The world's first conqueror - Eannatum

[KerguelenExileDissident]

Eannatum, king of the Sumerian city state of Lagash around 2600 B.C.


Eannatum, grandson of Ur-Nanshe, was a king of Lagash who conquered all of Sumer, including Ur, Nippur, Akshak, Larsa, and Uruk, which was controlled by Enshakushanna, a king on the King List. He also annexed the kingdom of Kish, which regained its independence after his death. He made Umma a tributary, where every person had to pay a certain amount of grain into the treasury of the goddess Nina and the god Ingurisa.


The so-called "Stele of the Vultures", now in the Louvre, was erected as a monument of the victory of Eannatum of Lagash over Enakalle of Umma. On this, various incidents in the war are represented. In one scene, the king stands in his chariot with a curved weapon in his right hand, formed of three bars of metal bound together by rings, while his kilted followers, with helmets on their heads and lances in their hands, march behind him.

Eannatum's campaigns extended beyond the confines of Sumer, and he overran a part of Elam, took the city of Az on the Persian Gulf, and exacted tribute as far as Mari; however many of the realms he conquered were often in revolt. During his reign, temples and palaces were repaired or erected at Lagash and elsewhere; the town of Nina[citation needed]—that probably gave its name to the later Niniveh—was rebuilt, and canals and reservoirs were excavated.



Lagash Sumerian troops in battle against the city state of Umma on the stele of Vultures.


"Eannatum struck at Umma. The bodies were soon 3,600 in number [...]. I, Eannatum, like a fierce storm wind, I unleashed the tempest!"