him’;
   

does suggest that he had established hegemony over Kish for a period after his victory.  Indeed, it is tempting to suggest that sought to present himself as a ‘new Mesilim’.  Nevertheless, it seems that any such eminence was short-lived, since nothing in the surviving evidence suggests that any subsequent ruler of Lagash claimed the title ‘king of Kish. 

Note Eanatum received the sceptre from Ningirsu 

This figure takes its name from an Akkadian legend in which Ningirsu killed the Anzu bird.   However, since this legend is known from only two texts from Susa that date to the Old Babylonian Period (ca. 2000 BC), we cannot simply assume that the this text corresponds directly to the oral tradition that must have been reflected in the iconography some 5-7 centuries earlier.  For example, Chikako Watanabe (referenced below, at p. 32) has recently analysed the evolution of the iconography of the lion-headed eagle in early Mesopotamia:

“The lion-headed eagle, which comprises a bird of prey with the head of a lion, appears in the earliest pictorial representations shown in seal impressions which date back to the Uruk period.  In this early period, the creature is represented in profile flying over captured enemies with wings stretched upright and head lowered; ... During the Early Dynastic period the lion-headed eagle was depicted in frontal view with wings and legs spread wide to stand over a pair of animals, such as

ibexes;

stags; or

lions.

[Frans Wiggermann (referenced below, at pp. 161-2)] identified the lion-headed eagle as Anzu and, when the creature is combined with the pairs of animals, they were thought to be associated with:

the god Enki in the case of the ibex [source ??]’

the goddess Ninhursag, in the case of the stag [see the relief BM 114308 at the Britiosh Museum, from the Temple of Ninhursag at Ur]; and

the god Ningirsu in the case of the lion.

The creature is also depicted on the ‘Stele of the Vultures’ together with a pair of lions’ heads, which are represented below the lion-headed eagle, on top of a net.  The net contains naked enemies of Girsu; a large male figure grasps the tail feathers of the lion-headed eagle.