CHIEFLY FROM NIPPUE. 263 



he is the legitimate possessor of all the privileges connected with this title. These 

 privileges vary according to the sphere of power which a god exercises beyond the 

 limits of his temple or city, and depend chiefly upon the popularity of his cult, the per- 

 sonal devotion and energy of his human representative, and, more than anything else, 

 upon the strength and valor of the city's army. In order to define them accurately, it 

 is first of all necessary to determine the political power of the god's city in each indi- 

 vidual case. As soon as we have a clear conception of the latter, we have the key to 

 a correct understanding of the position and privileges of its patesi. But the title itself 

 does not express any reference either to the political dependence or independence of its 

 hearer. 1 



A troublesome enemy of Babylonia at this early period was the city of Kish, 

 which therefore did not form part (any longer?) of Kengi proper. It had apparently 

 its own peculiar cult and stood under the administration of a patesi, 2 who was eager to 

 extend his influence far beyond the limits of his city, and sought every opportunity to 

 encroach upon the territory of his southern neighbor. For Kish is styled gul shag 3 

 " wicked of heart," or ga tjul 4 " teeming with wickedness." The very fact that one 



1 Winckler, Altorienlalisehe Forschungen III, pp. 232ff. gives a very good analysis of the relation of a god to his 

 city and of the origin and growth of Oriental states in general, and of the Babylonian kingdom in particular, but his 

 view as to the meaning and use of the word patesi is entirely incorrect ("diegebrauchliche Bezeiclmung fur die unter- 

 worfenen Konige ist in Babylonien patesi," p. 234). An interesting monument from Tello, recently published by 

 Heuzey in Bevue a" Assyriologie, serves as an excellent illustration of the correctness of my definition, which I share 

 with Tiele (Z. A. VII, p. 373), Hommel (Oeschichte, p. 294 f.) and other Assyriologists. The inscription to which I 

 refer had defied the united efforts of Oppert, Heuzey and myself for a long while. But I am now able to offer the 

 following correct interpretation. Sal Lugal Kish, sanga Ui'Ni>i-su-gir (sic/) H-uNin su-gir mu-gin, Lugal-kurum-zigum 

 pa-te-si Shir-[pur~i-l[aki], "Decision ! Ninsugir has appointed the king of Kish as priest of Ninsugir. Lugal-kurum 

 zigum is patesi of Shiipurla." This valuable document is important in more than one way. The whole phraseology 

 seems to be Semitic rather than Sumerian (cf. also sangi artificial ideogram composed of sa -f- ga). The name means 

 Sharru-kurumat-shame, " The king is food of heaven " (" Der Konig ist Himmelsspeise "). A foreign conqueror of 

 Shirpurla, who is already a king, in addition styles himself patesi of Lagash, expressly declaring that Ningirsu him- 

 self, the highest gud of the city, called him to fill this office. The condition of affairs is here plain. The conqueror 

 seeks to represent to the people and to the priesthood his violent act as having been committed in the service of their 

 god and carrying out his decision. Therefore he does not call himself king — which lie already was — nor patesi in the 

 sense of our governor, because he cannot designate himself as his own subject, but patesi as the highest official of the 

 god Ningirsu, in the care of his temple and in the administration of that territory over which Ningirsu ruled ; in 

 other words as the legitimate possessor of all the privileges which, up to the timeof his conquest, had been connected 

 with this title. Cf. Hilprecht, Recent Research in Bible Lands, pp. 71 ff. 



2 Cf. Nos. 108 and 109 (portions of the same vase). The beginning (No. 108) is to be restored as follows: 

 1. DingirZa [ma-ma~\ 2. U-dug- .... 3. pat\_esi\ 4. .£»[>&*"»]. 



3 No. 92, 4. 



4 No. 102, 4. Oa is written phonetically for ga(n), Brunnow, List 4039, as becomes clear from a comparison of 

 No. 113, 4 with 8 and No. 112, 4. No. 1 12 reads as follows : 1. D^igirMn-lil 2. ^«wlrFn,-Ul-la(l) 3. dumu ad-da-ge 

 4. ga tilla-shu 5. nam-ti 6. damdumuna-shu 7. a-mu-na-shub, "To Ninlil and Inlil the son of the ada (scil. of the 

 temple of Inlil, No. 113, 6f.) presented it for abundance of life, for the life of his wife and child." Apparently a son 



