Lagash was an important city-state of ancient Sumer in southern Mesopotamia, in what is now southern Iraq, at the site known today as Tell al-Hiba. Its patron god was Ningirsu. In the Early Dynastic period it fought a long border war with the neighbouring city of Umma, commemorated on the Stele of the Vultures, set up by King Eannatum. King Urukagina carried out reforms that are sometimes described as the earliest known attempt to curb the abuse of power. Lagash prospered again in the time of Gudea, a ruler of the late third millennium BCE, who built temples and left many statues of himself, and whose inscriptions are among the most important Sumerian texts.
Before and after
- c. 2,589 BCEConstruction of Dahshur
- 26th century BCEThe Great Sphinx
- c. 2,560 BCEConstruction of Great Pyramid of Giza
- c. 2,510s BCEConstruction of Pyramid of Menkaure
- from 26th century BCE to 20th century BCELagash
- from c. 2,500 BCE to 64 BCEPhoenicia
- from c. 2,498 BCE to 2,345 BCEFifth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 2,360 BCEOrigins of Pyramid of Unas
- from c. 2,345 BCE to 2,181 BCESixth Dynasty of Egypt
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The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.