He succeeded Lipit-Enlil, with whom his relationship is uncertain and was a contemporary and rival of Sūmû-El and Nūr-Adad of the parallel dynasty of Larsa.

[3] He seems to have recovered control of Nippur from Larsa early in his reign but perhaps lost it again, as its recovery is celebrated again by his successor.

[5] A haematite cylinder seal[i 3] of his servant and scribe Iliška-uṭul, son of Sîn-ennam, has come to light from this city, suggesting prolonged occupation.

When the omens predicted impending doom for a monarch, it was customary to appoint a substitute as a "statue though animate",[nb 3] a scape-goat who stood in the place of the king but did not exercise power for a hundred days to deflect the disaster, at the end of which the proxy and his spouse would be ritually slaughtered and the king would resume his throne.

[7] The Chronicle of Early Kings[i 2] relates that: dÈr-ar-zà.dib lugal dEn-l íl-dù lúnu.kiri6 a-na nu nì.sag.gile ina gišgu.za-šú ú-še-šib aga lugalti-šú ina sag.du-šú iš-ta-kan dÈr-ra-i-mit-ti ina é.gal-šú pap-pa-su im-me-tú in sa-ra-pi-šú im-tu-ut dEn-l íl-dù šá in gišgu.za ú-ši-bi ul it-biim-tu-ut a-na lugal ú-tiit-taš-kan Translation: King Erra-imittī ordered Enlil-bâni, the gardener, to sit on the throne as a royal substitute (and) put the crown of kingship on his head.