When the mists cleared away, the city Lagash once more came to the front, having evidently successfully withstood the onslaughts of the Gutium, but it never recovered the place of eminence it occupied under the brilliant Ur-Nina dynasty.  It is manifest that it must have enjoyed under the various overlords, during the interval, a considerable degree of independence, for its individuality remained unimpaired.  Of all its energetic and capable patesis, the most celebrated was Gudea, who reigned sometime before 2400 B.C.  In contrast to the Semitic Naram Sin, he was beardless and pronouncedly Sumerian in aspect.  His favoured deity, the city god Nin-Girsu, again became prominent, having triumphed over his jealous rivals after remaining in obscurity for three or four centuries.  Trade flourished, and the arts were fostered.  Gudea had himself depicted, in one of the most characteristic sculptures of his age, as an architect, seated reverently with folded hands with a temple plan lying on his knees, and his head uplifted as if watching the builders engaged in materializing the dream of his life.  The temple in which his interests were centred was erected in honour of Nin-Girsu.  Its ruins suggest that it was of elaborate structure and great beauty.  Like Solomon in later days, Gudea procured material for his temple from many distant parts—­cedar from Lebanon, marble from Amurru, diorite from Arabia, copper from Elam, and so forth.  Apparently the King of Lagash was strong enough or wealthy enough to command respect over a wide area.

Another city which also rose into prominence, amidst the shattered Sumerian states, was Ur, the centre of moon worship.  After Gudea’s death, its kings exercised sway over Lagash and Nippur, and, farther south, over Erech and Larsa as well.  This dynasty endured for nearly a hundred and twenty years, during which Ur flourished like Thebes in Egypt.  Its monarchs styled themselves as “Kings of the Four Regions”.  The worship of Nannar (Sin) became officially recognized at Nippur, the seat of Enlil, during the reign of King Dungi of Ur; while at Erech, the high priest of Anu, the sky god, became the high priest of the moon god.  Apparently matriarchal ideas, associated with lunar worship, again came into prominence, for the king appointed two of his daughters to be rulers of conquered states in Elam and Syria.  In the latter half of his reign, Dungi, the conqueror, was installed as high priest at Eridu.  It would thus appear that there was a renascence of early Sumerian religious ideas.  Ea, the god of the deep, had long been overshadowed, but a few years before Dungi’s death a temple was erected to him at Nippur, where he was worshipped as Dagan.  Until the very close of his reign, which lasted for fifty-eight years, this great monarch of tireless activity waged wars of conquest, built temples and palaces, and developed the natural resources of Sumer and Akkad.  Among his many reforms was the introduction of standards of weights, which received divine sanction from the moon god, who, as in Egypt, was the measurer and regulator of human transactions and human life.