For the gods of Girsu : city-state formation in ancient Sumer

For the Gods are the opening words or incipit of the first inscribed votive artefacts dedicated to the principal deities of the Sumerian pantheon. They commemorate the construction or renovation of cities, temples, rural sanctuaries, border steles, in sum all the symbolically charged features of archaic states belonging thus metaphorically to supernatural tutelary overlords. Girsu (present-day Tello) is one of the earliest known cities of the world together with Uruk, Eridu, and Ur, and was considered to be in the 3rd Millennium the sanctuary of the Sumerian heroic god Ningirsu who fought with the demons of the Kur (Mountain) and thus made possible the introduction of irrigation and agriculture in Sumer. Girsu was the sacred metropolis and central pole of a city-state that lay in the Southeasternmost part of the Mesopotamian floodplain. The pioneering explorations carried out between 1877 and 1933 at Tello and the early decipherment of the Girsu cuneiform tablets were ground-breaking because they revealed the principal catalytic elements of the Sumerian takeoff – that is, a multiplicity and coalescence of major innovations, such as the appearance of a city– countryside continuum, the emergence of literacy, of bronze manufacture, and the development of monumental art and architecture. Because of the richness of information related in particular to the city’s spatial organization and geographical setting, and thanks to the availability of recently declassified Cold War space imagery and especially the possibility to launch new explorations in Southern Iraq, Girsu stands out as a primary locale for re-analyzing through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological and textual evidence the origins of the Sumerian city-state. Table of Contents Introduction: Concept of the Sumerian City-State Chapter One: Once Upon a Time in Ancient Girsu. Or Tello and the Rediscovery of the Sumerians Chapter Two: The City of the Heroic God. The General Layout of a Sumerian Metropolis Chapter Three: The Girsu Countryside. The Spatial Organization of a Sumerian City-State Chapter Four: Demarcated by the Gods. Sumerian Rites and the Lagaš-Umma Border Conflict Conclusion: Morphogenesis of an Archaic City-State Bibliography or the Gods are the opening words or incipit of the first inscribed votive artefacts dedicated to the principal deities of the Sumerian pantheon. They commemorate the construction or renovation of cities, temples, rural sanctuaries, border steles, in sum all the symbolically charged features of archaic states belonging thus metaphorically to supernatural tutelary overlords. Girsu (present-day Tello) is one of the earliest known cities of the world together with Uruk, Eridu, and Ur, and was considered to be in the 3rd Millennium the sanctuary of the Sumerian heroic god Ningirsu who fought with the demons of the Kur (Mountain) and thus made possible the introduction of irrigation and agriculture in Sumer. Girsu was the sacred metropolis and central pole of a city-state that lay in the south-easternmost part of the Mesopotamian floodplain. The pioneering explorations carried out between 1877 and 1933 at Tello and the early decipherment of the Girsu cuneiform tablets were ground-breaking because they revealed the principal catalytic elements of the Sumerian takeoff – that is, a multiplicity and coalescence of major innovations, such as the appearance of a city – countryside continuum, the emergence of literacy, of bronze manufacture, and the development of monumental art and architecture. Because of the richness of information related in particular to the city’s spatial organization and geographical setting, and thanks to the availability of recently declassified Cold War space imagery and especially the possibility to launch new explorations in Southern Iraq, Girsu stands out as a primary locale for re-analyzing through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological and textual evidence the origins of the Sumerian city-state. Cover 1 Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Contents 5 List of Figures 6 Foreword 7 Introduction: Concept of the Sumerian City-State 13 Chapter One 17 Once Upon a Time in Ancient Girsu. Or Tello and the Rediscovery of the Sumerians 17 Tello/Girsu and the Sumerian Miracle 17 The Myth of the Archaic Temple-City 24 Primitive Democracy or Polyarchy? 25 Standing on the Shoulders of Giants 26 Chapter Two 27 Fig. 1: The Tower of Babel by Bruegel the Elder 18 Fig. 2: Ernest de Sarzec and his escort at Tello 20 Fig. 3: Apotropaic pillar composed of inscribed bricks from Gudea 20 Fig. 4: Stele of the Vultures. Mythological side depicting the heroic war-god Ningirsu and the tempest-bird Imdugud 21 Fig. 5: Spatial organization of the sacred precinct of Girsu 23 The City of the Heroic God. The General Layout of a Sumerian Metropolis 27 A Landscape of Spoils as a Legacy of the Pioneers 27 Moving Landscapes and the Power of Space Imagery 29 Multivallation for the Purpose of Coercion and Defense 32 The Ceremonial Landscape of the City-State’s Pantheon 37 The Logistical Infrastructure of the Ancient Waterways 43 Fig. 6: The central complex of mounds of Tello (Tell K, Tell I-I’) 28 Fig. 7: Superimposed 1968 Corona space photography of Tello 30 Fig. 8: Principal topographical features and quarters of ancient Girsu revealed by the 1968 Corona satellite imagery, including the sacred-city Iri-ku3 (A), the central and southern areas (B), the eastern extramural district (C), the peripheral tells and 32 Fig. 9: Schematic plan of the Early Dynastic defended gate of the mound of the Porte du Diable (Tell P-P’), either A-bul5-la-dBa-U2 or A-bul5-la-dNin-g̃ir2-su, featuring 34 Fig. 10: Schematic plan of the Early Dynastic religious complex of Ningirsu 38 Fig. 11: Mace of Me-salim of Kiš recording the earliest known ruler of Lagaš Lugal-ša-engur 39 Fig. 12: Artistic view of the Early Dynastic temple of Ningirsu, 42 Fig. 13: The so-called Enigmatic construction of the Eastern tells, in fact a bridge over a paleo-channel (April 2015). 44 Fig. 14: Modern high resolution space photography of Tello 45 Fig. 15: General layout and topographical features of the Early Dynastic religious megapolis of Girsu reconstructed by combining archaeological and textual evidence and satellite imagery, and confirmed in April and November 2015 by ground reconnaissance: 48 Chapter Three: The Girsu Countryside. The Spatial Organization of a Sumerian City-State 49 The Model of the Sumerian Archaic Agrotown 49 The Regional Setting of an Early Dynastic City-State 51 The Ritual Processions in Honor of the Gods 57 The Sacred Precinct and Central Cult of the City-State 59 Fig. 16: The immediate hinterlands of Girsu. Archaeological mounds of Tello are detectable in the background (November 2015). 50 Fig. 17: Superimposed 1968 Corona space photography of Southern Babylonia with the T. Jacobsen 1969 map of Early Dynastic sites, canals, and ancient rivers in the Girsu region 55 Fig. 18: Map of the Early Dynastic settlement pattern of the Girsu-Lagaš city-state highlighting (A) the region around Girsu, (B) the Lagaš neighborhood, (C) the Nig̃en district, (D) the Gu’abba area, and (E) the Gu’edena border. 56 Fig. 19: Map of the Early Dynastic network of watercourses and marshlands of the 57 Fig. 20: Reconstruction of the Early Dynastic ritual procession-ways of the Girsu-Lagaš city-state from offering lists recording libations and sacrifices for the gods Ningirsu, Nanše, and Ba’u. 59 Fig. 21: General view of the sacred precinct of Girsu (November 2015) 60 Fig. 22: The Early Dynastic ceremonial plaza of the sacred precinct of Girsu 62 Fig. 23: Early Dynastic III ceremonial terracotta vessels from Area A 63 Chapter Four: Demarcated by the Gods. Sumerian Rites and the Lagaš-Umma Border Conflict 65 The Sumerian Concept of Sacred Territoriality 65 Contextualizing the Lagaš-Umma Border Conflict 66 Characterizing the Presargonic Gu’edena frontier 72 The Rise of the Mesopotamian Imperial State 76 Fig. 24: The Early Dynastic Sumerian alluvium featuring the Gu’edena frontier between 67 Fig. 25: Stele of the Vultures. 71 Fig. 26: Reconstruction of the Lugal-zagesi campaign against Lagaš 77 Conclusion: Morphogenesis of an Archaic City-State 79 Fig. 27: Archaic bas-relief of the Figure aux plumes recording the earliest known occurrence of the sanctuary of Ningirsu (E2-dNin-g̃ir2-su). 80 Bibliography 83 Girsu,Tello,3rd millennium BC,Ningirsu Ur,Ancient Mesopotamia,city-state formation,Ancient Sumer