Gudea inscriptions

E766734

Sumerian text corpus cuneiform inscription corpus primary historical source

The Gudea inscriptions are a collection of Sumerian cuneiform texts, primarily on statues and foundation tablets, that record the building activities, piety, and political achievements of Gudea, ruler of the city-state of Lagash in the late 3rd millennium BCE.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Gudea cylinders	1
Gudea inscriptions canonical	1
statues of Gudea	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8925579 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Gudea inscriptions
Context triple: [Lagash, documentedIn, Gudea inscriptions]

A. Sennacherib Prism
The Sennacherib Prism is an ancient Assyrian clay prism inscribed with King Sennacherib’s royal annals, most famously detailing his military campaigns including the siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE.
B. Lachish ewer inscription
The Lachish ewer inscription is an early Proto-Canaanite text engraved on a pottery vessel from ancient Lachish, often cited as one of the oldest known examples of alphabetic writing in the Levant.
C. Esagila tablet
The Esagila tablet is an ancient Babylonian cuneiform text that provides a detailed description and measurements of the Esagila temple complex dedicated to the god Marduk.
D. Naram-Sin Victory Stele
The Naram-Sin Victory Stele is an Akkadian limestone monument depicting King Naram-Sin’s triumphant ascent over defeated enemies, exemplifying early Mesopotamian royal propaganda and hierarchical scale in Near Eastern art.
E. Assyrian inscriptions
Assyrian inscriptions are ancient cuneiform records from the Neo-Assyrian Empire that document political, military, and diplomatic events, often referencing neighboring peoples such as the Israelites.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Gudea inscriptions
Target entity description: The Gudea inscriptions are a collection of Sumerian cuneiform texts, primarily on statues and foundation tablets, that record the building activities, piety, and political achievements of Gudea, ruler of the city-state of Lagash in the late 3rd millennium BCE.

A. Sennacherib Prism
The Sennacherib Prism is an ancient Assyrian clay prism inscribed with King Sennacherib’s royal annals, most famously detailing his military campaigns including the siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE.
B. Lachish ewer inscription
The Lachish ewer inscription is an early Proto-Canaanite text engraved on a pottery vessel from ancient Lachish, often cited as one of the oldest known examples of alphabetic writing in the Levant.
C. Esagila tablet
The Esagila tablet is an ancient Babylonian cuneiform text that provides a detailed description and measurements of the Esagila temple complex dedicated to the god Marduk.
D. Naram-Sin Victory Stele
The Naram-Sin Victory Stele is an Akkadian limestone monument depicting King Naram-Sin’s triumphant ascent over defeated enemies, exemplifying early Mesopotamian royal propaganda and hierarchical scale in Near Eastern art.
E. Assyrian inscriptions
Assyrian inscriptions are ancient cuneiform records from the Neo-Assyrian Empire that document political, military, and diplomatic events, often referencing neighboring peoples such as the Israelites.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Sumerian text corpus ⓘ cuneiform inscription corpus ⓘ primary historical source ⓘ
archaeologicalSite	Tello (ancient Girsu) ⓘ linked to: city of Girsu
associatedDeity	Gatumdug ⓘ Nanshe ⓘ Ningirsu ⓘ linked to: Ninurta
associatedWith	Gudea ⓘ Lagash ⓘ
chronologicalRole	source for dating Gudea’s reign ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Sumer ⓘ
culture	Sumerian ⓘ linked to: Sumer
dateRange	circa 2144–2124 BCE ⓘ
describes	construction of temples in Lagash ⓘ dedication of offerings to gods ⓘ relations between Gudea and the gods ⓘ urban and temple infrastructure projects ⓘ
foundOn	cylinders ⓘ foundation tablets ⓘ statues of Gudea ⓘ
function	commemorative inscription ⓘ foundation record ⓘ royal propaganda ⓘ
genre	building inscription ⓘ royal inscription ⓘ
historicalRegion	southern Mesopotamia ⓘ linked to: Lower Mesopotamia
kingMentioned	Gudea of Lagash ⓘ linked to: Gudea
language	Sumerian ⓘ linked to: Sumerian language
mainSubject	Gudea ⓘ building activities of Gudea ⓘ piety of Gudea ⓘ political achievements of Gudea ⓘ
medium	clay ⓘ stone ⓘ
placeOfOrigin	Lagash ⓘ
politicalEntityMentioned	city-state of Lagash ⓘ
preservedIn	British Museum ⓘ Iraq Museum ⓘ linked to: Iraqi National Museum Louvre Museum ⓘ
regionOfDiscovery	Telloh ⓘ
relatedTo	Gudea cylinders ⓘ linked to: Gudea inscriptions statues of Gudea ⓘ
religiousContext	Mesopotamian religion ⓘ
scriptType	monumental cuneiform ⓘ
timePeriod	late 3rd millennium BCE ⓘ
usedFor	reconstructing political history of Lagash ⓘ studying Mesopotamian art and architecture ⓘ studying Sumerian language ⓘ
writingSystem	cuneiform ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Lagash → documentedIn → Gudea inscriptions ⓘ

Gudea inscriptions → relatedTo → Gudea cylinders ⓘ

linked to: Gudea inscriptions

Girsu → hasMonument → statues of Gudea ⓘ

subject linked to: city of Girsu