e waiting to be received
by the master. The gates which gave access to the interior were placed
at somewhat irregular intervals: two opened from the principal facade,
but on each of the other sides there was only one entrance. They were
arched and so low that admittance was not easily gained; they were
closed with two-leaved doors of cedar or cypress, provided with bronze
hinges, which turned upon two blackish stones firmly set in the masonry
on either side, and usually inscribed with the name of the founder or
that of the reigning sovereign. Two of the entrances possessed a sort
of covered way, in which the soldiers of the external watch could take
shelter from the heat of the sun by day, from the cold at night, and
from the dews at dawn. On crossing the threshold, a corridor, flanked
with two small rooms for porters or warders, led into a courtyard
surrounded with buildings of sufficient depth to take up nearly half
of the area enclosed within the walls. This court was moreover a
semi-public place, to which tradesmen, merchants, suppliants, and
functionaries of all ranks had easy access. A suite of three rooms shut
off in the north-east angle did duty for a magazine or arsenal. The
southern portion of the building was occupied by the State apartments,
the largest of which measures only 40 feet in length. In these rooms
Gudea and his successors gave audience to their nobles and administered
justice. The administrative officers and the staff who had charge of
them were probably located in the remaining part of the building. The
roof was flat, and ran all round the enclosing wall, forming a terrace,
access to it being gained by a staircase built between the principal
entrance and the arsenal. At the northern angle rose a ziggurat. Custom
demanded that the sovereign should possess a temple within his dwelling,
where he could fulfil his religious duties without going into the town
and mixing with the crowd. At Lagash the sacred tower was of older date
than the palace, and possibly formed part of the ancient building of
Urbau. It was originally composed of three stories, but the lower one
was altered by Gudea, and disappeared entirely in the thickness of the
basal platform. The second story thus became the bottom one; it was
enlarged, slightly raised above the neighbouring roofs, and was probably
crowned by a sanctuary dedicated to Ningirsu. It was, indeed, a monument
of modest proportions, and most of the public temples soar