city state · Mesopotamia and Iran

Umma

2600 BCE – 2334 BCE (approx.) · capital Umma

The Sumerian city-state whose century-long border war with Lagash is the first conflict recorded in history, and home of Lugal-zage-si.

Origins

Umma, modern Tell Jokha, lay on a canal north-west of Lagash and rose in the Early Dynastic period. Its rulers clashed with Lagash over the fertile Gu-edena plain, a dispute that Mesalim of Kish tried to settle by setting up a boundary stone around 2600 BCE.

Rule and society

The city's god was Shara, and its economy rested on irrigated barley, herds and textile work. The war with Lagash is told from the Lagash side, notably on Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures and in the inscriptions of Enmetena, which describe Umma breaking treaties and seizing land. Under Lugal-zage-si Umma finally triumphed: he sacked Lagash, took Uruk as his capital and claimed rule from the Lower to the Upper Sea.

Decline and legacy

Sargon of Akkad defeated Lugal-zage-si around 2334 BCE and absorbed Umma into the Akkadian Empire. Under the Neo-Sumerian Empire it became a provincial centre whose tens of thousands of administrative tablets are a major source on Ur III government.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Umma. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/umma
MLA
“Umma.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/umma. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Umma.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/umma.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Umma’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/umma (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻