The sack and destruction of Lagash, which has been described in the preceding chapter, closes an epoch, not only in the fortunes of that city, but also in the history of the lands of Sumer and Akkad. When following the struggles of the early city-states, we have hitherto been able to arrange our material in strict chronological order by the help of a nearly unbroken succession of rulers, whose inscriptions have been recovered during the French excavations at Tello. These have enabled us to reconstruct the history of Lagash herself in some detail, and from the references they furnish to other great cities it has been possible to estimate the influence she exerted from time to time among her neighbours. It is true that the records, from which our information is derived, were drawn up by the rulers of Lagash whose deeds they chronicle, and are naturally far from being impartial authorities. A victory may sometimes have been claimed, when the facts may not have fully justified it; and to this extent we have been forced to view the history of Sumer and of Akkad from the standpoint of a single city. Had the sites of other cities yielded as rich a harvest as Tello, it is probable that other states would be found to have played no less important parts. But in any case it may be regarded as certain that for a time at least Lagash enjoyed the hegemony which it was the ambition of every state of Sumer and Akkad to possess. This leading position had been definitely secured to her by the conquests of Eannatum, and, although under his successors her influence may have diminished, it must have still remained considerable until the victory of Umma put an end to it.