Administration at Girsu in Gudea’s Time

Abstract

The book offers the edition of all presently known administrative texts from Girsu (modern Telloh, Iraq), dated to the Lagash II period (XXII century BCE). The evidence consists of roughly 600 cuneiform tablets – including 34 published here for the first time – that are presently scattered over various collections (mostly in London, Paris, Istanbul, Strasbourg, Dublin). They are of enormous historical value, in that they provide unique information for the reconstruction of urbanization, political affairs, and social developments in Mesopotamia at the time of Gudea, the most notable figure of his dynasty, and of his son Urningirsu II.