English: Detail of a white limestone headless statue dedicated to the Sumerian deity Ningishzida. The cuneiform inscription on the frontal aspect of the base mentions that the ruler or king, whose name was IL-La (Alla), dedicated this statue to the deity Ningishzida. The cuneiform text reads "Al-la, lugal é kisal sukkal, nin-giš-zi-da"; “Alla, king of the courtyard, minister of Ningishzida”. From southern Mesopotamia, Iraq; probably from Tell Telloh (confiscated). Early Dynastic period, 2600-2370 BCE OR Lagash II/Ur III period, 22nd-21 century BCE. On display at the Sumerian Gallery of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Iraq. The transliteration was taken from "Gudea’s Kingship and Divinity." In Marbeh Hokma: Essays in Loving Memory of Victor Avigdor Hurowitz, edited by Shamir Yonah, Ed Greenstein, Mayer I. Gruber, Peter Machinist and Shalom Paul, 499-523. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015.