When the ceremony of installation had been successfully performed, Gudea rested, and for seven days he feasted with his people.  During this time the maid was the equal of her mistress, and master and servant consorted together as friends.  The powerful and the humble man lay down side by side, and in place of evil speech only propitious words were heard.  The rich man did not wrong the orphan and the strong man did not oppress the widow.  The laws of Nina and Ningirsu were observed, justice was bright in the sunlight, and the Sun-god trampled iniquity under foot.  The building of the temple also restored material prosperity to the land, for the canals became full of water and fish swarmed in the pools, the granaries were filled with grain and the flocks and herds brought forth their increase.  The city of Shirpurla was satiated with abundance.

Such is a summary of the account which Gudea has left us of his rebuilding of the temple E-ninnu, of the reasons which led him to undertake the work, and of the results which followed its completion.  It has often been said that the inscriptions of the ancient Sumerians are without much intrinsic value, that they mainly consist of dull votive formulae, and that for general interest the best of them cannot be compared with the later inscriptions of the Semitic inhabitants of Mesopotamia.  This reproach, for which until recently there was considerable justification, has been finally removed by the working out of the texts upon Gudea’s cylinders.  For picturesque narrative, for wealth of detail, and for striking similes, it would be hard to find their superior in Babylonian and Assyrian literature.  They are, in fact, very remarkable compositions, and in themselves justify the claim that the Sumerians were possessed of a literature in the proper sense of the term.

But that is not their only value, for they give a vivid picture of ancient Sumerian life and of the ideals and aims which actuated the people and their rulers.  The Sumerians were essentially an unmilitary race.  That they could maintain a stubborn fight for their territory is proved by the prolonged struggle maintained by Shirpurla against her rival Gishkhu, but neither ruler nor people was inflamed by love of conquest for its own sake.  They were settled in a rich and fertile country, which supplied their own wants in abundance, and they were content to lead a peaceful life therein, engaged in agricultural and industrial pursuits, and devoted wholly to the worship of their gods.  Gudea’s inscriptions enable us to realize with what fervour they carried out the rebuilding of a temple, and how the whole resources of the nation were devoted to the successful completion of the work.  It is true that the rebuilding of E-ninnu was undertaken in a critical period when the land was threatened with famine, and the peculiar magnificence with which the work was carried out may be partly explained as due to the belief that such devotion would ensure a return of material prosperity.  But the existence of such a belief is in itself an index to the people’s character, and we may take it that the record faithfully represents the relations of the Sumerians to their gods, and the important place which worship and ritual occupied in the national life.