city state · Mesopotamia and Iran
Lagash
Origins
Lagash was a state of several cities, chiefly Girsu (modern Telloh), Lagash and Nigin, in south-eastern Sumer. Around 2500 BCE Ur-Nanshe founded a dynasty whose inscriptions record temple building and trade with Dilmun. The excavations of Ernest de Sarzec at Telloh from 1877 first revealed Sumerian civilisation to modern scholars.
Rule and society
The patron god was Ningirsu, and temple estates dominated the economy. Eannatum defeated Umma, as shown on the Stele of the Vultures, and his nephew Enmetena recorded the first known peace treaty. Around 2350 BCE Urukagina (Uru-inimgina) proclaimed reforms against abuses by officials and priests, the earliest known legal reform. After the Akkadian period a Second Dynasty flourished, and Gudea filled Girsu with diorite statues and the Gudea Cylinders, a long hymn on building Ningirsu's E-ninnu temple.
Decline and legacy
Lugal-zage-si of Umma sacked Lagash, which then passed under the Akkadian Empire. The Second Dynasty ended around 2110 BCE when Ur-Nammu incorporated Lagash into the Neo-Sumerian Empire, where it remained a large province.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Lagash was conquered by Umma2350 BCE
- Lagash was part of Akkadian Empire2334 BCE – 2154 BCE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lagash. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lagash
- MLA
- “Lagash.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lagash. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Lagash.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lagash.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lagash’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lagash (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻