Sumer Survives

[8Deer]

Ok, so I want to get "Sumer" to survive for as long as I can. By Sumer, I mean a state ruled by and mainly populated by ethnic Sumerians, speaking the Sumerian language. Basically, I'm thinking of having an earlier Sargon of Akkad who unites Mesopotamia under a Sumerian dynasty. I'm having a difficult time chosing a POD, and difficulty finding good information, especially since most of the stuff I can find doesn't mention dates.

The main thing I'm thinking of right now is that Eannatum of Lagash destroys his rival city of Umma. This seems like a good POD, because he went on to conquer pretty much all of Sumer, as well as some cities in Elam and Syria. After his death, Umma and many other cities revolted. But maybe if Umma is destroyed, these revolts will be less devastating, enabling Eannatum's successor to keep the empire together? The problem is that I'm not even sure when Eannatum lived. It was probably sometime during the 24th century BC, since his grandfather Ur-Nanshe ruled during the first half of that century, but that is hardly precise.

Sorry for such a rambling post, I'm in a hurry. I was surprised that something like this hasn't been discussed before. There aren't enough ancient TLs on this site, so I'm interested in seeing what other people think about this one.

 

[Epimethius]

There isn't too many TL's on this because well frankly there's not too much information about Sumer in the historical record, and Mesopotamia is at a cross roads. Basically in order to allow Sumer (southern Iraq in other words, as Akkad is in northern Iraq) to survive you have to find away to give them the resources to survive the invasions of the Akkadians under Sargon, the Kassites, the Amorites, proto-Hebrews, proto-Persians, not to mention Greeks, Hittites, Uratu, Scythians, Cimmerians, and numerous other invaders. Iraq itself does not have a lot of resources other then oil, and land that is great for growing crops under low tech conditions. However, if you can find a way to allow them to at least beat the invaders that come out of the Zagros Mountains I think you might be able to give them a fighting chance to survive as a culture.