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Head of Gudea, ensi of Lagash
2144–2124 BCE
- Medium
- dolerite
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- Overall: 21 x 17.8 x 20.4 cm (8 1/4 x 7 x 8 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- Mesopotamia, Iraq, Lagash (Tello)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Gudea was an ensi or ruler of the southern Mesopotamian city-state of Lagash in the 22nd century BCE. Archaeologists have found over 30 complete and fragmentary statues of his likeness and over 2,400 inscriptions mentioning his name. Gudea was both a political and religious leader, and most of the statues depicting him were housed in temples.
