[44] One of the tablets of the group is dated by the construction of the temple of Ningirsu; this need not be referred to Gudea's building of E-ninnû, but rather to Ur-Ningirsu's work upon the temple, or even to a later reconstruction. CHAPTER X THE DYNASTY OF UR AND THE KINGDOM OF SUMER AND AKKAD The more recent finds at Tello have enabled us to bridge the gap which formerly existed in our knowledge of Chaldean history and civilization between the age of Narâm-Sin and the rise of the city of Ur under Ur-Engur, the founder of the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad. What we now know of Lagash during this period may probably be regarded as typical of the condition of the other great Sumerian cities. The system of government, by means of which Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin had exercised control over Sumer from their capital in the north, had doubtless been maintained for a time by their successors; but, from the absence of any trace of their influence at Tello, we cannot regard their organization as having been equally effective. They, or the Semitic kings of some other northern city, may have continued to exercise a general suzerainty over the whole of Babylonia, but the records of Lagash seem to show that the larger and more distant cities were left in the enjoyment of practical independence. The mere existence of a suzerain, however, who had inherited the throne or empire of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin, must have acted as a deterrent influence upon any ambitious prince or patesi, and would thus have tended to maintain a condition of equilibrium between the separate states of which that empire had been composed. We have seen that Lagash took advantage of this time of comparative inactivity to develop her resources along peaceful lines. She gladly returned to the condition of a compact city-state, without dropping the intercourse with distant countries which had been established under the earlier Akkadian kings.