ROYAL INSCRIPTION OF GISHSHAG-KIDUG OF UMMA

MS 2426
MS Short Title ROYAL INSCRIPTION OF GISHSHAG-KIDUG OF UMMA
Text ROYAL DEDICATORY INSCRIPTION OF GISHSHAG-KIDUG OF UMMA: WHEN SHARA SPOKE TO ENLIL THE PRAYERS GATHERED IN HIS HEART, AND WHEN HE APROACHED HIM, GISHSHAG-KIDUG, THE BELOVED SHEPHERD OF SHARA, THE ONE BORN ... A WARRIOR PRINCE, THE FEAR-INSPIRING LEADER OF SUMER, WHO HAS NO RIVAL IN ALL THE FOREIGN LANDS, THE EN-PRIEST ATTACHED TO THE SIDE OF NINURA, COUNSELED BY ENKI AS BY HIS OWN MOTHER, THE BELOVED FRIEND OF ISHTARAN, THE MIGHTY GOVERNOR OF ENLLIL, THE KING SELECTED BY INANA, AT THAT TIME HE CONSTRUCTED THIS BOUNDARY DYKE -
Description MS in Sumerian on limestone, Umma, Sumer, ca. 2385 BC, 1/3 of a truncated cone, h. 11,9 cm, originally ca. 35 cm, diam. 5,3-7,3 cm, 2 columns, compartments with 30 lines in a transitional linear script between pictographic and cuneiform script.
Binding
Context

The same inscription known for 2 other exemplars, one on British Museum terracotta vase, former Erlenmeyer Collection (Christie's 13.12.1988:60), and a limestone vase. Also related to The Louvre AO 19225, a gold beard from a statue which alludes to the existence of King Gishakidu.

All 3 edited by Frayne 2008:372-74, as Gisha-kidu.

For another foundation inscription of Gishakidu of Umma, see MS 4983.

Provenance
Commentary The cone and the vase relate to the Umma-Lagash border conflict that lasted over the reign of many kings between ca. 2450 and 2300 BC, with many bloody battles. This conflict is the earliest well documented piece of history. All the written and artistic materials came from Lagash, such as the stele of the vultures in The Louvre. The cone and the vase for the first time tell the history from Umma's point of view. The present MS also reveals the unknown king of the British Museum vase, and dates it to ca. 2385 BC.
Published Andrew George, ed.: Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology, vol. 17, Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, Cuneiform texts VI. CDL Press, Bethesda, MD, 2011, text 6, p. 6, pl. V.
Exhibited
Mentioned
See also
Place of origin Sumer
Dates ca 2385 BC