Earlier this king's name was read Entemena due to the ligature [ME:TE] that appears in the ED IIIb writing of his name. As pointed out by B. Alster, however (JCS 26, 1974, 178-180) Sargonic period writings spell the name as it is currently read.

Enmetena's legacy survives for us via 27 inscriptions, which attest to a number of renovation projects, new buildings, and events occurring during his reign. He did work on the ancient Antasura and the Eninnu of Ningirsu, in addition to completing the renovation of the Dugru temple begun under his father Enanatum. He built temples to Gatumdug the mother of Lagash and to Ninhursag, as well as a weir on the Lummagimdug canal with a huge storage capacity. He also made the unprecedented decision to introduce an Enlil cult into the Lagash state with the building of a temple he called the E-adda (house of the father). However the attempted introduction was not long-lived, as there is no record of a temple for Enlil in the state in neo-Sumerian times (Bauer pg. 470).

Since the time of Eanatum Lagash had enjoyed a certain hegemony over other city-states in its vicinity. Such was the still the case in the time of Enmetena, as his inscriptions indicate that he held some degree of control over Badtabira