ood-stained streets. With Urukagina the
glory of Lagash departed. Although the city was rebuilt in time, and
was even made more stately than before, it never again became the
metropolis of Sumeria.

The vengeful destroyer of Lagash was Lugal-zaggisi, Patesi of Umma, a
masterful figure in early Sumerian history. We gather from the tablet
of the unknown scribe, who regarded him as a sinner against the god
Nin-Girsu, that his city goddess was named Nidaba. He appears also to
have been a worshipper of Enlil of Nippur, to whose influence he
credited his military successes. But Enlil was not his highest god, he
was the interceder who carried the prayers of Lugal-zaggisi to the
beloved father, Anu, god of the sky. No doubt Nin-Girsu represented a
school of theology which was associated with unpleasant memories in
Umma. The sacking and burning of the temples of Lagash suggests as
much.

Having broken the power of Lagash, Lugal-zaggisi directed his
attention to the rival city of Kish, where Semitic influence was
predominating. When Nanizak, the last monarch of the line of the
famous Queen Azag-Bau, had sat upon the throne for but three years, he
perished by the sword of the Umma conqueror. Nippur likewise came
under his sway, and he also subdued the southern cities.

Lugal-zaggisi chose for his capital ancient Erech, the city of Anu,
and of his daughter, the goddess Nana, who afterwards was identified
with Ishtar. Anu's spouse was Anatu, and the pair subsequently became
abstract deities, like Anshar and Kishar, their parents, who figure in
the Babylonian Creation story. Nana was worshipped as the goddess of
vegetation, and her relation to Anu was similar to that of Belit-sheri
to Ea at Eridu. Anu and Ea were originally identical, but it would
appear that the one was differentiated as the god of the waters above
the heaven and the other as god of the waters beneath the earth, both
being forms of Anshar. Elsewhere the chief god of the spring sun or
the moon, the lover of the goddess, became pre-eminent, displacing the
elder god, like Nin-Girsu at Lagash. At Sippar the sun god, Babbar,
whose Semitic name was Shamash, was exalted as the chief deity, while
the moon god remained supreme at Ur. This specializing process, which
was due to local theorizing and the influence of alien settlers, has
been dealt with in a previous chapter.

In referring to himself as the favoured ruler of various city deities,
Lugal-zaggisi appears as a