Battles & Wars › Ancient world › First recorded wars: Sumer's city-states and Elam
Stele of the Vultures
c. 2450 BC· Book, artwork, monument or document· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
A carved limestone victory monument of King Eannatum of Lagash, celebrating his defeat of neighboring Umma around 2450 BC.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Found in pieces at Girsu in southern Iraq by French excavators from 1881, the stele is now in the Louvre. One side shows Lagash's god Ningirsu holding its enemies trapped in a great net. The other shows Eannatum leading a dense block of helmeted soldiers behind overlapping shields, spears forward, marching over fallen foes; vultures, which give the stele its name, fly above. Its long inscription tells of the war and the treaty imposed on Umma.
Why it matters
It is one of the oldest known war monuments, the earliest known picture of an organized infantry formation, and a record of one of the first treaties between states.
How we know
The surviving fragments and their Sumerian cuneiform inscription, excavated by Ernest de Sarzec at Tello (ancient Girsu), and other Lagash inscriptions that tell the same story.
Still debated
How literally the formation should be read is debated: a real tight phalanx, or an artist's way to show many soldiers?
Connections (3)
▸Stele of the Vultures celebrates Lagash's victory in Lagash–Umma border warWell documented
The connection
King Eannatum of Lagash set up the stele after defeating Umma in the struggle over the Gu-edina farmland. Its images show his army and his god's victory, and its text records the boundary he fixed and the oath he made Umma's ruler swear.
When and how
Girsu (Tello), in Lagash's territory in southern Iraq, about 2450 BC; fragments found by Ernest de Sarzec from 1881.
How we know
The inscription names Eannatum, Umma and the Gu-edina directly; other Lagash texts tell the same story.
Debates and open questions
The size of the battle and the losses are unknown; numbers claimed on such monuments were likely exaggerated.
▸Stele of the Vultures shows a shield-wall formation long before the Phalanx (hoplite and Macedonian)Mostly agreed
The connection
The stele shows Lagash's spearmen in a tight block behind overlapping shields, spears forward, about 1,700 years before Greek hoplites. It shows that dense infantry formations are far older than the Greek phalanx, though there is no direct line between them.
When and how
Sumer, about 2450 BC; the Greek hoplite phalanx emerged around 700 BC.
How sure are we?
The carving is clear; the comparison is made by modern historians. Dense spear formations were reinvented independently many times.
Debates and open questions
Whether the image shows a real formation or an artistic device for showing many soldiers is debated.
▸Stele of the Vultures shows soldiers with early Shield and helmetWell documented
The connection
The stele's soldiers wear close-fitting helmets and carry tall rectangular shields held edge to edge, forming a wall. It is among the earliest clear pictures of protective gear in war, matching copper helmets found in Ur's royal tombs from about the same period.
When and how
Girsu, in the city-state of Lagash, southern Iraq, about 2450 BC.
How we know
The carving survives in the Louvre; real Sumerian copper helmets from Ur confirm what it shows.
Debates and open questions
What the shields were made of, perhaps wood or wicker covered with hide, is not known.