Although the side mosaics are usually referred to as the "war side" and "peace side", they may in fact be a single narrative – a battle followed by a victory celebration. This would be a visual parallel with the literary device of "merism", used by the Sumerians, in which the totality of a situation was described through the pairing of opposite concepts. A Sumerian ruler was considered to have a dual role as a "lugal" (literally "big man" or war leader) and an "en" or civic/religious leader, responsible for mediating with the gods and maintaining the fecundity of the land. The Standard of Ur may have been intended to depict these two complementary concepts of Sumerian kingship.