The stela commemorates the reign of King Ur-Nammu who established an independent state in southern Mesopotamia in the early 3rd millenium BC. It was excavated in fragmentary form in the 1920's and, after transportation to Philadelphia, underwent a faulty reassembly and restoration. Recent study has defined many, though not yet all, of the corrections needed, and it is planned to disassemble the piece and reassemble it more correctly. -- AATA