occasion has been
preserved upon the recently discovered cone of Entemena. This document
tells us that at the command of the god Enlil, described as "the king
of the countries," Ningirsu, the chief god of Shirpurla, and the god of
Gishkhu decided to draw up a line of division between their respective
territories, and that Mesilim, King of Kish, acting under the direction
of his own god Kadi, marked out the frontier and set up a stele between
the two territories to commemorate the fixing of the boundary.

This policy of fixing the boundary by arbitration seems to have been
successful, and to have secured peace between Shirpurla and Gishkhu
for some generations. But after a period which cannot be accurately
determined a certain patesi of Gishkhu, named Ush, was filled with
ambition to extend his territory at the expense of Shirpurla. He
therefore removed the stele which Mesilim had set up, and, invading the
plain of Shirpurla, succeeded in conquering and holding a district named
Gu-edin. But Ush's successful raid was not of any permanent benefit to
his city, for he was in his turn defeated by the forces of Shirpurla,
and his successor upon the throne, a patesi named Enakalli, abandoned a
policy of aggression, and concluded with Eannadu, patesi of Shirpurla, a
solemn treaty concerning the boundary between their realms, the text of
which has been preserved to us upon the famous Stele of Vultures in the
Louvre.*

* A fragment of this stele is also preserved in the British
Museum. It is published in Cuneiform Texts in the British
Museum, Pt. vii.

According to this treaty Gu-edin was restored to Shirpurla, and a deep
ditch was dug between the two territories which should permanently
indicate the line of demarcation. The stele of Mesilim was restored to
its place, and a second stele was inscribed and set up as a memorial
of the new treaty. Enakalli did not negotiate the treaty on equal terms
with Eannadu, for he only secured its ratification by consenting to pay
heavy tribute in grain for the supply of the great temples of Nin-girsu
and Nina in Shirpurla. It would appear that under Eannadu the power
and influence of Shirpurla were extended over the whole of Southern
Babylonia, and reached even to the borders of Elam. At any rate, it is
clear that during his lifetime the city of Gishkhu was content to remain
in a state of subjection to its more powerful neighbour. But it was
always ready to seize any opportun