CHAPTER V

WARS OF THE CITY-STATES; EANNATUM AND THE STELE OF THE VULTURES

Condition of Sumer on the accession of Eannatum--Outbreak of war between Umma and Lagash--Raid of Ningirsu's territory and Eannatum's vision--The defeat of Ush, patesi of Umma, and the terms of peace imposed on his successor--The frontier-ditch and the stelæ of delimitation--Ratification of the treaty at the frontier-shrines--Oath-formulæ upon the Stele of the Vultures--Original form of the Stele and the fragments that have been recovered--Reconstitution of the scenes upon it--Ningirsu and his net--Eannatum in battle and on the march--Weapons of the Sumerians and their method of fighting in close phalanx--Shield-bearers and lance-bearers--Subsidiary use of the battle-axe--The royal arms and body-guard--The burial of the dead after battle--Order of Eannatum's conquests--Relations of Kish and Umma--The defeat of Kish, Opis and Mari, and Eannatum's suzerainty in the north--Date of his southern conquests and evidence of his authority in Sumer--His relations with Elam, and the other groups of his campaigns--Position of Lagash under Eannatum--His system of irrigation--Estimate of his reign