ABSTRACT
Following the decline of the Early Dynastic I period (ca. 2900-2750 bc), the Early Dynastic II (2750-2600 bc), IIIa (2600-2450 bc) and IIIb (2450-2350 bc) periods experienced a relatively homogeneous development. This progress can be studied thanks to the increased availability of archaeological evidence and more informative texts, initially only administrative in nature, but then also political and legal. Compared to the previous pre-eminence of Uruk, the Early Dynastic II-III period is characterised by the supremacy of a number of centres, with several city-states of equal size and status competing with each other (Figure 6.1). In the south there were Uruk, Ur (Figure 6.2), and Eridu. In the east, there were Lagash and Umma, and in the centre Adab, Shuruppak, and Nippur. Finally, in the north there were Kish and Eshnunna. Along the Tigris and the Euphrates, Ashur and Mari appeared as new centres of Sumerian expansion. In the Persian Gulf, the Iranian plateau, south-eastern Anatolia and Syria commercial and political links continued to expand.
