It was caused by the city of Umma infringing upon an old border treaty with neighbouring city-state Lagash regarding a fertile piece of land coveted by both.

[10] Aspects of the war were documented and preserved on historical objects like the Stele of the Vultures, as Sumerian scribes had begun writing with cuneiform and clay tablets 1000 years earlier.

[18] The marble pillar sat in the British Museum for 150 years until 2018 when Irving Finkel, a curator in the Middle East department, deciphered the Sumerian cuneiform to reveal details of the war.

[21] The Eannatum Boulder – a contemporary Mesopotamian limestone sculpture that is currently at the Louvre – writes of the Lagash ruler: "Umma he defeated, and its 20 tumuli he heaped up".

Winter, a professor emeritus at Harvard University, said the pillar "stands at the beginning of a long line of historical narratives in the history of art.

[28] The Atlas of Military History argues that Lagash's victory over Umma is a more accurate historical record of early Mesopotamian combat than the Uruk or Kish, though it is less well-known.

[29] Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia asserted that King Mesilim's original treaty seems to favour Lagash over Umma.