Puzer-Mama

Puzer-Mama was a ruler of Lagash before Gudea. Though he adopted the title of lugal, Puzer-Mama shows kinship with future Lagashite kings in the religiosity of his inscriptions.

Taking control of Lagash during Shar-kali-sharri’s reign, when troubles with the Guti left the Sargonic king with only “a small rump state whose center lay at the confluence of the Diyala and Tigris river.” (Sargonic and Gutian Periods, p. 186) Contrast Puzer-Mama’s royal inscription, wherein he receives the various and thematically appropriate gifts of the gods, power by Ningirsu, intelligence by Enki, and position by Inanna, (Sargonic and Gutian Periods, p. 272) thereby making him suitable for rulership, with the contemporary religious element of Shar-kali-sharri's various inscriptions, a call for the gods to punish any who alter his inscriptions, specifically to, “tear out his foundations and destroy his progeny”, one of a number of curses for protection of royal inscriptions which date back to the reign of Sargon.

References

• Frayne, Douglas R. (1993). Sargonic and Gutian Periods (Toronto, Buffalo, London. University of Toronto Press Incorporated)