Misplaced Pages

#510489

87-460: According to the Sumerian King List , Ur-Nammu reigned for 18 years. Year-names are known for 17 of these years, but their order is uncertain. One year-name of his reign records the devastation of Gutium, while two years seem to commemorate his legal reforms ("Year in which Ur-Nammu the king put in order the ways [of the people in the country] from below to above", "Year Ur-Nammu made justice in

174-493: A better understanding of how subsequent rulers fit into the chronology of the ancient Near East can be deduced. The short chronology is used here. Antediluvian rulers None of the following predynastic antediluvian rulers have been verified as historical by archaeological excavations , epigraphical inscriptions or otherwise. While there is no evidence they ever reigned as such, the Sumerians purported them to have lived in

261-479: A cylindrical seal bearing her name in Sumerian . Her body was found buried along with those of two attendants, who had presumably been poisoned to continue to serve her after death. Woolley was able to reconstruct Pu-Abi's funeral ceremony from objects found in her tomb. In 1936, after the discoveries at Ur, Woolley was interested in finding ties between the ancient Aegean and Mesopotamian civilisations. This led him to

348-484: A different order, names of kings may be absent or the lengths of their reigns may vary. These differences are both the result of copying errors, and of deliberate editorial decisions to change the text to fit current needs. In the past, the Sumerian King List was considered as an invaluable source for the reconstruction of the political history of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia . More recent research has indicated that

435-457: A dynasty from Mari , which is a city outside Sumer proper but which played an important role in Mesopotamian history during the late third and early second millennia BC. The following third dynasty of Kish consists of a single ruler Kug-Bau ("the woman tavern keeper"), thought to be the only queen listed in the Sumerian King List . The final two dynasties of this section, the fourth of Kish and

522-407: A few other dynasties, followed again by the kings of Akkad. The sources differ in their exact contents. This is not only the result of many sources being fragmentary, it is also the result of scribal errors made during copying of the composition, and of the fact that changes were made to the composition through time. For example, the section on rulers before the flood is not present in every copy of

609-514: A historical time line in which reigns would fall within reasonable human bounds, and with what is known from the archaeological record as well as other textual sources. Thorkild Jacobsen argued in his major 1939 study of the SKL that, in principle, all rulers mentioned in the list should be considered historical because their names were taken from older lists that were kept for administrative purposes and could therefore be considered reliable. His solution to

696-734: A majority of the reigns in the Gutian dynasty were 5, 6, or 7 years in length. In the sexagesimal system used at that time, "about 6 years" would be the same as "about 10 years" in a decimal system (i.e. a general round number). This was sufficient evidence for him to conclude that at least these figures were completely artificial. The longer time spans from the first part of the list could also be argued to be artificial: various reigns were multiples of 60 (e.g. Jushur reigned for 600 years, Puannum ruled for 840 years) while others were squares (e.g. Ilku reigned for 900 years (square of 30) while Meshkiangasher ruled for 324 years (square of 18)). During

783-434: A single cuneiform text with as much "name recognition" as the Sumerian King List . The SKL might also be among the compositions that have fuelled the most intense debate and controversy among academia. These debates generally focused on when, where and why it was created, and if and how the text can be used in the reconstruction of the political history of Mesopotamia during the third and second millennia BC. All but one of

870-446: A steady succession of cities and kings, usually without much detail beyond the lengths of the individual reigns. Every entry is structured exactly the same: the city where kingship is located is named, followed by one or more kings and how long they reigned, followed by a summary and a final line indicating where kingship went next. Lines 134–147 may serve as an example: In Ur, Mesannepada became king; he ruled for 80 years. Meskiagnun ,

957-618: A survey or a ground-plan" (Woolley 1953:15). Nevertheless, the Corbridge Lion was found under his supervision. Woolley next travelled to Nubia in southern Egypt, where he worked with David Randall-MacIver on the Eckley Coxe Expedition to Nubia conducted under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania Museum . Between 1907 and 1911 they conducted archaeological excavations and survey at sites including Areika , Buhen , and

SECTION 10

#1732906146511

1044-447: A window into how Old Babylonian kings and scribes viewed their own history, how they perceived the concept of kingship, and how they could have used it to further their own goals. For example, it has been noted that the king list is unique among Sumerian compositions in there being no divine intervention in the process of dynastic change. Also, the style and contents of the Sumerian King List certainly influenced later compositions such as

1131-456: Is also given. In this first section, the reigns vary between 43,200 and 28,800 years for a total of 241,200 years. The section ends with the line "Then the flood swept over". Among the kings mentioned in this section is the ancient Mesopotamian god Dumuzid (the later Tammuz). "After the flood had swept over, and the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish." After this well-known line,

1218-535: Is known to have been named SI . A.tum, read as Watartum. Building materials came from as far away as Babylon, Kutha, and Adab. The ki-a-nag, or funerary offerings for Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu were carried out at Tummal. As his grave was not found in Ur this has sparked speculation he was buried in Tummal. Almost all of the year names of Ur-Nammu are known, documenting the major events of his reign. The main year names are: A portion of

1305-458: Is known. There is equal support for the idea that Puzur-Inshushinak with contemporary with Akkad ruler Naram-Sin a century earlier. Ur-Nammu was also responsible for ordering the construction of a number of ziggurats , including the Great Ziggurat of Ur . It has been suggested, based on a much later literary composition, that he was killed in battle after he had been abandoned by his army. He

1392-402: Is listed during this period of kingship ( Utu-hegal ), before it moved on to Ur. The so-called Third Dynasty of Ur consisted of 5 kings who ruled between 9 and 46 years. No other details of their exploits are given. The Sumerian King List remarks that, after the rule of Ur was abolished, "The very foundation of Sumer was torn out", after which kingship was taken to Isin . The kings of Isin are

1479-570: Is not possible, but in one case, the Weld-Blundell prism, it could be dated to year 11 of the reign of king Sin-Magir of Isin , the last ruler to be mentioned in the Sumerian King List . The so-called Ur III Sumerian King List ( USKL ), on a clay tablet possibly found in Adab , is the only known version of the SKL that predates the Old Babylonian period. The colophon of this text mentions that it

1566-614: Is now known as the SKL was probably first created in the Sargonic period in a form very similar to the USKL . It has even been suggested that this precursor of the SKL was not written in Sumerian , but in Akkadian . The original contents of the USKL , especially the pre-Sargonic part, were probably significantly altered only after the Ur III period, as a reaction to the societal upheaval that resulted from

1653-503: Is recognized as one of the first "modern" archaeologists who excavated in a methodical way, keeping careful records, and using them to reconstruct ancient life and history. Woolley was knighted in 1935 for his contributions to the discipline of archaeology . He was married to the British archaeologist Katharine Woolley . Woolley was the son of a clergyman , and was brother to Geoffrey Harold Woolley , VC , and George Cathcart Woolley . He

1740-478: Is the "Death of Ur-Nammu" (Ur-Namma A), variously described as a "hymn', "lamentation" or "wisdom". It describes the death, funeral, and passge through the underworld of Ur-Nammu. It is known from about 9 damaged tablets and fragments, held in various museums, which together allow restoration of much of the text. The description of Ur-Nammu's death is damaged, vague, and metaphoric, which has not stopped later scholars from interpreting it to say Ur-Nammu died in battle at

1827-591: Is well-known from other contemporary sources. The SKL is preserved in several versions, the first fragement of which was published in 1906 by Hermann Volrath Hilprecht , and the second in 1911 by Jean-Vincent Scheil . Most of these date to the Old Babylonian period, but the oldest version of the SKL dates back to the Ur III period. The clay tablets on which the SKL was recorded were generally found on sites in southern Mesopotamia. These versions differ in their exact content; some sections are missing, others are arranged in

SECTION 20

#1732906146511

1914-698: The Curse of Akkad , the Lamentation over Sumer and Akkad , later king lists such as the Assyrian King List , and the Babyloniaca by Berossus . Early dates are approximate, and are based on available archaeological data. For most of the pre-Akkadian rulers listed, the king list is itself the source of information. Beginning with Lugal-zage-si and the Third Dynasty of Uruk (which was defeated by Sargon of Akkad ),

2001-511: The Kassite period (c. 1595-1155 BC) levels, over half a millennium later. One side was noticeably better preserved than the other. One large fragment was recovered in the 1932-1933 season. As a few fragments were found in the level from fall of the Ur III Empire the excavator indicated that the stela had been shattered at the end of the reign of the final Ur III ruler Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028–2004 BC) and

2088-444: The SKL even go so far as to discredit the composition as a valuable historical source on Early Dynastic Mesopotamia altogether. Important arguments to dismiss the SKL as a reliable and valuable source are its nature as a political, ideological text, its long redactional history, and the fact that out of the many pre-Sargonic kings listed, only seven have been attested in contemporary Early Dynastic inscriptions. The final volume on

2175-492: The SKL points out that some rulers were family, it was the city, rather than individual rulers, to which kingship was given. The Sumerian King List is known from a number of different sources, all in the form of clay tablets or cylinders and written in Sumerian . At least 16 different tablets or fragments containing parts of the composition are known. Some tablets are unprovenanced, but most have been recovered, or are known to have come from various sites across Mesopotamia,

2262-471: The SKL was called after its first word: "nam- lugal ", or "kingship". It should also be noted that what is commonly referred to as the Sumerian King List , is in reality not a single text. Rather, it is a literary composition of which different versions existed through time in which sections were missing, arranged in a different order, and names, reigns and details on kings were different or absent. Modern scholarship has used numbered dynasties to refer to

2349-519: The SKL was first created during the Akkad dynasty to position Akkad as a direct heir to the hegemony of Kish. Thus, it would make sense to present the predecessors to the Akkadian kings as a long, unbroken line of rulers from Kish. In this way the Akkadian dynasty could legitimize its claims to power over Babylonia by arguing that, from the earliest times onwards, there had always been a single city where kingship

2436-528: The SKL , but instead Jacobsen assumed a reign of circa 30 years. In this manner, and by working backwards from reigns whose dates could be independently established by other means, Jacobsen was able to fit all pre-Sargonic kings in a chronology consistent with the dates that were at that time (1939) accepted for the Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia. Jacobsen has been criticised for putting too much faith in

2523-408: The Sumerian King List , but rather contemporaneously. Starting with the Akkadian rulers, but especially for the Ur III and Isin dynasties, the SKL becomes much more reliable. Not only are most of the kings attested in other contemporaneous documents, but the reigns attributed to them in the SKL are more or less in line with what can be established from those other sources. This is probably due to

2610-1474: The University of Pennsylvania . ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

2697-422: The 20th century, many scholars accepted the Sumerian King List as a historical source of great importance for the reconstruction of the political history of Mesopotamia, despite the problems associated with the text. For example, many scholars have observed that the kings in the early part of the list reigned for unnaturally long time spans. Various approaches have been offered to reconcile these long reigns with

Ur-Nammu - Misplaced Pages Continue

2784-674: The Allied armies. After the war, he returned to Alalakh , where he continued to work from 1946 until 1949. Woolley married Katharine Elizabeth Keeling (née Menke; born June 1888 – died 8 November 1945), who was born in England to German parents and had previously been married to Lieut. Col. Bertram Francis Eardley Keeling ( OBE , MC ). He had hired Keeling in 1924 as expedition artist and draughtswoman; they married in 1927 and she continued to play an important role at his archaeological sites. In 1930, Woolley invited his friend Agatha Christie to visit

2871-533: The British archaeologist Katharine Woolley . There, they made important discoveries, including the Copper Bull and the Bull-Headed Lyre . In the course of excavating the royal cemetery and the pair of Ram in a Thicket figurines . Agatha Christie 's novel, Murder in Mesopotamia , was inspired by the discovery of the royal tombs. Agatha Christie later married Woolley's young assistant, Max Mallowan . Ur

2958-672: The Early Dynastic period itself, the pre-Sargonic part of the SKL must be considered fictional. Many of the rulers in the pre-Sargonic part (i.e. prior to Sargon of Akkad) of the list must therefore be considered as purely fictional or mythological characters to which reigns of hundreds of years were assigned. However, there is a small group of pre-Sargonic rulers in the SKL whose names have been attested in Early Dynastic inscriptions.This group consists of seven rulers: Enmebaragesi , Gilgamesh , Mesannepada , Meskiagnun , Elulu , Enshakushanna and Lugal-zage-si . It has also been shown that several kings did not rule sequentially as described by

3045-758: The Elder Siamun Psusennes II Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt Tefnakht Bakenranef ( Sargonid dynasty ) Tiglath-Pileser Shalmaneser Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon Sennacherib Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II Sumerian King List The Sumerian King List (abbreviated SKL ) or Chronicle of

3132-511: The Isin dynasty. Other manuscripts are incomplete because they are damaged or fragmentary. The Scheil dynastic tablet , from Susa , for example, only contains parts of the composition running from Uruk II to Ur III. The majority of the sources are dated to the Old Babylonian period (early second millennium BC), and more specifically the early part of that era. In many cases, a more precise dating

3219-586: The Meroitic town of Karanog . In 1912–1914, with T. E. Lawrence as his assistant, he excavated the Hittite city of Carchemish in Syria. Lawrence and Woolley were apparently working for British Naval Intelligence and monitoring the construction of Germany's Berlin-to-Baghdad railway . During World War I , Woolley, with Lawrence, was posted to Cairo , where he met Gertrude Bell . He then moved to Alexandria , where he

3306-469: The One Monarchy is an ancient literary composition written in Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims to power of various city-states and kingdoms in southern Mesopotamia during the late third and early second millennium BC. It does so by repetitively listing Sumerian cities, the kings that ruled there, and the lengths of their reigns. Especially in the early part of

3393-579: The Sumerian king list. Third dynasty of Kish Dynasty of Akshak Note Puzur-Nirah (son of Puzur-Su’en) is also an eponym in the Old Assyrian period Fourth dynasty of Kish Third dynasty of Uruk Dynasty of Akkad Leonard Woolley Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia . He

3480-482: The Syrian city of Al Mina . He excavated Tell Atchana in the years 1937–1939 and 1946–1949. His team discovered palaces, temples, private houses and fortification walls, in 17 archaeological levels, reaching from late Early Bronze Age ( c.  2200 –2000 BC) to Late Bronze Age ( c.  13th century BC ). Among their finds was the inscribed statue of Idrimi , a king of Alalakh c. early 15th century BC. Woolley

3567-424: The city "fell" and the "kingship was taken to Bad-tibira ". This pattern of cities receiving kingship and then falling or being defeated, only to be succeeded by the next, is present throughout the entire text, often in the exact same words. This first section lists eight kings who ruled over five cities (apart from Eridu and Bad-tibira, these also included Larag , Zimbir and Shuruppak ). The duration of each reign

Ur-Nammu - Misplaced Pages Continue

3654-523: The compilation by the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature , which in turn takes the text of the Weld-Blundell prism as its main source, listing other versions when there are differences in the text. This section, which is not present in every copy of the text, opens with the line "After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu." Two kings of Eridu are mentioned, before

3741-440: The disintegration of the Ur III state at the end of the third millennium BC. This altering of the composition meant that the original long, uninterrupted list of kings of Kish was cut up in smaller dynasties (e.g. Kish I, Kish II, and so forth), and that other dynasties were inserted. The result was the SKL as it is known from Old Babylonian manuscripts such as the Weld-Blundell prism. The cyclical change of kingship from one city to

3828-452: The fact that Shulgi promoted his lineage to members of the legendary Uruk dynasty as opposed to Ur-Nammu. While some translations of Sumerian texts had included the divine determinative before Ur-Nammu's name more recent evidence indicates this was a mistaken addition. Despite this, the belief that the king was deified after death has been expressed just as recently, demonstrating a lack of certainty on this issue (though these were written during

3915-424: The fact that the compilers of the SKL could rely on lists of year names, which came in regular use during the Akkadian period. Other sources may have included votive and victory inscriptions. However, while the SKL has little value for the study on Early Dynastic Mesopotamia, it continues to be an important document for the study on the Sargonic to Old Babylonian periods. The Sumerian King List offers scholars

4002-413: The final dynasty that is included in the list. The dynasty consisted of 14 kings who ruled between 3 and 33 years. As with the Ur III dynasty, no details are given on the reigns of individual kings. Some versions of the Sumerian King List conclude with a summary of the dynasties after the flood. In this summary, the number of kings and their accumulated regnal years are mentioned for each city, as well as

4089-427: The foreign countries" and Enmebaragesi , "who made the land of Elam submit". Enmebaragesi is also the first king in the Sumerian King List whose name is attested from contemporaneous ( Early Dynastic I ) inscriptions. His successor Aga of Kish , the final king mentioned before Kish fell and kingship was taken to E-ana , also appears in the poem Gilgamesh and Aga . The next lines, up until Sargon of Akkad , show

4176-413: The fourth dynasty of Uruk, two kings of which, Ur-nigin and his son Ur-gigir , appear in other contemporary inscriptions. Kingship was then taken to the "land" or "army" of Gutium , of which it was said that at first they had no kings and that they ruled themselves for a few years. After this short episode, 21 Gutian kings are listed before the fall of Gutium and kingship was taken to Uruk. Only one ruler

4263-429: The god Nanna, dedicated (this object) to her" A later Sumerian literary composition known variously as "The Coronation of Ur-Nammu" and "Ur-Namma D" lists canals built by Ur-Nammu. It is known in three Old Babylonian Period recensions, from Nippur, Ur, and of an unknown provenance. There are a number of known Sumerian literary compositions about Ur-Namma, labeled from A to H. The other important later Sumerian literary work

4350-423: The hands of his own troops. Ur-Nammu is notable for having been one of the few Mesopotamian kings of the third millennium BC who was not deified after his death. This is testified by the posthumous Sumerian literature which never includes the divine determinative before Ur-Nammu's name (this can be seen on the transliterations for the texts on ETCSL ), the themes of divine abandonment in "The Death of Ur-Nammu", and

4437-445: The higher up they are, and 3) the edges of the stela are smooth. It is believed that there were originally five horizontal registers on each side. The identification and meaning of the surviving scenes has been much debated. When the stela was disassembled in 1989 for study mineralogical analysis showed that several fragments did not in fact belong to the stela. At the same time more fragments then in storage were identified as belonging to

SECTION 50

#1732906146511

4524-580: The history and philology of third millennium BC Mesopotamia of the ESF -funded ARCANE-project (Associated Regional Chronologies for the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean), for example, did not list any of the pre-Sargonic rulers from the SKL in its chronological tables unless their existence was corroborated by Early Dynastic inscriptions. Thus, in the absence of independent sources from

4611-538: The internegum after the fall of the Akkadian Empire a number of cities became independent and an area in the northeast came under the control of Elam. Ur-Nammu in his Sumerian language inscriptions reports defeating a coalition of Kutik-Insusinak, Elamite ruler, and some other cities including Tutub and Eshnunna . It has been suggested that this was another name for the Elamite ruler Puzur-Inshushinak , about whom little

4698-462: The land"). Among his military exploits were the conquest of Lagash and the defeat of his former masters at Uruk . He was eventually recognized as a significant regional ruler (of Ur, Eridu , and Uruk) at a coronation in Nippur , and is believed to have constructed buildings at Nippur, Larsa , Kish , Adab , and Umma . He was known for restoring the roads and general order after the Gutian period. In

4785-427: The last few decades, scholars have taken a more careful approach. For example, many recent handbooks on the archaeology and history of ancient Mesopotamia all acknowledge the problematic nature of the SKL and warn that the list's use as a historical document for that period is severely limited up to the point that it should not be used at all. It has been argued, for example, that the omission of certain cities in

4872-442: The list which were known to have been important at the time, such as Lagash and Larsa , was deliberate. Furthermore, the fact that the SKL adheres to a strict sequential ordering of kingships which were considered equal means that it does no justice at all to the actual complexities of Mesopotamian political history where different reigns overlapped, or where different rulers or cities were not equally powerful. Recent studies on

4959-494: The list, these reigns often span thousands of years. In the oldest known version, dated to the Ur III period ( c.  2112  – c.  2004 BC ) but probably based on Akkadian source material, the SKL reflected a more linear transition of power from Kish , the first city to receive kingship, to Akkad . In later versions from the Old Babylonian period , the list consisted of a large number of cities between which kingship

5046-500: The list. Some city names, such as Uruk, Ur and Kish, appear more than once in the Sumerian King List . The earlier part of this section mentions several kings who are also known from other literary sources. These kings include Dumuzid the Fisherman and Gilgamesh , although virtually no king from the earlier part of this section appears in inscriptions dating from the actual period in which they were supposed to live. Lines 211–223 describe

5133-537: The majority coming from Nippur . So far a version of the SKL has been found outside of Babylonia only once: there is one manuscript containing a part of the composition from Tell Leilan in Upper Mesopotamia . There is only one manuscript that contains a relatively undamaged version of the composition. This is the Weld-Blundell Prism which includes the antediluvian part of the composition and ends with

5220-418: The mythical era before the great deluge. The "antediluvian" reigns were measured in Sumerian numerical units known as sars (units of 3,600), ners (units of 600), and sosses (units of 60). Attempts have been made to map these numbers into more reasonable regnal lengths. 18 sars and 4 ners (67,200 years) First dynasty of Kish First rulers of Uruk First dynasty of Ur Dynasty of Awan This

5307-435: The next became a so-called Leitmotif , or recurring theme, in the Sumerian King List . It has been generally accepted that the main aim was not to provide a historiographical record of the political landscape of ancient Mesopotamia. Instead, it has been suggested that the SKL , in its various redactions, was used by contemporary rulers to legitimize their claims to power over Babylonia. Steinkeller has argued that

SECTION 60

#1732906146511

5394-531: The number of times that city had received kingship: "A total of 12 kings ruled for 396 years, 3 times in Urim." The final line again tallies the numbers for all these dynasties: "There are 11 cities, cities in which the kingship was exercised. A total of 134 kings, who altogether ruled for 28876 + X years." Piotr Steinkeller  [ de ] has observed that, with the exception of the Epic of Gilgamesh , there might not be

5481-403: The older USKL , did not contain the antediluvian part of the list. In its original form, the list started with the hegemony of Kish. Some city-states may have been uncomfortable with the preeminent position of Kish. By inserting a section of primordial kings who ruled before a flood, which is only known from some Old Babylonian versions, the importance of Kish could be downplayed. During much of

5568-453: The pieces later used as convenient construction material by the Kassites. The limestone slab measures 3 meters high and 1.52 meters across, assuming it has been re-assembled properly. The stela fragments have been assembled several times, beginning in 1927, each time differently. The underlying basis for re-assembly is 1) one face is noticeably better preserved, 2) figures on the stela are larger

5655-504: The reigns considered too long, then, was to argue that "[t]heir occurrence in our material must be ascribed to a tendency known also among other peoples of antiquity to form very exaggerated ideas of the length of human life in the earliest times of which they were conscious." In order to create a fixed chronology where individual kings could be absolutely dated, Jacobsen replaced time spans considered too long with average reigns of 20–30 years. For example, Etana ruled for 1500 years according to

5742-609: The reliability of the king list, for making wishful reconstructions and readings of incomplete parts of the list, for ignoring inconsistencies between the SKL and other textual evidence, and for ignoring the fact that only very few of the pre-Sargonic rulers have been attested in contemporaneous (i.e. Early Dynastic) inscriptions. Others have attempted to reconcile the reigns in the Sumerian King List by arguing that many time spans were actually consciously invented, mathematically derived numbers. Rowton, for example, observed that

5829-421: The same year as the new interpretations of the evidence and thus could not refer to them). Sharlach has more recently noted that favour for Ur-Nammu not having been deified has been accepted by many scholars. Whatever the current state of the deification debate, Ur-Nammu was clearly worshiped after his death. The palace at Tummal included funerary chapels for Ur-Nammu (e Tum-ma-al Ur-Namma) and his wife. His wife

5916-455: The section goes on to list 23 kings of Kish , who ruled between 1500 and 300 years for a total of 24,510 years. The exact number of years varies between copies. Apart from the lengths of their reigns and whether they were the son of their predecessor (for example, " Mashda , the son of Atab , ruled for 840 years"), no other details are usually given on the exploits of these kings. Exceptions are Etana , "who ascended to heaven and consolidated all

6003-407: The son of Mesannepada, became king; he ruled for 36 years. Elulu ruled for 25 years. Balulu ruled for 36 years. 4 kings; they ruled for 171 years. Then Ur was defeated and the kingship was taken to Awan. Individual reigns vary in length, from 1200 years for Lugalbanda of Uruk, to six years for another king of Uruk and several kings of Akshak. On average, the number of regnal years decreases down

6090-681: The stela fragments were found during excavations at Ur in the 1920s, primarily in 1925, by Leonard Woolley under the auspices of the Joint Expedition of The University Museum and The British Museum in the temple precinct of Nanna. But our main discovery was made in the courtyard of E-dublal-mah and in the gate-chamber leading to it, Here there were scattered over the pavement quantities of limestone fragments, large and small, which proved to be parts of one, or possibly two, huge stelae measuring five feet across and perhaps fifteen feet high, covered on both sides with finely executed reliefs. On some pieces

6177-634: The stela of Ur-Nammu. This brought the fragment total to 106 including one fragment held at the British Museum (two others there are suspected as also belonging to the Ur-Nammu stela). This stela and the Utuhegal Stela were excavated at the same time and the finds divided between the sponsors. The issue of what fragments belong to this stela is still open. It is currently held at the University Museum of

6264-489: The stone is astonishingly well preserved, on others its surface has suffered greatly by flaking and the action of salts; the reliefs had been intentionally smashed, and the fragments scattered all over the site [...]. The first publisher of the stela called it the "Stela of the Flying Angels". Most fragments were found near the base. Some fragments had been moved and used for other purposes, including door sockets, and found on

6351-474: The surviving versions of the Sumerian King List date to the Old Babylonian period, i.e. the early part of the second millennium BC. One version, the Ur III Sumerian King List ( USKL ) dates to the reign of Shulgi (2084–2037 BC). By carefully comparing the different versions, especially the USKL with the much later Old Babylonian versions of the SKL , it has been shown that the composition that

6438-426: The text, including every text from Nippur, where the majority of versions of the SKL were found. Also, the order of some of the dynasties or kings may be changed between copies, some dynasties that were separately mentioned in one version are taken together in another, details on the lengths of individual reigns vary, and individual kings may be left out entirely. The following summary and line numbers are taken from

6525-404: The third of Uruk, provide a link to the next section. Sargon of Akkad is mentioned in the Sumerian King List as cup-bearer to Ur-zababa of Kish, and he defeated Lugal-zage-si of Uruk before founding his own dynasty. This section is devoted to the well-known Akkadian ruler Sargon and his successors. After the entry on Shar-kali-sharri , the Sumerian King List reads "Then who was king? Who

6612-429: The uninterrupted rule of a single city; hence the Ur III dynasty denotes the third time that the city of Ur assumed hegemony over Mesopotamia according to the SKL . This numbering (e.g. Kish I, Uruk IV, Ur III) is not present in the original text. It should also be noted that the modern usage of the term dynasty , i.e. a sequence of rulers from a single family, does not necessarily apply to ancient Mesopotamia. Even though

6699-580: The use of the SKL is fraught with difficulties, and that it should only be used with caution, if at all, in the study of ancient Mesopotamia during the third and early second millennium BC. The text is best known under its modern name Sumerian King List , which is often abbreviated to SKL in scholarly literature. A less-used name is the Chronicle of the One Monarchy , reflecting the notion that, according to this text, there could ever be only one city exercising kingship over Mesopotamia. In contemporary sources,

6786-605: Was a dynasty from Elam . Second dynasty of Kish The First dynasty of Lagash (c. 2500 – c. 2271 BC) is not mentioned in the King List, though it is well known from inscriptions Dynasty of Hamazi Second dynasty of Uruk Second dynasty of Ur Dynasty of Adab Other rulers of Adab are known, besides Lugal-Ane-mundu , but they are not mentioned in the Sumerian King List. Dynasty of Mari Many rulers are known from Mari , but different names are mentioned in

6873-611: Was assigned to work on naval espionage. Turkey captured a ship he was on, and held him for two years in a relatively comfortable prisoner-of-war camp. He received the Croix de Guerre from France at the war's end. In the following years, Woolley returned to Carchemish, and then worked at Amarna in Egypt. Woolley led a joint expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania to Ur , beginning in 1922, which included his wife,

6960-769: Was born at 13 Southwold Road, Upper Clapton , in the modern London Borough of Hackney and educated at St John's School, Leatherhead and New College, Oxford . He was interested in excavations from a young age. In 1905, Woolley became assistant of the Ashmolean Museum , Oxford . Volunteered by Arthur Evans to run the excavations on the Roman site at Corbridge (near Hadrian's Wall ) for Francis Haverfield , Woolley began his excavation career there in 1906, later admitting in Spadework that "I had never studied archaeological methods even from books ... and I had not any idea how to make

7047-431: Was copied during the reign of Shulgi (2084–2037 BC), the second king of the Ur III dynasty. The USKL is especially interesting because its pre-Sargonic part is completely different from that of the SKL . Whereas the SKL records many different dynasties from several cities, the USKL starts with a single long list of rulers from Kish (including rulers who, in the SKL were part of different Kish dynasties), followed by

7134-453: Was exercised. Later rulers then used the Sumerian King List for their own political purposes, amending and adding to the text as they saw fit. This is why, for example, the version recorded on the Weld-Blundell prism ends with the Isin dynasty, suggesting that it was now their turn to rule over Mesopotamia as the rightful inheritors of the Ur III legacy. The use of the SKL as political propaganda may also explain why some versions, including

7221-464: Was not king?", suggesting a period of chaos that may reflect the uncertain times during which the Akkadian Empire came to an end. Four kings are mentioned to have ruled for a total of only three years. Of the Akkadian kings mentioned after Shar-kali-sharri, only the names of Dudu and Shu-turul have been attested in inscriptions dating from the Akkadian period. The Akkadian dynasty is succeeded by

7308-573: Was one of the first archaeologists to propose that the flood described in the Book of Genesis was local after identifying a flood-stratum at Ur "400 miles long and 100 miles wide; but for the occupants of the valley that was the whole world". His archaeological career was interrupted by the United Kingdom's entry into World War II , and he became part of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of

7395-415: Was succeeded by his son Shulgi . One known daughter, Ama-barag, married a local man. The other known daughter was consecrated as the en-priestess of Nanna in Ur, taking the clerical name En-nir-gal-an-na (En-nirgal-ana). Two inscriptions found in Ur read: " For the goddess Ningal, his [la]dy, or the [li]fe of Ur-Nammu, [m]ighty [man], king] of the lands of Sumer and Akkad, her father, En-nirgal-ana, [e]n of

7482-444: Was the burial site of what may have been many Sumerian royals. The Woolleys discovered tombs of great material wealth, containing large paintings of ancient Sumerian culture at its zenith, along with gold and silver jewellery, cups and other furnishings. The most extravagant tomb was that of "Queen" Pu-Abi . Amazingly enough, Queen Pu-Abi's tomb was untouched by looters. Inside the tomb, many well-preserved items were found, including

7569-422: Was transferred, reflecting a more cyclical view of how kingship came to a city, only to be inevitably replaced by the next. In its best-known and best-preserved version, as recorded on the Weld-Blundell Prism , the SKL begins with a number of antediluvian kings, who ruled before a flood swept over the land, after which kingship went to Kish . It ends with a dynasty from Isin (early second millennium BC), which

#510489