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THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST WAS THE PLACE WHERE ORGANIZED WARfare began. Before the Sumerians fielded the world’s first armies, human conflict was never conducted in a systematic fashion. Yet even the Sumerians were aghast at the casualties their battles caused, and indeed the earliest war memorial ever erected reflects this profound unease. The Stele of the Vultures, which was carved around 2460 BC after a conflict between the city-states of Lagash and Umma, is not boastful at all. If anything, it sends the message that, though a political necessity, the advent of organized warfare was a matter of regret. While King Eannatum of Lagash is justified in halting the encroachment of Umma on land belonging to his city-state, the real victor was the god Ningirsu, who is shown holding a net in which the bodies of the vanquished are thrown carelessly together. The implication is that the entitlement to inflict death belongs to the god, not the king. The Stele of the Vultures functioned as a war memorial and a legal treaty defining the border between Umma and Lagash. An inscribed curse warned that anyone moving or tampering with the stele faced the anger of the gods. That Lagash had tried and failed to use diplomacy to settle the dispute with Umma only underlines the reluctance of Eannatum to rush into war. The Sumerians believed that at least one deity lived in each city-state and that unnecessary conflict could well trigger divine punishment. Hence Eannatum’s consultation with his diviners before taking action: they assured him that “the sun god’s rays will illuminate your right.” Only when he was absolutely sure of divine approval would this Sumerian king commit his forces to battle.