Origin of the great cities--Local cult-centres in the prehistoric period--The earliest Sumerian settlements--Development of the city-god and evolution of a pantheon--Lunar and solar cults--Gradual growth of a city illustrated by the early history of Nippur and its shrine--Buildings of the earliest Sumerian period at Tello--Store-houses and washing-places of a primitive agricultural community--The inhabitants of the country as portrayed in archaic sculpture--Earliest written records and the prehistoric system of land tenure--The first rulers of Shuruppak and their office--Kings and patesis of early city-states--The dawn of history in Lagash and the suzerainty of Kish--Rivalry of Lagash and Umma and the Treaty of Mesilim--The _rôle_ of the city-god and the theocratic feeling of the time--Early struggles of Kish for supremacy--Connotation of royal titles in the early Sumerian period--Ur-Ninâ the founder of a dynasty in Lagash--His reign and policy--His sons and household--The position of Sumerian women in social and official life--The status of Lagash under Akurgal CHAPTER V WARS OF THE CITY-STATES; EANNATUM AND THE STELE OF THE VULTURES Condition of Sumer on the accession of Eannatum--Outbreak of war between Umma and Lagash--Raid of Ningirsu's territory and Eannatum's vision--The defeat of Ush, patesi of Umma, and the terms of peace imposed on his successor--The frontier-ditch and the stelæ of delimitation--Ratification of the treaty at the frontier-shrines--Oath-formulæ upon the Stele of the Vultures--Original form of the Stele and the fragments that have been recovered--Reconstitution of the scenes upon it--Ningirsu and his net--Eannatum in battle and on the march--Weapons of the Sumerians and their method of fighting in close phalanx--Shield-bearers and lance-bearers--Subsidiary use of the battle-axe--The royal arms and body-guard--The burial of the dead after battle--Order of Eannatum's conquests--Relations of Kish and Umma--The defeat of Kish, Opis and Mari, and Eannatum's suzerainty in the north--Date of his southern conquests and evidence of his authority in Sumer--His relations with Elam, and the other groups of his campaigns--Position of Lagash under Eannatum--His system of irrigation--Estimate of his reign CHAPTER VI THE CLOSE OF UR-NINÂ'S DYNASTY, THE REFORMS OF URUKAGINA, AND THE FALL OF LAGASH