Ngirsu

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Coordinates: 31°37′N, 46°9′E

Ancient Mesopotamia
EuphratesTigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: EriduKishUrukUrLagashNippurNgirsu
Elam: Susa
Akkadian Empire: AkkadMari
Amorites: IsinLarsa
Babylonia: BabylonChaldea
HittitesKassitesHurrians/Mitanni
Assyria: AssurNimrudDur-SharrukinNineveh
Chronology
History of Mesopotamia
History of SumerKings of Sumer
Kings of Assyria
Kings of Babylon
Mythology
Enûma ElishGilgamesh
Assyro-Babylonian religion
Language
SumerianElamite
AkkadianAramaic
HurrianHittite

Ngirsu (also also written G̃irsu, Ĝirsu, and sometimes transcribed as Girsu, Jirsu; modern Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq) is a city of ancient Sumer, situated some 25 km northwest of Lagash. At the time of Gudea, it was in fact the capital of the Lagash kingdom, and it continued to be its religious center after political power had shifted to Lagash.

Ngirsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5th millennium BC), but the main settlement dates to the Early Dynastic period (25th-24th centuries BC). Ngirsu lost all importance after the Third Dynasty of Ur, but remained inhabited until the 2nd century BC.

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[edit] Archaeology

Telloh was the first Sumerian site to be extensively excavated, at first under the French vice-consul at Basra, Ernest de Sarzec, from 1877 to 1900, [1] followed by his successor Gaston Cros from 1903-1909. [2] Excavations continued under Abbé Henri de Genouillac in 1929-1931[3] [4] and under André Parrot in 1931-1933. [5] It was at Girsu that the fragments of the Stele of the Vultures were found.

The site has suffered from poor excavation standards and also from illegal excavations. About 50,000 cuneiform tablets have been recovered from the site. [6]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Découvertes en Chaldée, E. de Sarzec, Paris, Leroux, 1884-1893
  2. ^ Nouvelles fouilles de Tello, Gaston Cros, Paris, 1910
  3. ^ Fouilles de Telloh I: Epoques presargoniques, Abbé Henri de Genouillac, Paris, 1934
  4. ^ Fouilles de Telloh II: Epoques d'Ur III Dynastie et de Larsa, Abbé Henri de Genouillac, Paris, 1936
  5. ^ A. Parrot, Tello: vingt campagnes de fouilles 1877-1933, Paris, A. Michel ,1948
  6. ^ Telloh Tablets at HAVERFORD LIBRARY

[edit] See also

[edit] External links