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