THE NET OF ENLIL 359 



This is to be found in what till lately has been held to be a 

 fine representation ^ of Ningirsu, the god of the Sumerian 

 Telloh or Babylonian Lagash, triumphing over his enemies. 



The Net full of prisoners symbolises the capture of the 

 enemies of the city. To indicate the impossibiUty of escape 

 (Jastrow continues), " a prisoner who has thrust his head out 

 of one of the meshes is being beaten back by a weapon in the 

 hands of the god." 2 King further elaborates the scene ; 

 " The god grasps in his right hand a heavy mace which he lets 

 fall upon the Net in front of him containing captives, whose 

 bodies may be seen writhing and struggling like fish in the 

 broad meshes. On the reUef, the cords of the Net are symmetri- 

 cally arranged : the rounded corners at the top show it as a 

 Net formed of ropes and cordage." 3 But later Sumerian 

 scholars deny that Ningirsu has anything to do with the Net 

 or even figures in the scene. On the Stele des Vautours the 

 person represented is not a god, but a king, Eannatum, with 

 captured soldiers enclosed in the Net (Shusgal). What is 

 more, the king in the accompanying inscription, not only 

 designates the Net as that of Enlil, the earth god, but also of 

 Ninharsag, the mother goddess, of Enki, the water god, of 

 Siu, the moon god, and of Shamash, the sun god. All the 

 greater gods were supposed to carry nets : Ningirsu must 

 certainly have possessed one, but neither he or it are depicted 

 here. 



^ See Planche I. of Restitution de la Stile des Vautours, by Leon Heuzey. 

 2 Civilisation of Babylonia and Assyria (Philadelphia, 1915), p. 387. 

 ^ A History of Sumer and Akkad, op. cit. (1910), p. 131. The scene is 

 shown in the Plate which fronts this section. 



