which, much as a couple of fish hovering before his chest, lay their heads on his beard,
might depict a ‘totemic ancestor’.^57 Sovereigns of Early Dynastic Sumer undoubtedly
considered it their duty to carry out the rites of family coherence with appropriate
grandeur. When Lugalanda and Barnamtara were marrying off a son, they honoured
the young couple with exquisite gifts, especially textiles.^58 Successive members of
the ruling dynasties apparently displayed a degree of ‘sovereign solidarity’ which is
sometimes reflected in art: one of Uru’inimgina’s seals visibly copies an earlier signet
of Lugalanda.^59
THE ELITE STRATAFirst and foremost, the Sumerian elites toiled to build foundations of family wealth
by all means accessible. Among various branches of enterprise, extensive trade of this
period brought much coveted precious materials. Let us notice that, for example, as
early as the Fara (Shuruppak) age, merchants brought in quantities of lapis lazuli
measured in gu 2 , ‘talents’ (= 30 kg, or over 60 lb).^60 At the same time, it helped
introduce into the land humbler products. Such are the foreign pottery imports,
Syrian^61 and Iranian,^62 being a corollary to the staples of the trade. Functions of an
‘internal market’ may be seen in the sealings of goods mentioning Uremush, the
‘chief commercial agent’ of Lagash, from Girsu (Lagash) and Kish.^63 A relatively high
accessibility of silver, and thus at least the possibility of a certain ‘monetization’ of
— Social configurations in Early Dynastic Babylonia —Figure 17. 2 A Sumerian temple of early third millennium BCE. The chief role of the temples
was the activation and distribution of fertility throughout the world of plants, animals and people.