The Stele of Vultures
Artifact: Stone stele
Provenience: Girsu, modern Tello
Period: ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340)
Current location: Louvre Museum, Paris
Text genre, language: Royal inscription; Sumerian
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.
