The small states of Babylonia were constantly at war with each other, even though they shared in a common civilisation, worshipped the same gods, and presented their offerings to the same sanctuary of Nippur.  Southern Babylonia—­or Kengi, “the land of canals and reeds,” as it was often named—­was already divided against the north.  At times it exercised supremacy as far as Nippur.  En-sakkus-ana of Kengi conquered Kis, like one of his predecessors who had dedicated the statue, the store of silver, and the furniture of the conquered prince to Mul-lil.  Kis claimed sovereignty over the Bedawin “archers,” who had their home in the district now called Jokha.  But Kis eventually revenged itself.  One of its rulers made himself master of Nippur, and the kingdom of Kengi passed away.  The final blow was struck by Lugal-zaggi-si, the son of the high-priest of the city of Opis.  Lugal-zaggi-si not only conquered Babylonia, he also created an empire.  On the vases of delicately-carved stone which he dedicated to the god of Nippur, a long inscription of one hundred and thirty-two lines describes his deeds, and tells how he had extended his dominion from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.  It may be that at this time the culture of Babylonia was first brought to the west, and that his conquests first communicated a knowledge of the Sumerian language and writing to the nations of western Asia.  With the spoils of his victories the walls of Ur were raised “high as heaven,” and the temple of the Sun-god at Larsa was enlarged.  Erech was made his capital, and doubtless now received its Sumerian title of “the City” par excellence.

The dynasty of Erech was supplanted by the First dynasty of Ur.  Erech was captured by Lugal-kigub-nidudu of Ur, and took the second rank in the new kingdom.  The position of Ur on the western bank of the Euphrates exposed it to the attacks of the Semitic tribes of northern Arabia, and thus accustomed its inhabitants to the use of arms, while at the same time its proximity to Eridu made it a centre of trade.  In Abrahamic days it had long been a place of resort and settlement by Arabian and Canaanite merchants.

How long the supremacy of Ur lasted we do not know.  Nor do we know whether it preceded or was followed by the supremacy of Lagas.  The kings of Lagas had succeeded in overcoming their hereditary enemies to the north.  The so-called “Stela of the Vultures,” now in the Louvre, commemorates the overthrow of the forces of the land of Upe or Opis, and depicts the bodies of the slain as they lie on the battlefield devoured by the birds of prey.  E-ana-gin, the king of Lagas who erected it, never rested until he had subjected the rest of southern Babylonia to his sway.  The whole of “Sumer” was subdued, and the memory of a time when a king of Kis, Mesa by name, had subjected Lagas to his rule, was finally wiped out.

High-priests now took the place of kings in Kis and the country of Opis.  But a time came when the same change occurred also at Lagas. doubtless in consequence of its conquest by some superior power.  One of the monuments discovered at Tello, the ancient Lagas, describes the victories of the “high-priest” Entemena over the ancestral foe, and the appointment of a certain Ili as “high-priest” of the land of Opis.  From henceforward Kis and Opis disappear from history.