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Girsu ( Sumerian ;
cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system, script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East, Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is nam ...
) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of
Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...
, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.


History

Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BC), but significant levels of activity began in the Early Dynastic period (2900-2335 BC). At the time of Gudea, during the Second Dynasty of Lagash, Girsu became the capital of the
Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...
kingdom and continued to be its religious center after political power had shifted to city of Lagash. During the Ur III period, Girsu was a major administrative center for the empire. After the fall of Ur, Girsu declined in importance, but remained inhabited until approximately 200 BC. A 4th century BCE bilingual Greek/Aramaic inscription was found there.


Archaeology

The site consist of two main mounds, one rising 50 feet above the plain and the other 56 feet. A number of small mounds dot the site. Telloh was the first Sumerian site to be extensively excavated, at first under the French vice-consul at Basra,
Ernest de Sarzec Ernest Choquin de Sarzec (1832–1901) was a French archaeologist, to whom is attributed the discovery of the civilization of ancient Sumer. He was in the French diplomatic service; on being transferred to Basra in 1872 as a vice-consul, he be ...
, in eleven campaigns between 1877 and 1900, followed by his successor Gaston Cros from 1903–1909. Excavations continued under Abbé
Henri de Genouillac Henri Pierre Louis du Verdier de Genouillac, called Abbé Henri de Genouillac, (15 March 1881, Rouen – 20 November 1940, in his clergy house in Villennes-sur-Seine) was a French Roman catholic priest, epigrapher and archaeologist specializing i ...
in 1929–1931 and under André Parrot in 1931–1933. It was at Girsu that the fragments of the
Stele of the Vultures The Stele of the Vultures is a monument from the Early Dynastic IIIb period (2600–2350 BC) in Mesopotamia celebrating a victory of the city-state of Lagash over its neighbour Umma. It shows various battle and religious scenes and is named aft ...
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. Excavations at Telloh resumed in 2017 as part of a training program for Iraqi archaeologists organized by the British Museum. A foundation tablet and a number of inscribed building cones have been found. In March 2020, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 5,000-year-old cultic area filled with more than 300 broken ceremonial ceramic cups, bowls, jars, animal sacrifices, and ritual processions dedicated to
Ningirsu , image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png , caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from E ...
. One of the remains was a duck-shaped bronze figurine with eyes made from bark which is thought to be dedicated to Nanshe. An Indus Valley weight was also found.


Gallery


Ubaid IV artifacts (4700–4200 BC) in Girsu

File:Ubaid IV pottery gobelet 4700-4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu. Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid IV pottery gobelet, 4700–4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu. Louvre Museum. File:Ubaid IV pottery jars 4700-4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid IV pottery jars 4700–4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum. File:Ubaid IV pottery 4700-4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid IV pottery 4700–4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum AO 15338. File:Female figurines Ubaid IV Tello ancient Girsu 4700-4200 BC Louvre Museum.jpg, Female figurines Ubaid IV, Tello, ancient Girsu, 4700–4200 BC. Louvre Museum AO15327.


Uruk Period artifacts (4000–3100)

File:Vase Telloh Louvre AO14313.jpg, Uruk period vase. Terracotta, ca. 3500–2900 BC. From Telloh, ancient city of Girsu. Louvre Museum. File:Vase Telloh Louvre AO14302.jpg, Vase. Terracotta with red slip, ca. 3500–2900 BC. From Telloh, ancient city of Girsu. Louvre Museum. File:Vase Telloh Louvre AO14342.jpg, Vase. Terracotta, ca. 3500–2900 BC. From Telloh, ancient city of Girsu. File:Indus seal found in Telloh.jpg, Indus seal impression discovered in Telloh, a result of Indus-Mesopotamia relations.


Early dynastic artifacts in Girsu (3rd millennium BC)

File:Ring of Gold, Carnelian, Lapis Lazuli, Tello, ancient Girsu, mid-3rd millenium BC.jpg, Ring of Gold, Carnelian, Lapis Lazuli, Tello, ancient Girsu, mid-3rd millennium BC. Louvre Museum. File:Issue of barley rations.JPG, An account of barley rations issued monthly to adults and children written in
Cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system, script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East, Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is nam ...
on clay tablet, written in year 4 of King
Urukagina Uru-ka-gina, Uru-inim-gina, or Iri-ka-gina ( sux, ; 24th century BC, middle chronology) was King of the city-states of Lagash and Girsu in Mesopotamia, and the last ruler of the 1st Dynasty of Lagash. He assumed the title of king, claiming to ...
(circa 2350 BC). From Girsu, Iraq.
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
, London. File:Telloh doorway erected by Gudea.jpg, Telloh doorway erected by Gudea (c. 2100 BC)


See also

* Gudea cylinders *
Ningirsu , image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png , caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from E ...
* Statues of Gudea *
Cities of the ancient Near East The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...


Notes


Further reading

*Donbaz, Veysel, and Foster, Benjamin R., "Sargonic Texts from Telloh in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum", Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund 5, Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1982 ISBN 9780934718448

hiera, Edward, "Selected temple accounts from Telloh, Yokha and Drehem", University of Pennsylvania, 1921 * Harriet Crawford, 'The Construction Inférieure at Tello. A Reassessment', ''Iraq'', vol. 49, pp. 71–76, 1987 *Benjamin R. Foster, 'The Sargonic Victory Stele from Telloh', ''Iraq'', Vol. 47, pp. 15–30, 1985 *Foster, Benjamin R., "Sargonic Texts from Telloh in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Part 2", ISD LLC, 2018 ISBN 9781948488082 *Claudia E. Suter, 'A Shulgi Statuette from Tello', ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'', vol. 43/45, pp. 63–70, (1991–1993) *Sébastien Rey, 'Divine Cults in the Sacred Precinct of Girsu', ''Near Eastern Archaeology''; Chicago, vol. 84, iss. 2, pp. 130-139, June 2021


External links


Divine Cults in the Sacred Precinct of Girsu - Sébastien Rey - Near Eastern Archaeology Volume 84, Number 2- June 20215,000-year-old artifacts unearthed in Sumerian city of Girsu in Iraq - Daily Sabah - Nov 17, 2021Fragment of a stone plaque depicting Enannatum
found in Tello (Girsu), from the collection of the British Museum, on the site of Google Cultural Institute
Images of Girsu
- Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
Stele of the Vultures at the LouvreThe world's oldest bridge is being preserved in IraqThe Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme: an updateExcavations at Girsu Video - British Museum
{{Authority control Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC Populated places disestablished in the 2nd century BC Sumerian cities Archaeological sites in Iraq Dhi Qar Governorate Former populated places in Iraq Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia) fr:Lagash#Girsu/Tello