We're exploring ancient artifacts from the new immersive experience "MESOPOTAMIA." Meet Gudea. Gudea was the ensi (ruler) of the city of Lagash in Sumer around 2120 BC. Gudea's image has survived in a group of over twenty statues found at Tello, Iraq (ancient Girsu). Many of Gudea's statues show him in a prayerful pose, fulfilling his duty of worshipping the gods. He is beardless and has a shaved head, and usually wears a brimmed cap decorated with rows of spiral curls, perhaps representing lamb wool. His serene, steady gaze conveys clear-eyed leadership. In the first statue pictured, Gudea holds a vessel from which flow stylized streams of fresh water, inhabited by tiny fish. The inscription on his garment tells us that the statue was a dedication to Geshtinanna, a goddess of life-giving water. It would have been placed in a temple to Geshtinanna in Girsu, where Gudea's statues were found. The seated statue in the second image, despite missing its head, can also be identifie...