Lagash is a rich city

Let's leave for a while the beautiful, rich and populous city of Ur. It is now a small railway station about 150 km north-west of Basra and 15 km from the current bed of the Euphrates. Four and a half millennia ago, Ur looked completely different from what it is today. It was located near the sea and was connected with it by the river, along which the loaded barges sailed. Where the desert now stretches, fields of wheat and barley gilded, groves of palms and fig trees were green. In temples, priests offered prayers and performed rituals, monitored the work of craft workshops and order in overcrowded barns. And below, at the foot of the platforms, from where the temples rushed into the sky, hardworking people were busy, thanks to whose efforts this city became powerful and rich, to the surprise and envy of its neighbors. Let's leave Ur in the period of its heyday, when the rulers of the first dynasty reigned there, and go to the northeast, where the city of Girsu stretches 75 km from Ur, which until recently was identified with Lagash. Now scientists believe that Girsu was the capital of the city-state of Lagash.

French archaeologists - from de Sarsec and de Genuyac to André Parrot - thoroughly examined Tello (this is what this settlement is now called). Since 1877, archaeological work has been systematically carried out in Tello, thanks to which the history of this city is known in every detail. At the same time, excavations began in El-Khibba, later identified with Lagash. There is not a word about Lagash in the Tsar's Lists. This can only be surprising. After all, we are talking about a city-state and a dynasty, which undoubtedly played a significant role in the history of Sumer. True, in those years when this city had not yet achieved fame, it stood somewhat apart from historical events. Lagash was an important transit point on the waterway connecting the Tigris with the Euphrates. Through it, ships arrived from the sea went to the east or unloaded here. The tablets discovered during the excavations testify to the brisk trade carried on by the inhabitants of the city. As in other cities, he ruled here in the name of the ruler of the city, the god of war, Ningirsu, Ensi. Political and economic life was concentrated in temples dedicated to Ningirsu, his divine wife Baba (Bau), the goddess of legislation Nanshe, the goddess Geshtinanna, who acted as a "scribe of the country without return", and Gatumdug - the mother goddess of the city. The settlement arose here in the era of El-Obeid. In subsequent years, the city was rebuilt, the network of irrigation and navigation canals expanded, and its economic power grew. Researchers believe that Lagash has competed with the neighboring city of Ummah from time immemorial, and wars between these two states have been fought since the dawn of history.

In the middle of the III millennium BC. NS. the period of rapid prosperity of Lagash begins. The city at this time is ruled by Ensi Urnanche. Urnanche is depicted on a forty-centimeter bas-relief that adorned the temple; this bas-relief was presented to the temple as a votive (initiatory) gift. The ruler, dressed in a traditional Sumerian skirt, carries a basket of mortar on his shaved head for building a temple. Urnanshe, who, like Aanepad from Ur, took the title of Lugal ("big man" = king), takes part in the solemn ceremony with his family. He is accompanied by his daughter and four sons, whose names are indicated on the bas-relief, among them - Akurgal, heir to the throne and father of the famous Eanatum. The figure of the daughter, whose name is Lydda, in a robe with a cape thrown over her left shoulder, is much larger than the figures of the royal sons. Lydda follows her father directly, which may be evidence of the relatively high position of the Sumerian woman in public life (remember the queen Ku-Baba) and economy (see below for more on this). In the lower part of the bas-relief Urnanche is depicted seated on a throne (?) With a goblet in his hands. Behind him stands the cup-bearer with a jug, in front of him is the first minister making a message, and three dignitaries named after them.

Urnanche's inscriptions emphasize the special merits of this ruler in the construction of temples and canals. The same is reported in the later inscriptions of his successors. However, Urnanche did not limit his activities to the construction of temples, granaries and the expansion of the network of waterways. As the founder of the dynasty, he had to take care of the safety of the city. The rival, the Ummah, was very close, at any moment an attack by the Elamites could occur because of the Tiger. Temples, however, did not always agree to allocate funds necessary for the implementation of the king's plans. Thus, the interests of the king and the temples did not always coincide. The Ensies needed their own funds to consolidate their political power. We have already encountered the first manifestations of the independence of the princely power and its separation from the power of the priests (the construction of a royal palace independent from the temple). The king inevitably had to begin to appropriate part of the property and income, according to tradition, inseparably belonged to God, which were disposed of by the temples. In Lagash, this process was most likely initiated by Urnanshe.

There is no doubt that it was Urnanshe, who built on a large scale and imported timber from the Mash Mountains and building stone for the needs of construction, it was he, in front of whose statue in the Ningirsu temple sacrifices were made after death, laid the foundations of the political and economic power of his dynasty. This made it possible for its third representative, the grandson of Urnansha Eanatum (about 2400 BC), to make an attempt to extend its power to the states neighboring Lagash. After Eanatum, there was a white stone stele excavated by de Sarsec. This heavily destroyed slab, more than one and a half meters high, is covered with reliefs and inscriptions. One of its fragments depicts a flock of kites, tearing at the bodies of fallen soldiers. Hence the name: "Stele of Kites". The letters say that the stele was erected by Eanatum in honor of the victory over the city of Ummah. They tell about the favor of the gods to Eanatum, about how he defeated the ruler of the Ummah, restored the borders between the Ummah and Lagash, defined by King Mesilim of Kish, and how, having made peace with the Ummah, he conquered other cities. Based on the text carved on the "Stele of Kites", as well as the inscription left by his nephew Entemena, we can conclude that Eanatum suppressed the encroachments of the Elamites on the eastern border of Sumer, subordinated Kish and Akshak to his power, and maybe even reached Mari. It is difficult to find a man more worthy of the title of king than Eanatum!

A powerful figure of a man with a large net entangling his enemies is carved on the stele. (Scientists argue whether this is the image of the god of war Ningirsu or the victorious king.) Then we see a scene where this man (or god) on a war chariot rushes into the whirlpool of battle, dragging the closely closed ranks of warriors with him. This column of fighters, armed with long spears and huge shields that cover their torso, forming an almost solid wall, makes a strong impression. Another scene depicts a king rewarding his loyal warriors.

Further events played out already during the reign of the next ruler of Lagash - Entemena, whose chroniclers compiled the most complete historical "review" - a document rare for that distant era.

Before starting a story about the war waged by Entemena, and about the events that preceded it, let's get acquainted with the text of the inscription immortalized on two clay cylinders.

Enlil [the main deity of the Sumerian pantheon], the king of all lands, the father of all gods, determined the border for Ningirsu [the patron god of Lagash] and for Shara [the patron god of the Ummah] with his indestructible word, and Mesilim, the king of Kish, measured it according to the word of Sataran [ and] erected a stele there. [However] Ush, the ishakku of the Ummah, violated the decision [of the gods], and the word [agreement between people], tore out the [border] stele and entered the plain of Lagash.

[Then] Ningirsu, the best warrior of Enlil, fought with the people of the Ummah, obeying his [Enlil's] faithful word. At the word of Enlil, he threw a large net over them and piled their skeletons here and there (?) Across the plain. [As a result] Eanatum, the ishakku of Lagash, Entemena's uncle, the ishakku of Lagash, defined the border together with Anakalli, the ishakku of Umma; drew a [border] ditch from [channel] Idnun to Guedinna; inscribed steles along the ditch; put the stele of Mesilim in its [former] place, [but] did not enter the plain of the Ummah. He [then] built there Imdubba for Ningirsu in Namnundakigarr, [and] a sanctuary for Enlil, a sanctuary for Ninhursag [the Sumerian "mother" goddess], a sanctuary for Nipgirsu [and] an altar for Utu [the sun god].

This is followed by a short passage, interpreted in different ways by various researchers: according to some, it speaks of the tribute that Eanatum imposed on the vanquished; others believe that it is a rent for the cultivation of fields owned by Lagash.

Ur-Lumma, the ishakku of Umma, deprived the border ditch of Ningirsu [and] the border ditch Nanshe of water, dug steles [of the border ditch] [and] put them on fire, destroyed the consecrated [?] Sanctuaries of the gods erected in Namnunda-kigarra, received [help] from foreign countries and [finally] crossed the Ningirsu border ditch; Eanatum fought with him at Gana-ugigga, [where] the fields and farms of Ningirsu are, [and] Entemena, the beloved son of Eanatum, defeated him. [Then] Ur-Lumma fled, [and] he [Entemena] exterminated [the troops of the Ummah] up to [the] Ummah. [In addition], he [Ur-Lumma's] elite detachment of 60 warriors he destroyed [?] On the bank of the Lumma-girnunt channel. [And] the bodies of his [Ur-Lumma] people he [Entemena] threw on the plain [to be devoured by animals and birds] and [then] heaped up their skeletons [?] In five [different places].

After that, there is a description of the second phase of the war, when the priest Il appears as the enemy of Entemena - in all likelihood, the usurper who seized power in the Ummah.

Entemena, the ishakku of Lagash, whose name was spoken by Ningirsu, drew this [border] ditch from the Tigris to the [channel] Idnun according to the indestructible word of Enlil, according to the indestructible word of Ningirsu [and] according to the indestructible word of Nanshe [and] restored it for his beloved king Ningirsu and his beloved queen Nanshe, having built a brick foundation for Namnund Kigarra. Let Shulutula, the [personal] god of Entemena, the ishakku of Lagash, to whom Enlil gave the scepter, to whom Enki [the Sumerian god of wisdom] gave wisdom, which Nanshe keeps in [his] heart, the great ishakku Ningirsu, who received the word of the gods, be the intercessor [praying] for Entemena's life before Ningirsu and Nanshe until the most distant times!

A man from the Ummah who [ever] crosses the border ditch Ningirsu [and] the border ditch of Nanshe in order to seize by force the fields and farms - whether [indeed] a citizen of the Ummah or a foreigner - may Enlil strike him, and throw a large Ningirsu on him the net and put his mighty hand [and] his mighty foot on him, may the people of his city rise up against him, and may they put him down in the middle of his city!

And now let's try this confusing text, in which the deeds of the gods and the deeds of people are so closely intertwined that the picture of historical events turned out to be rather obscured, to present the language of historical science, in accordance with the interpretation of modern scientists.

In a long-standing dispute between the cities of Lagash and Ummah, King Kish Mesilim once acted as an arbiter.

Lagash historians thus confirm the fact that Mesilim had power over all of Sumer in his hands.) Mesilim, as a sovereign, defined the border between Lagash and Ummah and, as a sign of its inviolability, put there his memorial stele with an inscription. This was to put an end to the strife between the rival cities. Some time later, after the death of Mesilim and, apparently, shortly before the coming to power of Urnanshe, Ensi Ush, who ruled in the Ummah, invaded the territory of Lagash and captured Guedinna. It is possible that the area with this name before the intervention of Mesilim belonged to the Ummah. During the reign of Urnanshe, the power of Lagash increased, and it became possible to take revenge on the neighboring city-state. Urnanshe's grandson Eanatum decided to expel the conquerors from his land. He defeated the Ensi of Ummah Anakali and restored the former borders. (The ditches separating these two small states also served to irrigate the fields.)

Apparently, at the same time, Eanatum decided to extend his power to other cities. For this purpose, he had to first ensure the safety of his city. Wanting to placate the inhabitants of the Ummah, he allowed them to cultivate the land on the territory of Lagash. However, they had to give part of the harvest to the ruler of Lagash for the use of the land. Evidently, Eanatum's hegemony did not have a sufficiently solid foundation, because at the end of his life, the population of the Ummah apparently rebelled. Their Ensi Urluma refused to pay the tribute imposed on the Ummah and invaded the territory of Lagash. He destroyed the boundary pillars, set on fire the steles of Mesilim and Eanatum, glorifying the victors of his ancestors, destroyed the buildings and altars built by Eanatum. In addition, he called on foreigners to help him. Who exactly, we do not know, but it is not so difficult to guess: along the borders of Sumer there were enough states whose rulers looked with satisfaction at the internal strife of the Sumerians and were ready to invade their country at any moment. It could be both the Elamites and the inhabitants of Hamazi. And in the north at this time the future powerful state of Akkadians was already taking shape.

However, Urluma was not lucky. Entemena, still a very young military leader, won a brilliant victory: he utterly defeated the enemy, destroying most of his army, and put the rest to flight. (The number of participants in the battle can be judged by the figure given in the chronicle - 60 soldiers killed over the canal.) Entemena most likely did not enter the Ummah, but limited himself to restoring the old border. Meanwhile, the situation in the Ummah - either as a result of the death of a defeated ruler, or as a result of some kind of rebellion - has changed. Power passed to the former high priest of the city of Zabalam named Il. (According to some historians, Zabalam was on the territory of the Ummah. On the other hand, it is possible that we are talking about a city located not far from Uruk. If we accept the latter, then the Ummah already at that time was a powerful state that owned a vast territory.)

Silver vase of Entemena

Like Urluma, Il did not attach too much importance to border agreements. He refused to fulfill the obligations, and when Entemena, through the ambassadors, demanded an explanation from him and called for obedience, he declared claims regarding the territory of Guedinna. No matter how confusing the text compiled by the chroniclers of Entemena is (we have omitted the fragment on the disputes between Entemena and Ile), one can guess that the matter did not come to war, but the truce was concluded on the basis of a decision imposed by some third party - apparently, the same foreign ally of the Ummah. The former border was restored, but the citizens of the Ummah were not punished: not only did they not have to pay debts or tribute, they did not even have to worry about supplying water to the war-torn agricultural regions.

The events described refer to one of the wars waged by Entemena. And there were many of them: the ruler of Lagash wanted to preserve the inheritance he had received. To keep the dependent city-states in check, he also had to play a diplomatic game. Entemena, like Eanatum, was a skilled politician. They erected numerous temples not only out of love for the gods. It was politics: with their help it was easier to win the sympathy of citizens who deeply revered their gods. Entemena's inscriptions tell about the construction of temples for such gods as Nanna (the moon god), Enki, Enlil. From this list, we can conclude that the power of Untemena extended to Uruk, Ereda, Nippur and other cities. The following facts also speak about the influence of Entemena on a number of the city-states of Sumer: in Nippur a seventy-six centimeter miniature diorite statue of this ruler was found, in Uruk - an inscription about the conclusion of a fraternal alliance between Entemena and the ruler of Uruk Lugal-Kingeneshdudu and about the undertaken construction of the temple of Intemenna. There is a lot of evidence that Entemena was actively involved in the construction of the canals, not only in his native Lagash, but also beyond.

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Rich Amur-Father Far to the east of Lake Baikal, in the Amur Valley, in the present Primorsky Territory, the life of ancient people went their own way. The originality, first of all, was determined by the natural environment, completely unlike the one in which people lived at the end of the ice age between the Urals

2355 BC NS.

Almost at the same time as in Egypt, maybe even a little earlier, the story begins in Sumer(to repeat the title of the book of the Sumerologist Kramer).

Sumer occupied the southern part of Mesopotamia. The latter name is made up of the Greek words "Meso" (in the middle) and "Potamos" (river). It is given to a low-lying area with an arid climate, through which the Tigris and Euphrates flow, their waters merge near the Persian Gulf.

The dry plain, thanks to two great rivers, has become fertile and convenient for the development of irrigated agriculture. There are considerable similarities in the position of Mesopotamia and Egypt, but there is also a difference. Mesopotamia is an open, unprotected space. It is open to trade flows, and this is its advantage. But it is also open to invasion, so Mesopotamia has not known lasting, permanent political unity.

By the end of the 4th millennium BC. NS. from agricultural communities, city-states emerge. Probably, the basis of the first forms of power was the need for the joint construction of dams and irrigation canals. First, city-states arise in the country of Sumer, in the extreme south of Mesopotamia. The Sumerians, whose language is unlike any other known today, probably came from the east, perhaps by sea.

Each city was under the auspices of a local deity, whose representative was the king-priest. Among these cities we will mention Ur (from where, according to the Bible, Abraham came), Uruk, Eridu, Lagash, Umma.

The formation of the Sumerian cities coincides in time with the appearance of writing.

Cuneiform

Unlike Egypt, where the nearby mountains allow for stone to be mined in abundance, little was used in Mesopotamia (only a few statues and steles survived). Royal palaces and ziggurat temples in the form of multi-storey towers were built from dried clay, so now archeology deals only with the surviving foundations.

Writing at the beginning, as in Egypt, it consisted of small pictogram drawings. But while in Egypt hieroglyphs were carved on stone or written on papyrus leaves (Nile aquatic plant), Sumerian writing was applied to soft clay tablets, which were then dried or fired. The signs were applied with sharpened reeds in the form of squeezed out carnations or wedges (hence the name cuneiform). Due to this technique, the original drawings quickly became simplified and turned into a set of wedge-shaped icons of a completely abstract configuration.

Sumerian society

Like Egyptian, Sumerian society was hierarchical. The mass of the population consisted of free peasants, brutally exploited by the military-religious nobility.

Tsar ( lugal- a big man or Ensi- ruler, sovereign) at the same time represented God, the patron saint of the city. The flourishing of the original Sumerian, then Mesopotamian civilization is directly related to the development of trade relations. In Egypt, trade was a monopoly of the state and was reduced mainly to foreign trade. Mesopotamia is an open country where many trade flows intersect, where you can find goods brought from the mountainous regions of the North and from the Mediterranean. Merchants played a large role here, and cuneiform was used not only for religious and political purposes, but also for the needs of trade (inventory of goods, trade agreements). The imprints of engraved stone cylinders on clay tablets replaced seals and signatures.

The priestly kings and officials in the service often abused their power, which was the cause of one of the first social crises marked in history.

Urukagina, king of Lagash, and his social upheaval

We have amazing eyewitness accounts of this social crisis. The population of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash consisted of peasants, artisans, fishermen, sailors and merchants. These free people enjoyed a certain independence, and even the poorest had some kind of property - a piece of land, a house, livestock.

But most of the land was owned by the god (that is, the temple and his priests) and the royal palace.

Ruler- ishakku was the secular representative of the local deity. Under the pretext of the wars that Lagash waged against neighboring cities, especially the northern neighbor of the Ummah, the king and the nobility increased taxes, increased levies, seized the lands of the temple and priests.

A historian from Lagash, whose evidence has been found by modern scholars, gives a detailed account of these abuses. The keeper over the boatmen seized the boats. The cattle caretaker captured large and small livestock. The keeper over the fishing grounds captured the fish. When a resident of Lagash brought a ram to the palace for a haircut, he had to pay five shekels (1 shekel - 8 grams of silver). When an incense dealer made up incense for anointing, the ishakku received five shekels, his vizier received one, and the palace manager another. As for the temple and its property, the ishakku took possession of everything. Our narrator says: “The bulls of God plowed onion allotments for the ishakku; the onion and cucumber allotments of the ishakku occupied the best lands of God. " The most respected servants of the temple were forced to give the ishakk a large number of their donkeys, bulls and grain. When the deceased was brought to the cemetery for burial, his relatives had to pay with barley, bread, beer and all kinds of household items. All over the country, from end to end, the narrator notes, "there were tax collectors everywhere."

Such brutal oppression led to a revolution: the ruling dynasty was overthrown, power passed to a new ruler named Urukagina. He eliminated most of the tax collectors and abolished illegal levies; put an end to the oppression and ill-treatment of the poor. He freed the city from usurers, thieves and criminals.

Urukagina made an alliance with the god Lagash Ningirsu, promising that he would not tolerate widows and orphans becoming victims of "strong people."

But these reforms (or was it a revolution?) Of the Urukagins did not strengthen the city. Several years later, Urukagina was defeated by the Ummah king Lugalzagesi; the city of Lagash could no longer recover from this defeat.

These events made such a great impression on contemporaries that four variants of descriptions of what happened have come down to our time.

Assyrians and Chaldeans

The events we have just described took place at the very beginning of the long history of Mesopotamia. The winner of Urukagina Lugalzagesi for some time united the whole country of Sumer under his rule. However, in 2340 BC he himself was defeated by the Akkadian king Sargon, who created the first Mesopotamian empire.

Akkad, located north of Sumer, was inhabited by tribes who spoke a Semitic dialect (from the same language family that includes Arabic and Hebrew). By the end of the 3rd millennium, the Sumerians were finally absorbed by the Semitic peoples, but their language, having ceased to be spoken, remained the language of religion like Latin in medieval Europe. Since it was no longer spoken, dictionaries appeared where Sumerian words were given in translation into Akkadian. It is this circumstance that has made it possible in our time to decipher the Sumerian language.

Around 1100 BC NS. The Assyrians, who came from the mountainous northeastern region, established their rule over Sumer, since they had iron weapons and a horse army. One of the most famous rulers was Ashurbanipal (668-631 BC). Later, power passed to the Chaldean southerners, who founded a new capital - Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BC) subdued the Jews and took some of them to Chaldea. In the VI century. BC NS. Mesopotamia was conquered by the Persians and finally lost its independence.

Notes:

In the book of S. Kramer, from where this paragraph was borrowed, further, from the words of the ancient historian, Urukagina is told about the blessings of Urukagina: “He recalled the caretakers over the boatmen. He recalled the cattle and sheep keepers. He has called off the fish-keepers. He recalled the collectors of silver, who charged fees for shearing white sheep ... And throughout the country, from edge to edge, there was not a single tax collector left "(S. Kramer. The story begins in Sumer. M., 1991. S. 58-59 ).

100 Great Archaeological Discoveries Nizovsky Andrey Yurievich

3. FORWARD ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST LAGASH, THE FIRST FOUND CITY OF THE SHUMERS

FRONT ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Lower Mesopotamia is the land of the Sumerians. The territory where this most ancient civilization in the world was born is limited by the fertile valley of two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. To the west of it stretched a waterless and rocky desert, from the east approached the mountains, inhabited by semi-savage warlike tribes.

The land of the Sumerian country is of recent origin. Earlier, the Persian Gulf went deep into the mainland here, reaching modern Baghdad, and only in a relatively late period did water give way to dry land. This happened not as a result of some sudden cataclysm, but as a result of river sediment deposits that gradually filled a huge depression between the desert and the mountains. Here, to these lands, from the southeast of modern Iran, agricultural tribes came, giving rise to the Ubeid culture, which then spread to all of Mesopotamia. At the turn of the IV and III millennia BC. NS. in the southern part of the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates, the first state formations appeared. By the beginning of the III millennium BC. NS. there were several city-states - Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Larsa, Nippur. They were located on natural hills and were surrounded by walls. Each of them was home to approximately 40-50 thousand people. The rulers of these cities bore the title lugal ("big man") or ensi ("priest-lord").

In the second half of the III millennium BC. NS. Lagash becomes the leader among the cities of Shuler. In the middle of the XXV century. his army in a fierce battle defeated its eternal enemy - the city of Umma. During the six-year reign of Uruinimgina, Ensi Lagash (2318–2312 BC), important social reforms were carried out, which are the oldest known legal acts in the field of socio-economic relations. Uruinimgina proclaimed the slogan: "Let the strong not offend widows and orphans!" On behalf of the supreme god of Lagash, he guaranteed the rights of the citizens of the city, freed the priests and temple property from taxes, abolished some taxes on artisans, reduced the amount of labor service for the construction of irrigation facilities, eliminated polyandry (polyandry) - a remnant of matriarchy.

However, the heyday of Lagash did not last long. The ruler of the Ummah Lugalzagesi, having concluded an alliance with Uruk, attacked Lagash and defeated it. Subsequently, Lugalzagesi extended his rule to almost all of Sumer. Uruk became the capital of his state. And Lagash was slowly fading away, although its name is still rarely found in documents up to the time of the reign of the Babylonian king Hammurabi and his successor Samsuiluna. But gradually clay and sands engulfed the city. In the III century BC. NS. the Aramaic ruler Adadnadin-akhhe built his palace on its ruins, which was later also destroyed.

In 1877, Vice-Consul of France Ernest de Sarsec arrived in the Iraqi city of Basra. Like many other diplomats of that time working in the Middle East, he was passionately interested in antiquities and devoted all his free time to exploring the near and distant environs of Basra, in which about 20 thousand people then lived. Sarzek was not afraid of either the heat, reaching forty degrees, or the unhealthy, rotten climate. Accompanied by local guides, he made his way through reed thickets and abandoned, dry canals, pursued by clouds of mosquitoes, got acquainted with the life of "swamp Arabs" and Bedouins, who came from the depths of the desert and pitched their black tents made of goat hair on the outskirts of Basra.

Sarzek's tenacity was crowned with success. One of the peasants told him about bricks with strange signs that are often found in the Tello tract, located north of Basra, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Arriving at the site, Sarzek immediately began excavating.

They lasted for several years and were crowned with rare success. In the deserted Tello tract, under a whole complex of swollen clay hills, Sarzek discovered the ruins of Lagash, and in them - a huge, well-organized archive, consisting of more than 20 thousand cuneiform tablets and lying in the ground for almost four millennia. It was one of the largest libraries of antiquity.

As it turned out, Lagash was in many ways atypical for the cities of Sumer: it was a cluster of settlements that surrounded the previously formed main core of the city. A whole gallery of sculptures of the city's rulers has been discovered in Lagash, including the now famous group of sculptural portraits of the ruler of Gudea. From the inscriptions carved on them and from the texts of clay tablets, scientists learned the names of dozens of kings and other prominent people of that time who lived in the III millennium BC. NS. From the text of the "Stele of Korshuns" (2450-2425 BC), the content of the agreement concluded by the ruler of Lagash Eannatum with the ruler of the defeated Ummah became known, and the reliefs carved on the stele told about how the battle took place between the armies of both cities -states. Here is the ruler of Lagash leading lightly armed soldiers into battle; then - he also throws a heavily armed phalanx to the breakthrough, which decides the outcome of the battle. Kites circle over the empty battlefield, taking away the corpses of their enemies.

Other bas-reliefs depict bulls with human heads. In some bulls, the entire upper part of the body is human. These are echoes of the ancient agricultural cult of the bull; here we see the transformation of a bull-god into a human-god.

On a silver vase from Lagash - one of the masterpieces of Sumerian art from the middle of the third millennium BC. NS. - depicts four eagles with lion heads. On the other vase there are two serpents with wings crowned with crowns. Another vase depicts snakes coiled around a wand.

Sarzek's discovery threw off the veil of secrecy that enveloped the Sumerian civilization. Until recently, there were fierce disputes about the Sumerians in the scientific world, some scientists rejected the very fact of the existence of this people. And here not only a Sumerian city was found, but also a huge number of cuneiform texts in the Sumerian language!

The sensational discovery of Lagash prompted scientists from different countries to go in search of other Sumerian cities. So Eridu, Ur, Uruk were discovered. In 1903, the French archaeologist Gaston Croet continued the excavation of Lagash. In 1929-1931, Henri de Genillac worked here, and then for two more years - André Parrot. These studies of Lagash enriched science with numerous new findings. Even today, when more than a hundred years have passed since the discovery of Lagash, these findings have not lost their significance.

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Lower Mesopotamia is the land of the Sumerians. The territory where this most ancient civilization in the world was born is limited by the fertile valley of two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. To the west of it stretched a waterless and rocky desert, from the east approached the mountains, inhabited by semi-savage warlike tribes.

The land of the Sumerian country is of recent origin. Earlier, the Persian Gulf went deep into the mainland here, reaching modern Baghdad, and only in a relatively late period did water give way to dry land. This happened not as a result of some sudden cataclysm, but as a result of river sediment deposits that gradually filled a huge depression between the desert and the mountains. Here, to these lands, from the southeast of modern Iran, agricultural tribes came, giving rise to the Ubeid culture, which then spread to the whole of Mesopotamia.

At the turn of the IV and III millennia BC. NS. in the southern part of the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates, the first state formations appeared. By the beginning of the III millennium BC. NS. there were several city-states - Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Larsa, Nippur. Each of them was home to approximately 40-50 thousand people. The rulers of these cities bore the title lugal ("big man") or ensi ("priest-lord").

In the second half of the III millennium BC. NS. Lagash became the leader among the cities of Sumer. In the middle of the XXV century BC. NS. his army in a fierce battle defeated its eternal enemy - the city of Umma. During the reign of Uruinimgina, Ensi Lagash (2318–2312 BC), important social reforms were carried out, which are the oldest known legal acts in the field of socio-economic relations. Uruinimgina proclaimed the slogan: "Let the strong not offend widows and orphans!" On behalf of the supreme god of Lagash, he guaranteed the rights of the citizens of the city, freed priests and temple property from taxes, abolished some taxes on artisans, reduced the amount of labor service for the construction of irrigation facilities, eliminated polyandry (polyandry) - a remnant of matriarchy.

However, the heyday of Lagash did not last long. The ruler of the Ummah Lugalzagesi, having concluded an alliance with Uruk, attacked Lagash and defeated it. Subsequently, Lugalzagesi extended his rule to almost all of Sumer. Uruk became the capital of his state. And Lagash was slowly fading away, although its name is still rarely found in documents up to the time of the reign of the Babylonian king Hammurabi and his successor Samsuiluna. But gradually clay and sands engulfed the city.

In 1877, the Vice-Consul of France Ernest de Sarsec came to the Iraqi city of Basra. Like many other diplomats of that time working in the Middle East, he was passionately interested in antiquities and devoted all his free time to exploring the near and distant environs of Basra. Sarzek was not afraid of either the heat, reaching forty degrees, or the unhealthy, rotten climate. His persistence was crowned with success. One of the peasants told him about bricks with strange signs that are often found in the Tello tract, located north of Basra, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Arriving at the site, Sarzek immediately began excavating.

They lasted for several years and were crowned with rare success. In the deserted Tello tract, under a whole complex of swollen clay hills, Sarzek discovered the ruins of Lagash, and in them - a huge, well-organized archive, consisting of more than 20 thousand cuneiform tablets and lying in the ground for almost four millennia. It was one of the largest libraries of antiquity.

Lagash was in many ways atypical for the cities of Sumer: it was a cluster of settlements that surrounded the main core of the city that had formed earlier. A whole gallery of sculptures of the city's rulers has been discovered in Lagash, including the now famous group of sculptural portraits of the ruler of Gudea. From the inscriptions carved on them and from the texts of clay tablets, scientists learned the names of dozens of kings and other prominent people of that time who lived in the III millennium BC. NS. From the text of the "Stele of Korshuns" (2450-2425 BC), the content of the agreement concluded by the ruler of Lagash Eannatum with the ruler of the defeated Ummah became known, and the reliefs carved on the stele told about how the battle took place between the armies of both cities -States. Here is the ruler of Lagash leading lightly armed soldiers into battle; then - he also throws a heavily armed phalanx to the breakthrough, which decides the outcome of the battle. Kites circle over the empty battlefield, taking away the corpses of their enemies.

Other bas-reliefs show bulls with human heads. In some bulls, the entire upper body is human. These are echoes of the ancient agricultural cult of the bull; here we see the transformation of a bull-god into a human-god.

On a silver vase from Lagash - one of the masterpieces of Sumerian art from the middle of the third millennium BC. NS. - depicts four eagles with lion heads. On the other vase there are two serpents with wings crowned with crowns. Another vase depicts snakes coiled around a wand.

Sarzek's discovery threw off the veil of mystery that enveloped the Sumerian civilization. Until recently, there were fierce disputes about the Sumerians in the scientific world, some scientists rejected the very fact of the existence of this people. And here not only a Sumerian city was found, but also a huge number of cuneiform texts in the Sumerian language!

The sensational discovery of Lagash prompted scientists from other countries to go in search of other Sumerian cities. This is how Eridu, Ur, Uruk were discovered. In 1903, the French archaeologist Gaston Croet continued the excavation of Lagash. In 1929-1931, Henri de Genillac worked here, and then for two more years - André Parrot. These studies have enriched science with numerous new findings.

The Sumerian kings of the country Lagash (SHIR.BUR.LA ki) ruled in the territory of approx. 3000 km², south of the Sumer country proper.

Little is known about the ancient history of Lagash. In the Early Dynastic period, the capital of the nome was moved from the city of Lagash (lit. "Place of the crows", modern El-Hibba) in Girsu (modern Tello), where the temple of the supreme deity of this nome Nin-Ngirsu was built. In addition to the cities of Girsu and Lagash proper (or Urukug letters. "Sacred city"- the epithet of Lagash), this nome also included a number of more or less large settlements, apparently surrounded by walls: Nina (or Siraran), Kinunir, Uru, Kiesh, E-Ninmar, Guaba, etc. Political and economic life was concentrated in temples dedicated to Nin-Ngirsu, his divine wife Baba (Bau), the goddess of legislation Nanshe, the goddess Geshtinanna, who acted "Scribe of a country without age", and Gatumdug - the mother goddess Lagash.

Lagash rulers bore the title Ensi and received the title of Lugal (king) from the council or the popular assembly only temporarily, along with special powers, during an important military campaign or any other important events.

1st dynasty of Lagash

Ur-Nanshe is considered the first king of Lagash known in history. He was also the ancestor of the 1st dynasty of Lagash. Ur-Nanshe laid the foundations for the future power of Lagash, as he contributed to the strengthening of agriculture, the construction of defensive walls around the ancient Lagash, and the construction of new temples.

In the 25th - 24th centuries. BC NS. there is a strengthening of the Lagash nome. At that time, the first dynasty of rulers of Lagash ruled there. In terms of wealth, the Lagash state was second only to the southern Sumerian state of Uru-Uruk. Lagash port of Guaba (lit. "Sea shore") competed with Ur in sea trade with neighboring Elam and India. Lagash rulers dreamed of hegemony in Lower Mesopotamia no less than others, but the neighboring city of Umma blocked their way to the center of the country. To the same with the Ummah, for many generations there were bloody disputes over the fertile region of Guedenu bordering between these two nomes.

Eanatum

The next great king of Lagash can be considered Eanatum. With him, Lagash began to grow stronger. During his reign, the longtime enemy of Lagash, the city of Umma, separated from him and began a war with the Lagash. Two ensi (ruler) of the Ummah, Ur-Luma and Enkale, made military campaigns against Lagash, but both ended in failure. Eanatum conquered the Ummians and again forced them to pay tribute to Lagash.

Eanatum also made several military campaigns in Mesopotamia, conquering the cities of Uruk and Ur. He soon faced a dangerous coalition of northern Sumerian cities and Elamites. The cities of Kish, Akshak, Mari and the Elamites joined forces and attacked Lagash. Eanatum was able to defeat enemies and drive out the Elamites, and led the Sumerian cities to submission. When he died, Lagash stood at the pinnacle of power in Mesopotamia.

After the death of Eanatum, his brother Enannatum I, then his son Enmetena, assumed power in the country. Around 2350 BC NS. he had to wage repeated wars with the Ummah, as the Ummians continued to feud with Lagash over the Gueden strip. Enmetena was able to defeat the Ummah and put his ruler there. But the Ummians, apparently, managed to maintain their independence and continued to be at enmity with Lagash.

Priests of the god Nin-Ngirsu

At that time, the second most powerful persons in Lagash were the high priests of the god Nin-Ngirsu. After the suppression of the clan of the king Ur-Nanshe, the supreme power in Lagash (about 2340 BC) was taken into his own hands by a certain Dudu, who was a priest of the god Nin-Ngirsu. His successors Enentarzi and Lugaland were very unpopular rulers, and a very bad memory of their reign in Lagash remained. Both Enentarzi and Lugaland were more concerned about increasing their wealth. At least 2/3 of the temple households passed into the possession of the ruler - ensi, his wife and children. Lagash residents were subject to heavy taxes and taxes, which ruined the population. The dominion of the priests lasted until 2318 BC. BC, when Lugalanda was deposed by the new king of Lagash - the reformer Uruinimgina.

Rule of Uruinimgina

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See what "Lagash" is in other dictionaries:

An ancient state in Sumer (on the territory of modern Iraq) with the capital of the same name (now El Hiba). It included a number of large settlements: Girsu with the temple of his patron god Ningirsu, Lagash, and others. BC. the state has expanded. Reached ... ... Historical Dictionary

An ancient state and city in Sumer (on the territory of modern southern Iraq). It included a number of settlements: Legash proper (the modern settlement of El Khiba), Girsu (the modern settlement of Tello), etc. It flourished in the XXVI XXIV centuries. BC NS … Art encyclopedia

LAGASH, a state in Sumer (on the territory of modern Iraq) with the capital of the same name (modern El Hiba). Flourishing in the 26th and 24th centuries. and in the 22nd century. BC (under Gudea) ... Modern encyclopedia

An ancient state in Sumer (on the territory of modern Iraq) with the capital of the same name (modern El Hiba). The first settlements at the end. 5th millennium BC e., flourished in the 26th-24th centuries. and in the 22nd century. (with Gudea). From the 21st century. BC NS. has lost its meaning. ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Lagash- LAGASH, a state in Sumer (on the territory of modern Iraq) with the capital of the same name (modern El Hiba). Flourishing in the 26th and 24th centuries. and in the 22nd century. BC (at Gudea). ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

An ancient state in Sumer (on the territory of modern Iraq) with the capital of the same name (modern El Hiba). The first settlements at the end of the 5th millennium BC e., flourishing in the XXVI XXIV centuries. and in the XXII century. (with Gudea). Since the XXI century. BC NS. lost its meaning ... encyclopedic Dictionary