About thirty years ago clay cones bearing a newly recovered inscription of En-temena appeared in the antiquities market. The inscription is often referred to as the “brotherhood text,” because it relates that friendship was established between En-temena, governor of Lagash, and Lugal-kinishe-dudu, governor of Uruk. Since the inscription was new, it was soon published in a number of journals.
The inscription is of primary importance for the discussion of the location of Bad-tibira because it describes En-temena as the man who built the temple E-mush for the goddess Inanna and the god Lugal-E-mush, an epithet for Dumu-zi. From other texts it is known that E-mush and E-mush-kalama, presumably names for the same temple, were located in Bad-tibira. If the site where the cones had been discovered by robber diggers could be found, then the location of the ancient city of Bad-tibira could be re-established.
Since a vendor of the cones had said that they came from Medain, one of the reasons for the French excavation at a mound called Medain near Lagash was to attempt to locate Bad-tibira. Unfortunately, however, the labours of Ghirshman and Tellier were not successful in ascertaining the site of Bad-tibira.