The Sumerian Revival

After the Gutians, the kings of Ur rebuilt a Sumerian state that was smaller than Akkad but far more organised.

Ur III ran on paperwork: tens of thousands of tablets track every sheep, worker and grain ration. Ur-Nammu wrote the oldest surviving law code.

The system was rigid. When Amorite migrants and Elamite armies pressed in, provinces broke away, and in 2004 BC Elam destroyed Ur itself.