ABSTRACT

At the time of the third dynasty of Ur, in the last century of the third millennium bc, the founder-king Ur-Namma, after acquiring control over Lagash, seems to have had the heads cut off the statues of the last ensi of Lagash Namaḫni and of his wife Ninḫedu, and their names obliterated; he then had the heads taken to the capital of his kingdom at Ur and ordered that they be displayed on the city gate in public view. The head of the violated statue of the high functionary Lupad of Umma found at Girsu lay separate and at a distance from its other remains, and its mutilation is considered to be clearly intentional. The head from Assur was deliberately severed from the remains of its body in antiquity and the latter were found at the same site, according to the prevailing unanimous opinion.