History of Various Areas (11)(as of 1900)

No composition at all like this document has yet been recovered, and as
it is not very long we may here give a translation of the text. It will
be seen that the writer plunges at once into the subject of his
charges against the men of Gishkhu. No historical _r?sum?_ prefaces
his accusations, and he gives no hint of the circumstances that have
rendered their delivery possible. The temples of his city have been
profaned and destroyed, and his indignation finds vent in a mere
enumeration of their titles. To his mind the facts need no comment,
for to him it is barely conceivable that such sacred places of ancient
worship should have been defiled. He launches his indictment against
Gishkhu in the following terms: "The men of Gishkhu have set fire to the
temple of E-ki [... ], they have set fire to Antashura, and they have
carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have
shed blood in the palace of Tirash, they have shed blood in Abzubanda,
they have shed blood in the shrine of Enlil and in the shrine of the
Sun-god, they have shed blood in Akhush, and they have carried away the
silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have shed blood in the
Gikana of the sacred grove of the goddess Ninmakh, and they have carried
away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have shed blood
in Baga, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones
therefrom! They have shed blood in Abzu-ega, they have set fire to
the temple of Gatumdug, and they have carried away the silver and the
precious stones therefrom, and have destroyed her statue! They have set
fire to the.... of the temple E-anna of the goddess Ninni, and they
have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom, and have
destroyed her statue! They have shed blood in Shapada, and they have
carried away the silver and precious stones therefrom! They have....
in Khenda, they have shed blood in the temple of Nindar in the town
of Kiab, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones
therefrom! They have set fire to the temple of Dumuzi-abzu in the town
of Kinunir, and they have carried away the silver and the precious
stones therefrom! They have set fire to the temple of Lugaluru, and they
have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They
have shed blood in E-engura, the temple of the goddess Nin?, and they
have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They
have shed blood in Sag..., the temple of Amageshtin, and the silver
and the precious stones of Amageshtin have they carried away! They have
removed the grain from Ginarbaniru, the field of the god Ningirsu,
so much of it as was under cultivation! The men of Gishkhu, by the
despoiling of Shirpurla, have committed a transgression against the god
Ningirsu! The power that is come unto them, from them shall be taken
away! Of transgression on the part of Urukagina, King of Girsu, there
is none. As for Lugalzaggisi, patesi of Gishkhu, may his goddess Ni-daba
bear on her head (the weight of) this transgression!"

Such is the account, which has come down to us from the rough tablet of
some unknown scribe, of the greatest misfortune experienced by Shirpurla
during the long course of her history. Many of the great temples
mentioned in the text as among those which were burnt down and despoiled
of their treasures are referred to more than once in the votive and
historical inscriptions of earlier rulers of Shirpurla, who occupied the
throne before the ill-fated Urukagina. The names of some of them, too,
are to be found in the texts of the later pate-sis of that city, so
that it may be concluded that in course of time they were rebuilt and
restored to their former splendour. But there is no doubt that the
despoiling and partial destruction of Shirpurla in the reign of
Urukagina had a lasting effect upon the fortunes of that city, and
effectively curtailed her influence among the greater cities of Southern
Babylonia.