==The Stele of Vultures==

{{ http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/images/P222399_detail.jpg?200}}

//Artifact//: Stone stele\\ 
//Provenience//: Girsu, modern Tello\\ 
//Period//: ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340)\\ 
//Current location//: [[http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/stele-vultures|Louvre Museum, Paris]]\\ 
//Text genre, language//: Royal inscription; Sumerian\\ 
[[http://cdli.ucla.edu/P222399|CDLI page]]\\ 

//Description//: The object consists now of fragments of the large lime-stone stela, originally about 180 cm tall. The stela got its name from a depiction of vultures preying on dead enemies as part of a depiction of a battle. The badly damaged stela has been interpreted as having had a ‘historical’ side, depicting the king of Lagash, Eannatum, battling his city’s archenemy, Umma, and a ‘mythological’ side depicting the chief god of Lagash, Ningirsu, intervening on behalf of his city. The stela is inscribed with a very long, but fragmentary text, describing both the battles between Lagash and Umma, and various other events.

//Lineart//: Sollberger, E. Corpus des inscriptions "royales" pre- sargoniques de Lagas (Geneve 1956) (=CIRPL). Ean 01.

//Edition(s)//: Sarzec Édouard de. Découvertes en Chaldée. Paris, Leroux, 1884-1912, pp. 36, 68, 94-103, 174-195.; Frayne, Douglas R. RIME 1.09.03.01, ex. 01.

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