In the twilight years of the 3rd millennium BC, after a long drawn-out conflict fought by one generation after another for 200 years or more,

Elamite invaders from the southeastern fringe of Mesopotamia

came sweeping in to the already weakened lands of the Neo-Sumarian Empire.

One by one, the formerly unified cities of the southern Mesopotamian plains

broke away from Ibi Sin's rule,

he being the unfortunate latest dinast to hold sway over the crumbling empire.

Finally, by around 2000 BC, the Elamites succeeded in breaking down the walls of the once mighty city of earth,

the very symbol of Sumerian identity,

and promptly extinguished the ruling family of the fall of Ur, the very last and arguably the greatest Sumerian kingdom of the ancient world.

Chaos reigned supreme once more in the land between the two rivers.

Not only did the vengeful Elamites now hold sway over much of Mesopotamia,

formerly held by the Samarians, for time immemorial,

but ruthless Amarite warlords from beyond the pale came flooding in to stake their own claims and the

increasingly sought-after fertile lands of the city builders. Eventually, after the ashes

finally cleared and the dust from the war began to settle, a number of success estates began to

arise.

Some of them survivors from the empire.

Others ruled over by warlike outsiders, such as the Amorites and the Gutians, who had seized the opportunity of the war, to flood in from the mountains and deserts on the fringes of society,

to claim a small chunk of the already ancient land for themselves.

Most notable of these statelets and survivors was the influential city of Eshnanah, a Sumerian

enclave situated far to the north of the traditional heartlands in the south.

Eshnanah's Sumerian governors had survived the worst of the invasions due to their sheer

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