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279 caught the attention of the greatest seductress of all—Inanna. Sens- ing a new opportunity, she invited Shulgi to Erech, making him "a man chosen for the vulva of Inanna" and engaging in lovemaking in the very temple dedicated to Anu. We quote Shulgi's own words: With valiant Utu, a friend as a brother, I drank strong drink in the temple founded by Anu. My minstrels sang for me the seven songs of love. Inanna, the queen, the vulva of heaven and earth, was by my side, banqueting in the temple. As the unavoidable restiveness at home and abroad grew, Shulgi sought military support from the southeastern province of Elam. Arranging for his daughter to marry Elam's viceroy, Shulgi gave him as dowry the city of Larsa. In return the viceroy brought into Sumer Elamite troops, to serve Shulgi as a Foreign Legion. But in- stead of peace the Elamite troops brought more warfare, and the yearly records of Shulgi's reign speak of repeated destruction in the northern provinces. Shulgi attempted to retain his hold on the west- em provinces by peaceful means, and his thirty-seventh year of reign records a treaty with a local king named Puzur-Ish-Dagan—a name with clear Canaanite/Philistine connotations. The treaty en- abled Shulgi to reclaim the title "King of the Four Regions." But the peace in the west did not last long. In his forty-first year (2055 B.C.) Shulgi received certain oracles from Nannar/Sin, and a major military expedition was launched against the Canaanite provinces. Within two years Shulgi could claim once more that he was "Hero, King of Ur, Ruler of the Four Regions." The evidence suggests that Elamite troops were used in this campaign to subdue the provinces and that these foreign troops had advanced as far as the gateway to the Sinai. Their commander called himself "favorite of the God Who Judges, beloved by Inanna, occupier of Dur-Ilu." But no sooner had the occupying troops withdrawn than the unrest began again. In the year 2049 B.C. Shulgi ordered the building of "The Wall of the West" to pro- tect Mesopotamia. He stayed on the throne one more shaky year. Although, until the end of his reign. Shulgi continued to proclaim himself "a cher- ished of Nannar," he was no longer a "chosen" of Anu and Enlil. In their recorded view "the divine regulations he did not carry out, Prelude to Disaster