Gudea Statue Analysis

There are approximately twenty-seven statues of Gudea. I choose to write about a seated one probably from Girsu (modern Tello). The time period was Neo-Sumerian around 2090 B.C. The medium was diorite. Diorite is a medium to course grained invasive igneous rock. Diorite has about the same basic properties as granite but may be a little darker in color and harder to come by.
The Akkadian Empire fell after two centuries in power, and during the following fifty years, local kings ruled surrounding free city-states in the southern part of Mesopotamia. Lagash produced an extraordinary amount of statues of its kings as well as Sumerian prayers and literary hymns under the reign of Gudea from 2150-2125 B.C. and his son Ur-Ningirsu 2125-2100 B.C. The works created by this Neo-Sumerian culture saturated by a sense of sincere reserve and serenity.
He devoted his time and energy to restoring the great temples of Lagash and then placing statues of himself in them. Many of the statues are inscribed with his name and deific commitments survive. This statue depicts him seated as a ruler before his people with his hands gathered in a traditional motion of salutation and prayer. The inscription in Sumerian on the robe of the statue list the various temples in Lagash the Gudea built or restored and the name of the statue itself, “Gudea, the man who built the temple; may his life be