Lagash: Did you mean...?

In part eight of his lecture, Dr. Neiman explains that as the alphabet triumphs, cuneiform fades away. Further, he describes the last great flourishing of Sumerian civilization (Neo-Sumerian period) with the rule of Gudea of Lagash.

Nanshe (also known as Nanse, Nazi) is the Sumerian goddess of social justice and divination, whose popularity eventually transcended her original boundaries of southern Mesopotamia toward all points throughout the region in the 3rd millennium...

The great cities of Mesopotamia ("the land between two rivers") developed prior to the late 4th millennium BCE along two rivers – the Tigris and Euphrates – and were fully established by the Early Dynastic period (circa 2900 to circa 2350/2334...

Ancient Mesopotamian warfare progressed from companies of a city's militia in Sumer to the professional standing armies of Akkad, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, and from conflicts over land or water rights to wars of conquest and political...

The Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia is the modern-day archaeological term for the era in Mesopotamian history – circa 2900 to circa 2350/2334 BCE – during which some of the most significant cultural advances were made, including the...

Sumer was the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day southern Iraq and parts of Kuwait), which has long been considered the cradle of civilization. The name comes from Akkadian, the language of the north of Mesopotamia, and...

Ur-Nammu (circa 2112-2094 BCE) was the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur in Sumer, who initiated the so-called Ur III period (circa 2112 to circa 2004 BCE), also known as the Sumerian Renaissance. He is best known as the king who composed...

Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BCE) was the sixth king of the Amorite First Dynasty of Babylon best known for his famous law code which served as the model for others, including the Mosaic Law of the Bible. He was the first ruler able to successfully...

Each peg has a very faint cuneiform inscription of Gudea, the ruler of the city-state of Lagash. Foundation pegs were buried in the foundation of buildings to magically protect them and preserve the builder's name for posterity. In this...

This is a baked clay foundation peg, which was dedicated by Entemena, king of Lagash. It refers to a treaty with the king of Uruk. The political bond between Lagash and Uruk mentioned in this text is the earliest formal interstate relationship...