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 impossibility 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 relief, 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 Stéle 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. 
1 See Planche I. of Restitution de la Stéle des Vautours, by Leon Heuzey. 
2 Civilisation of Babylonia and Assyria (Philadelphia, 1915), p. 387. 
3 A History of Sumer and Akkad, op. cit. (1910), p. 131. The scene is 
shown in the Plate which fronts this section. 
