After Ur-Nina’s prosperous reign came to a close, his son Akurgal ascended the throne.  He had trouble with Umma, a powerful city, which lay to the north-west of Lagash, between the Shatt-el-Kai and Shatt-el-Hai canals.  An army of raiders invaded his territory and had to be driven back.

The next king, whose name was Eannatum, had Napoleonic characteristics.  He was a military genius with great ambitions, and was successful in establishing by conquest a small but brilliant empire.  Like his grandfather, he strengthened the fortifications of Lagash; then he engaged in a series of successful campaigns.  Umma had been causing anxiety in Lagash, but Eannatum stormed and captured that rival city, appropriated one of its fertile plains, and imposed an annual tribute to be paid in kind.  An army of Elamites swept down from the hills, but Ur-Nina’s grandson inflicted upon these bold foreigners a crushing defeat and pursued them over the frontier.  Several cities were afterwards forced to come under the sway of triumphant Lagash, including Erech and Ur, and as his suzerainty was already acknowledged at Eridu, Eannatum’s power in Sumeria became as supreme as it was firmly established.

Evidently Zuzu, king of the northern city of Opis, considered that the occasion was opportune to overcome the powerful Sumerian conqueror, and at the same time establish Semitic rule over the subdued and war-wasted cities.  He marched south with a large army, but the tireless and ever-watchful Eannatum hastened to the fray, scattered the forces of Opis, and captured the foolhardy Zuzu.

Eannatum’s activities, however, were not confined to battlefields.  At Lagash he carried out great improvements in the interests of agriculture; he constructed a large reservoir and developed the canal system.  He also extended and repaired existing temples in his native city and at Erech.  Being a patron of the arts, he encouraged sculpture work, and the finest Sumerian examples belong to his reign.

Eannatum was succeeded by his brother, Enannatum I. Apparently the new monarch did not share the military qualities of his royal predecessor, for there were signs of unrest in the loose confederacy of states.  Indeed, Umma revolted.  From that city an army marched forth and took forcible possession of the plain which Eannatum had appropriated, removing and breaking the landmarks, and otherwise challenging the supremacy of the sovran state.  A Lagash force defeated the men of Umma, but appears to have done little more than hold in check their aggressive tendencies.

No sooner had Entemena, the next king, ascended the throne than the flame of revolt burst forth again.  The Patesi of Umma was evidently determined to free, once and for all, his native state from the yoke of Lagash.  But he had gravely miscalculated the strength of the vigorous young ruler.  Entemena inflicted upon the rebels a crushing defeat, and following up his success, entered the walled city and captured