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59 lands of Marduk’s Amorite followers; there, the “evil’”—the hostility against Enlil—was fanned by Nabu, who moved about from city to city proselytizing for Marduk. Enlilite re- cords called him “The Oppressor,” of whose influence the “sinning cities” had to be rid. There is reason to believe that the Peace and War panels actually depicted UrNammu himself—one showing him banqueting and celebrating peace and prosperity, the other in the royal chariot, leading his army to war. His military expedi- tions took him well beyond Sumer’s borders into the western lands. But Ur-Nammu—great reformer, builder, and eco- nomic “shepherd” that he was—failed as a military leader. In the midst of battle his chariot got stuck in the mud; Ur- Nammu fell off it, but “the chariot like a storm rushed along,” leaving the king behind, “abandoned like a crushed jug.” The tragedy was compounded when the boat returning Urr-Nam- mu’s body to Sumer “in an unknown place had sunk; the waves sank it down, with him on board.” When news of the defeat and the tragic death of Ur-Nammu reached Ur, a great lament went up there. The people could not understand how such a religiously devout king, a righteous shepherd who only followed the gods’ directives with weapons they put in his hands, could perish so ignominiously. “Why did the Lord Nannar not hold him by the hand?” they asked; “Why did Inanna, Lady of Heaven, not put her noble arm around his head? Why did the valiant Utu not assist him?” The Sumerians, who believed that all that happens had been fated, wondered, “Why did these gods step aside when Ur- Nammu’s bitter fate was decided?” Surely those gods, Nannar and his twin children, knew what Anu and Enlil were deter- mining; yet they said nothing to protect UrNammu. There could be only one plausible explanation, the people of Ur and Sumer concluded as they cried out and lamented: The great gods must have gone back on their word— How the fate of the hero had been changed! Anu altered his holy word. Enlil deceitfully changed his decree! Of Gods and Demigods