Part IV

The events narrated on the remarkable monument which a fortunate chance has in part preserved for us are typical of the political history of the Euphratean states in this early period, marked by a frequent shifting of the particles in the political kaleidoscope, as a consequence of which now the one, now the other of the various rival states secures a temporary supremacy, without, however, any permanent coalition into a united empire.

For the time being Lagash wields the baton of authority, not only over the district of Umma, but also over that of Kish, which appears to have sided with Umma and whose king, Al-zu(?), was captured and probably slain. Eannatum followed up his success by other conquests, bringing a troublesome district, Opis, in the north, into subjection, exercising supremacy over Uruk, Ur, Larsa and other centres of the south and even extending his control to Elam on the east, beyond the bounds proper of the Euphrates Valley. The successors of Eannatum, Enannatum I and Entemena, were able to resist the attempt of Umma to throw off the yoke, and they forced their own minions on the people as patesis or governors of the district ; they also kept Elam in check, though not without a severe struggle.

But they seemed unable to prevent internal abuses from creeping in, which undermined the very foundations of government. The evidence for this is found in the inscriptions of a ruler, Urukagina (c. 2700 B.C.), ^[1] who tells us of his efforts to rescue the various classes of the population he names boatmen, shepherds, fishermen and farmers from the priests, into whose clutches they had fallen.

The temples had profited by the general prosperity and become powerful commercial organizations which exercised a pressure on the land. Urukagina goes so far as to accuse the priests of robbing the farmer of the fruit of his labors, of imposing exorbitant taxes on the fishermen, of taking bribes and of thwarting justice in their capacity as the controllers of the courts of law.

Urukagina puts an end to this shameful state of affairs by sweeping the corrupt army of officials out of office and by setting up a body of laws, regulating the taxes and fees, protecting the helpless against extortion, providing against violent alienation of goods or property. In his days divorces had been obtained by means of bribes given to the officials, and even divination had been carried on amidst similar abuses, the exorbitant fee for the service being divided among the patesi, his chief vizir and the priest.

These matters were also regulated and it is of special interest to note that Urukagina 's new code did away with polyandry. "Women were formerly possessed by two men. Now women in such a case will be thrown into the stream (I)". Urukagina sums up the contrast epigrammatically between former and present conditions by declaring that "formerly there was slavery, now freedom has been established".

The movement for reform, however, came too late, as is often the case in history. The strength of the country had been sapped, and in a long inscription dating from Urukagina's reign, a scribe pathetically records the violent acts of the old-time enemy, Umma, in invading Lagash and destroying the sanctuaries there and elsewhere.

Urukagina suffered the fate of so many reformers in reaping the ingratitude of those whom he intended to benefit. The priests no doubt secured the cooperation of the nobles and officials in arousing opposition against the endeavor of the king to deprive them of the benefits they had so long enjoyed, and it is not impossible that they may have stood in league with the enemy in order to humiliate and overthrow their own ruler.

At all events Lugalzaggisi triumphed over Lagash, reduced it to a state of subserviency so that the rulers once more became merely patesis, and succeeded in securing a supremacy over the districts of which Nippur, Uruk, Ur and Larsa were the centres.

Indeed, if the statement in a long inscription of his is to be taken literally and not as a mere idle boast, he led his victorious armies to the Mediterranean, for he speaks of conquering the lands from the lower sea of the Tigris and Euphrates to the upper sea. He thus foreshadows the world conquest which became the ambition of the later Semitic rulers of Babylonia and Assyria, and there is only one other ruler in this earlier period with whom he is to be compared, namely, Naram-Sin, whose reign we shall take up presently.

The removal of Lugalzaggisi 's. capital from Umma to Uruk points to the greater importance of the latter centre, which is confirmed by the inscriptions of two rulers, Lugal-ki-gub-niddu and Lugal-kisal-si, who call themselves kings of Uruk and kings of Ur. ^[2] Uruk had accordingly succeeded in uniting the important Sumerian centre, Ur, to her dominion and Lugalzaggisi, conquering the extreme south of the Euphrates Valley, falls heir to the sovereignty exercised by Uruk, placing his title, "King of Uruk", before all others.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Thureau-Dangin, Sumerisch-Akkadische Konigsinschriften, pp. 44-57.

[2]:

Thureau-Dangin, I.e., p. 156.