Early princes of Babylonia (Lagash etc.)

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

Earliest city-states: Lagash, Kengi, Kish, Umma

The earliest monuments that can be approximately dated come from Lagash (Tello). Here we hear of a "king of Kengi," as well as of a certain Mesilim, king of Kish, who had dealings with Lugal-suggur, high priest of Lagash, and the high priest of a neighbouring town,Umma. (It must be remembered that the reading of most early Sumerian proper names is provisional, as we do not know how the ideographs composing them were pronounced in either Sumerian or Akkadian.

Kings of Lagash

Ur-Nina

At a later date, the high priests of Lagash made themselves kings, and a dynasty was founded there by Ur-Nina. In the ruins of a building, attached by him to the temple of Nina, terra cotta bas reliefs of the king and his sons have been found, as well as lions' heads in onyx, that remind us of Egyptian work and onyx plates. These were "booty" dedicated to the goddess Bau.

E-anna-du

E-anna-du, grandson of Ur-Nina, made himself master of the whole of the district of Sumer, together with the cities of Erech, Ur and Larsa (?). He also annexed the kingdom of Kish; however, it recovered its independence after his death. Umma was made tributary – a certain amount of grain being levied upon each person in it, that had to be paid into the treasury of the goddess Nina and the god Ingurisa.

The so-called "Stele of the Vultures," now in the Louvre, was erected as a monument of the victory of E-anna-du of Lagash. On this, various incidents in the war are represented. In one scene, the king stands in his chariot with a curved weapon in his right hand, formed of three bars of metal bound together by rings (similar, as M. L. Heuzey has pointed out, to one carried by the chief of an Asiatic tribe in a tomb of the 12th dynasty at Beni-Hasan in Egypt), while his kilted followers, with helmets on their heads and lances in their hands, march behind him. In another, a flock of vultures is feeding on the bodies of the fallen enemy; in a third a tumulus is being heaped up over those who had been slain on the side of Lagash. Elsewhere we see the victorious prince beating down a vanquished enemy, and supervising the execution of other prisoners who are being sacrificed to the gods; while in one curious scene he is striking with his mace a sort of wicker-work cage filled with naked men. In his hand he holds the crest of Lagash and its god – a lion-headed eagle with outstretched wings, supported by two lions set heraldically back to back. These sculptures belong to a primitive period of art.

E-anna-du's campaigns extended beyond the confines of Sumer. He overran a part of Elam, and took the city of Az on the Persian Gulf. Temples and palaces were repaired or erected at Lagash and elsewhere; the town of Nina --that probably gave its name to the later Nins or Niniveh-- was rebuilt, and canals and reservoirs were excavated.

En-anna-tum

He was succeeded by his brother, En-anna-tum I, under whom Umma once more became the dominant power. As En-anna-tum has the title only of high priest, it is probable that he acknowledged Ur-lumma of Umma as his suzerain.

Entemena

His son and successor Entemena restored the prestige of Lagash. Umma was subdued, and a priest named Illi was made its governor. A tripod of silver dedicated by Entemena to his god is now in the Louvre. A frieze of lions devouring ibexes and deer, and incised with great artistic skill, runs round the neck, while the eagle crest of Lagash adorns the globular part. The vase is a proof of the high degree of excellence to which the goldsmith's art had already attained. A vase of calcite, also dedicated by Entemena, has been found at Nippur.

Conquest of Lagash by Erech, the first known Empire

The eighth successor of Ur-Nina was Uru-duggina, who was overthrown and his city captured by Lugal-zage-si, the high priest of Umma. Lugal-zage-si was the founder of the first known empire in Asia. He made Erech his capital, and called himself king of Kengi. In a long inscription that he caused to be engraved on hundreds of stone vases dedicated to El-ill of Nippur, he declares that his kingdom extended "from the Lower Sea of the Tigris and Euphrates," or Persian Gulf, to "the Upper Sea" or Mediterranean. It was at this time that Erech received the name of "the City," that it continued to bear when written ideographically.

See also: Babylonia and Assyria http://www.northpark.edu/history/Classes/Sources/UmmaLagash.html

This article was originally based on content from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Update as needed.