History of Various Areas (16)(as of 1900)

Having interpreted the meaning of the dream, the goddess Nin? proceeded
to give Gudea instruction as to how he should go to work to build the
temple. She told him first of all to go to his treasure-house and bring
forth his treasures from their sealed cases, and out of these to make
certain offerings which he was to place near the god Ningirsu, in the
temple in which he was dwelling at that time. The offerings were to
consist of a chariot, adorned with pure metal and precious stones;
bright arrows in a quiver; the weapon of the god, his sacred emblem, on
which Gudea was to inscribe his own name; and finally a lyre, the music
of which was wont to soothe the god when he took counsel with himself.
Nin? added that if the patesi carried out her instructions and made the
offerings she had specified, Ningirsu would reveal to him the plan on
which the temple was to be built, and would also bless him. Gudea bowed
himself down in token of his submission to the commands of the goddess,
and proceeded to execute them forthwith. He brought out his treasures,
and from the precious woods and metals which he possessed his craftsmen
fashioned the objects he was to present, and he set them in Ningirsu's
temple near to the god. He worked day and night, and, having prepared a
suitable spot in the precincts of the temple at the place of judgment,
he spread out upon it as offerings a fat sheep and a kid and the skin of
a young female kid. Then he built a fire of cypress and cedar and other
aromatic woods, to make a sweet savour, and, entering the inner chamber
of the temple, he offered a prayer to Ningirsu. He said that he wished
to build the temple, but he had received no sign that this was the will
of the god, and he prayed for a sign.
While he prayed the patesi was stretched out upon the ground, and the
god, standing near his head, then answered him. He said that he who
should build his temple was none other than Gudea, and that he would
give him the sign for which he asked. But first he described the plan
on which the temple was to be built, naming its various shrines and
chambers and describing the manner in which they were to be fashioned
and adorned. And the god promised that when Gudea should build the
temple, the land would once more enjoy abundance, for Ningirsu would
send a wind which should proclaim to the heavens the return of the
waters. And on that day the waters would fall from the heavens, the
water in the ditches and canals would rise, and water would gush out
from the dry clefts in the ground. And the great fields would once
more produce their crops, and oil would be poured out plenteously in
Sumer[sp.] and wool would again be weighed in great abundance. In that
day the god would go to the mountain where dwelt the whirlwind, and he
would himself direct the wind which should give the land the breath of
life. Gudea must therefore work day and night at the task of building
the temple. One company of men was to relieve another at its toil, and
during the night the men were to kindle lights so that the plain should
be as bright as day. Thus the builders would build continuously. Men
were also to be sent to the mountains to cut down cedars and pines and
other trees and bring their trunks to the city, while masons were to go
to the mountains and were to cut and transport huge blocks of stone to
be used in the construction of the temple. Finally the god gave Gudea
the sign for which he asked. The sign was that he should feel his side
touched as by a flame, and thereby he should know that he was the man
chosen by Ningirsu to carry out his commands.
Gudea bowed his head in submission, and his first act was to consult the
omens, and the omens were favourable. He then proceeded to purify the
city by special rites, so that the mother when angered did not chide her
son, and the master did not strike his servant's head, and the mistress,
though provoked by her handmaid, did not smite her face. And Gudea drove
all the evil wizards and sorcerers from the city, and he purified and
sanctified the city completely. Then he kindled a great fire of cedar
and other aromatic woods, to make a sweet savour for the gods, and
prayers were offered day and night; and the patesi addressed a prayer
to the Anun-naki, or Spirits of the Earth, who dwelt in Shirpurla,
and assigned a place to them in the temple. Then, having completed
his purification of the city itself, he consecrated its immediate
surroundings. Thus he consecrated the district of Gu-edin, whence the
revenues of Ningirsu were derived, and the lands of the goddess Nin?
with their populous villages. And he consecrated the wild and savage
bulls which no man could turn aside, and the cedars which were sacred
to Ningirsu, and the cattle of the plains. And he consecrated the armed
men, and the famous warriors, and the warriors of the Sun-god. And the
emblems of the god Ningirsu, and of the two great goddesses, Nin? and
Ninni, he installed before them in their shrines.
Then Gudea sent far and wide to fetch materials for the construction of
the temple. And the Elamite came from Elani, and men of Susa came from
Susa, and men brought wood from the mountains of Sinai and Melukh-kha.
And into the mountain of cedars, where no man before had penetrated,
the patesi cut a road, and he brought cedars and beams of other precious
woods in great quantities to the city. And he also made a road into the
mountain where stone was quarried, into places where no man before had
penetrated. And he carried great blocks of stone down from the mountain
and loaded them into barges and brought them to the city. And the barges
brought bitumen and plaster, and they were loaded as though they were
carrying grain, and all manner of great things were brought to the
city. Copper ore was brought from the mountain of copper in the land of
Kimash, and gold was brought in powder from the mountains, and silver
was brought from the mountains and porphyry from the land of Melukhkha,
and marble from the mountain of marble. And the patesi installed
goldsmiths and silversmiths, who wrought in these precious metals, for
the adornment of the temple; and he brought smiths who worked in copper
and lead, who were priests of Nin-tu-kalama. In his search for fitting
materials for the building of the temple, Gudea journeyed from the lower
country to the upper country, and from the upper country to the lower
country he returned.
The only other materials now wanting for the construction of the temple
were the sun-dried bricks of clay, of which the temple platform and
the structure of the temple itself were in the main composed. Their
manufacture was now inaugurated by a symbolical ceremony carried out by
the patesi in person. At dawn he performed an ablution with the fitting
rites that accompanied it, and when the day was more advanced he slew
a bull and a kid as sacrifices, and he then entered the temple of
Ningirsu, where he prostrated himself. And he took the sacred mould
and the fair cushion on which it rested in the temple, and he poured a
libation into the mould. Afterwards, having made offerings of honey and
butter, and having burnt incense, he placed the cushion and the mould
upon his head and carried it to the appointed place. There he placed
clay in the mould, shaping it into a brick, and he left the brick in its
mould within the temple. And last of all he sprinkled oil of cedar-wood
arThe next day at dawn Gudea broke the mould and set the brick in the sun.
And the Sun-god was rejoiced at the brick that he had fashioned. And
Gudea took the brick and raised it on high towards the heavens, and he
carried the brick to his people. In this way the patesi inaugurated the
manufacture of the sun-dried bricks for the temple, the sacred brick
which he had made being the symbol and pattern of the innumerable bricks
to be used in its construction. He then marked out the plan of the
temple, and the text states that he devoted himself to the building of
the temple like a young man who has begun building a house and allows
no pleasure to interfere with his task. And he chose out skilled workmen
and employed them on the building, and he was filled with joy. The gods,
too, are stated to have helped with the building, for Enki fixed the
temennu of the temple, and the goddess Nin? looked after its oracles,
and Gatumdug, the mother of Shir-purla, fashioned bricks for it morning
and evening, while the goddess Bau sprinkled aromatic oil of cedar-wood.
Gudea himself laid its foundations, and as he did so he blessed the
temple seven times, comparing it to the sacred brick, to the holy
libation-vase, to the divine eagle of Shirpurla, to a terrible couching
panther, to the beautiful heavens, to the day of offerings, and to the
morning light which brightens the land. He caused the temple to rise
towards heaven like a mountain, or like a cedar growing in the desert.
He built it of bricks of Sumer, and the timbers which he set in place
were as strong as the dragon of the deep.