Girsu

Girsu was a city of ancient Sumer, set about 25 kilometres northwest of Lagash at the site now known as Tell Telloh in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. It served as the religious center of the kingdom of Lagash, with significant temples to the god Ningirsu, whose temple was called the E-ninnu, and to his wife Bau, and it hosted multi-day festivals in their honor. The city lay on a branch of the ancient Iturungal canal. Excavation shows habitation in the Ubaid and Uruk periods, significant activity from the Early Dynastic period, a role as capital of the Lagash kingdom at the time of Gudea, and the status of a major administrative center under the Ur III empire. It was abandoned around 1600 BC, reoccupied in the Hellenistic and Parthian periods, and ended around 200 BC. The site has two main mounds and covers about 130 hectares.