burial chamber RT 1050 ). The grave of a small girl (PG 1068 ) yielded a large number
of necklaces for adult women that covered the girl’s upper body.
From the Early Dynastic period we have two, possibly three, accounts regarding the
funeral of Baranamtara, city “queen” of Lagash (see most recently Jagersma 2007 : 293 ;
and Beld 2002 : 173 , 212 ; also see Katz 2010 : 109 n. 6 , who adds another possible text,
DP 159 ). A document dating to the Ur III period lists expenditures for the funeral of
Geme 2 – dLama 3 , a high priestess (NIN-dingir) of Baba (see most recently Katz 2010 :
109 ; Jagersma 2007 : 291 – 293 ). While the texts about the funeral of Baranamtara offer
primarily information on the mourners, the text from the Ur III period describes the
places where mourning occurs. All three cuneiform tablets were accounts listing the
amounts and kinds of foods that were consumed during the days of mourning. In both
cases, the mourning of the high-ranking woman extended over two days. Geme 2 –
dLama
3 was buried on the third day; the same can be assumed for Baranamtara.
The Early Dynastic documents indicate that ordinary female workers were part of
Baranamtara’s mourning community on both days of mourning: one text lists 160
female servants (géme) on the first day of the ceremony and 166 female servants on the
second day. It is possible that these mourners wailed loudly and beat their chests. The
women appear to have been sent by the temples of Baba and Ningirsu, the patron
deities of Lagash. Additional personnel involved in the funeral were seventy-two
lamentation priests (gala) on the first day and ninety-two lamentation priests on the
second day, including the chief lamentation priest of the city of Girsu (gala mah gir-
suki). We know that these lamentation priests fulfilled some religious functions during
the Early Dynastic period (Cooper 2006 : 43 ; Cohen 2005 : 52 – 53 ). In Lagash there seem
to have been male and female gala-priests (Selz 1995 a: 252 and n. 1208 ). Beginning with
the Ur III period, gala-priests are also known as female and male singers, probably of
cultic laments, whose songs were accompanied by a harp or lyre (balag) (Michalowski
2006 ).
Thus, it is highly likely that the gala-priests that attended Baranamtara’s funeral were
also lamentation singers. The performance of the gala mah gir-suki, the chief lamen-
tation priest of the city of Girsu, on the second day of the funeral ceremony was
probably only intended for members of the ruling house or other privileged persons.
Further attendees of the mourning rites included “wives of elders” (dam ab-ba) (seventy
on the first day and forty-eight on the second day) as well as ten “brothers” (or
“brothers by birth” Cohen 2005 : 56 ). The term dam ab-baliterally means “wives of
family patriarchs, fathers, or elders,” but it has also been translated as “old women”
(Cooper 2006 : 42 ) or “crying old women” Cohen ( 2005 : 56 ). It is currently unclear who
these people were, that is, whether they were part of the Baranamtara’s extended family
or persons of a certain social standing; or whether they were simply a group of regular
people participating in the funeral. In some documents all these people are summarized
with the following entry: “they are persons who shed tears at the mourning place”
(Jagersma 2007 : 292 ). At the funeral, these groups of people were served different kinds
of bread and beer, presumably in accordance with their status.
The death of Geme 2 – dLama 3 , the above-mentioned high priestess of the goddess
Baba, was mourned for two full days as well. However, in this case the text does not
list the persons who were part of the mourning community and instead only names
places where the mourning took place. After her death, Geme 2 – dLama 3 continued to
receive her two customary daily meals, on the first day in her private rooms and on
–– Death and burial ––