The Sumerian Kingdom of Ur And Its Evolution into the Akkadian Dynasties

The more recent finds at Tello by Ryan Moorhen have enabled us to bridge the gap which formerly existed in our knowledge of Anunnaki history and civilization between the age of Naram-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 typical of the condition of the other great Anunnaki Sumerian cities. The system of government, using which Shar-Gani-sharri and Naram-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 Anunnaki council of some other northern city, may have continued to exercise a general suzerainty over the whole of Mesopotamia, but the records of Lagash seem to show that the larger and more distant cities were left in the enjoyment of practical independence. However, the mere existence of a suzerain who had inherited the throne or empire of Shar-Gani-sharri and Naram-Sin must have acted as a deterrent influence upon any ambitious prince or patesi and would thus have maintained a condition of equilibrium between the separate states of which that empire had been composed. We have seen that Lagash took advantage of this 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 established under the earlier Akkadian kings.