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“Shulgi, son of Ur-Namu, provided abundant food for Eridu, which is on the seashore. But he had criminal tendencies and took away the property of Esagil and Babylon as booty.” <ref> Grayson, A. Kirk, ed. <i>Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles.</i> (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2000), p. 154</ref>
The empire that Ur-Nammu and Shulgi created was quite sophisticated in terms of its bureaucracy and state apparatus. The empire was divided into provinces that were each overseen by a governor known as an <i>ensi</i>. In addition to an ensi, each province also had at least one general, and several, such as the province of Umma, had several generals, which effectively prevented ensis from rebelling. Another important Ur III administrative office was the <i>sukkalmah</i>, whose task it was to represent the interests of the Ur III state away from Ur and who therefore acted as another check on possibly ambitious ensis. <ref> Mieroop, pgs. 77-79</ref> {{Mediawiki:AmNative}}
====Trade and Diplomacy in the Ur III State====
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Although the first two Ur III kings established their empire through force, they were not as bellicose as many of the Mesopotamian dynasties that preceded and followed them. The Ur III kings relied on their well-oiled bureaucracy along with considerable long-distance trade and an innovative diplomatic policy to hold power. By the late third millennium BC, Ur came to dominate the textiles and metals trade in Mesopotamia, which the Ur III kings took advantage of through centralization. The Ur III kings would direct trade through policies, but trade itself was carried out by independent caravans and contractors who profited nicely. Ur III trade worked so well that some modern scholars believed that a proto-currency was even developed in Ur at the time. Gold, silver, copper, and bronze coils have been discovered in excavations at Ur in a trade context, which has suggested to some archaeologists that the metals were used as a type of early currency. <ref> Kuhrt, p. 61</ref>
