There was also an income deriving from military pursuits, booty amassed in war,
as well as revenues supplied by the subjugated populations. We have the well-known
inventory of the ravages caused by Lugalzagesi’s campaign against Uru’inimgina.^16
In addition, an inscription on a clay pot, presumably from contemporary Lagash,
describes how the invader loaded ‘their precious metal and lapis lazuli, their timber
and treasure’ on to ships.^17 But let us notice the fact that at least some commanders
of victorious armies took care to dedicate a part of the booty to the gods in order to
give thanks for their protection. Thus, Enshakushanna of Uruk dedicated a share in
items looted from Kish to Enlil at Nippur.^18
In return for the revenues, the rulers were supposed to discharge their duties, the
foremost among which was undoubtedly the administration of royal property: the
central management of the sovereigns’ holdings might have been the E 2 -sa 3 , referred
to in an inscription of Enannatum of Lagash,^19 an institution which disposed of its
own personnel, including scribes.^20 Alternatively, this function could have been carried
out by the E 2 -mi 2 , the ‘wifely house’, for which I suggest an interpretation of a ‘state
provisioning centre’, operated by the sovereign’s consort in her function of mistress
and manager of the land’s first household. Attributes such as a spindle and whorl of
precious materials defined high-status women, at least in burials.^21 The Lagash texts
point to a third structure apparently employed by the sovereigns’ administration.
This is the E 2 -ni 2 -ga, presumably a type of magazine, which may have served the
needs of the present ruler or his consort,^22 and received chiefly comestible products.^23
It is unclear to what extent any of these institutions could be seen in the enigmatic
‘Area C’ building, excavated by the US team at Lagash.^24
The kings took care, at least according to their own words, for those deprived of
ordinary means of subsistence: in addition to a declaration of Uru’inimgina,^25 let it
suffice here to cite Gudea’s Statue B, viii: 42 – 46 , where he speaks in favour of orphans,
widows and heirless ‘houses’.^26 Of course, we need not fall prey to illusions: in ED
III Lagash, male and female orphans constituted a welcome source of labour force of
the sovereigns’ workshops (‘ergasteria’).^27
The rulers were also responsible for the maintenance of public order. This involved,
among other measures, debt cancellations, clearly a periodically repeated procedure in
favour of restoration of an economic balance of sorts, alleviating the lot of the heavily
indebted social strata.^28 The practice is first attested to under Enmetena of Lagash.^29
The appointment of public officials belonged to royal duties; Urnanshe of Lagash
had a ‘spouse’ of the goddess Nanshe appointed by an omen.^30
Dispensation of justice constituted another claim of the kings: this function of
the ruler may be alluded to by the name of a shrine ‘Bagar Provides Justice’, built
by Urnanshe of Lagash.^31 Mesalim’s surveying of the Lagash–Umma border and its
promulgation by means of a public monument constitutes another case of this
kind.^32 The provision for just and publicly approved weights and measures belongs
here as well.^33
The sovereigns represented their communities in international relations. Thus,
Eannatum of Lagash concluded a ‘treaty’ with the anonymous sovereign of Umma
after the victory of the Lagash military forces, complete with supernatural sanctions
for any transgressor.^34 The ‘brotherhood’ between Enmetena of Lagash and Lugalki-
ginedudu of Uruk falls also under this heading.^35
— Social configurations in Early Dynastic Babylonia —