Lagash

   One of the more important Sumerian cities in the late fourth millennium b.c. and all through the third millennium b.c. Located about 120 miles (193 km) northwest of modern Basra, Iraq, the main urban center of Lagash (modern Tell al-Hibba) was large for its time, covering at least 2 square miles (5 sq. km). The city-state also included two smaller urban centers, Girsu and Nin-Sirara. Apparently Lagash underwent sporadic periods of expanding power and influence. One occurred under a ruler named Ur-Nanshe (reigned ca. 2494-2465 b.c.), who built tall defensive walls and numerous temples, and his grandson, Eannatum, who defeated the king of Ur, situated south of Lagash. Another period of expansion and prosperity was in the late third millennium b.c., especially under a ruler named Gudea (ca. 2141-2122 b.c.). In the early second millennium b.c., Lagash went into decline.

   The main site of Lagash was discovered in 1877 by Frenchman Ernest de Sarzec. Principal excavations were undertaken between 1929 and 1933 under the direction of two other French scholars, Henri de Genouillac and Andre Parrot. These investigators uncovered more than thirty thousand cuneiform tablets. They also found that the city's main temple had been dismantled during the Greek Seleucid period in the late first millennium b.c. and the bricks had been used to erect a fortress.

   See also: Girsu; Gudea; Sumerians