Editing Sumer (section)

====1st Dynasty of Lagash====
[[File:Stele of Vultures detail 02.jpg|thumb|A fragment of [[Eannatum]]'s [[Stele of the Vultures]]]]
{{Main|Lagash}}
The dynasty of Lagash (c. 2500–2270 BC), though omitted from the king list, is well attested through several important monuments and many archaeological finds.

Although short-lived, one of the first empires known to history was that of [[Eannatum]] of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including Kish, Uruk, [[Ur]], and [[Larsa]], and reduced to tribute the city-state of [[Umma]], arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of [[Elam]] and along the [[Persian Gulf]]. He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy.<ref name=roux1993>{{cite book |last=Roux |first=Georges |author-link=Georges Roux (assyriologist) |year=1993 |title=Ancient Iraq |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-012523-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientiraq00roux }}</ref> Eannatum's [[Stele of the Vultures]] depicts vultures pecking at the severed heads and other body parts of his enemies. His empire collapsed shortly after his death.

Later, [[Lugal-zage-si]], the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty in the area, then conquered Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He was the last ethnically Sumerian king before [[Sargon of Akkad]].<ref name="Leick, Gwendolyn 2003"/>