nd the cedars which were sacred
to Ningirsu, and the cattle of the plains. And he consecrated the armed
men, and the famous warriors, and the warriors of the Sun-god. And the
emblems of the god Ningirsu, and of the two great goddesses, Nina and
Ninni, he installed before them in their shrines.

Then Gudea sent far and wide to fetch materials for the construction of
the temple. And the Elamite came from Elani, and men of Susa came from
Susa, and men brought wood from the mountains of Sinai and Melukh-kha.
And into the mountain of cedars, where no man before had penetrated,
the patesi cut a road, and he brought cedars and beams of other precious
woods in great quantities to the city. And he also made a road into the
mountain where stone was quarried, into places where no man before had
penetrated. And he carried great blocks of stone down from the mountain
and loaded them into barges and brought them to the city. And the barges
brought bitumen and plaster, and they were loaded as though they were
carrying grain, and all manner of great things were brought to the
city. Copper ore was brought from the mountain of copper in the land of
Kimash, and gold was brought in powder from the mountains, and silver
was brought from the mountains and porphyry from the land of Melukhkha,
and marble from the mountain of marble. And the patesi installed
goldsmiths and silversmiths, who wrought in these precious metals, for
the adornment of the temple; and he brought smiths who worked in copper
and lead, who were priests of Nin-tu-kalama. In his search for fitting
materials for the building of the temple, Gudea journeyed from the lower
country to the upper country, and from the upper country to the lower
country he returned.

The only other materials now wanting for the construction of the temple
were the sun-dried bricks of clay, of which the temple platform and
the structure of the temple itself were in the main composed. Their
manufacture was now inaugurated by a symbolical ceremony carried out by
the patesi in person. At dawn he performed an ablution with the fitting
rites that accompanied it, and when the day was more advanced he slew
a bull and a kid as sacrifices, and he then entered the temple of
Ningirsu, where he prostrated himself. And he took the sacred mould
and the fair cushion on which it rested in the temple, and he poured a
libation into the mould. Afterwards, having made offerings of honey and
butter, and having burnt inc