CITY
STATE OF UR / URIM
The
city of Ur or Urim (modern Tell el-Mukayyar) was located close to
Eridu, near the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris, close to the
Persian Gulf (which is now several kilometres further to the south
due to silting). While it appears to have been inhabited in the
earliest stages of village life in southern Mesopotamia (the Ubaid
Period, to 3900 BC), it seems to have been abandoned for a time.
However, by the Early Dynastic III Period (beginning circa 2600
BC) the small farming villages had consolidated into a thriving
centre of industry. Ur was by this time considered sacred to the
god Nanna, and was ruled by at least two pre-dynastic kings, whose
names have been discovered on artefacts near their tombs and who
are not present on the king list.
FeatureAccording
to the Sumerian king list, a total of twelve kings ruled for 396
years, three times (dynasties) in Ur. Here, List 1 is primarily
used, backed up by List 2 and List 3.
fl
c.2600 BC :
Meskalamdug
: 'Hero of the good land'. Not on the king list. m Ninbanda.
fl
c. 2550 BC :
The
city of Adab is a subject state under the control of Ur. Because
Mesilim of Kish is active in Adab at this time, perhaps Ur may also
be a subject of Kish.
![Lead tumbler from Ur](Sumer_Ur_Tumbler01_full.jpg)
A
lead tumbler from Ur of the Early Dynastic I period, 2900-2800 BC
- using lead for drinking vessels was largely restricted to this
period
Pu-abi / Shubad : Nin, or priestess-queen.
Pu-abi
is a Semitic Akkadian (her Sumerian name is Shubad), showing just
how culturally intermixed the Semitic Akkadians had become with
the Sumerians. Her tomb later reveals her to be a priestess or queen
(or both - very acceptable at this time). If she is the wife of
a king of Ur, then which one isn't known. The tomb is in the Royal
Cemetery, which serves to show later archaeological discovers Sumerian
culture at its height. It also serves as a model for similar tombs
in cities in northern Mesopotamia and Syria such as Tuttul.
Akalamdug
: Not on the king list.
c.2500
BC :
The
probable son of Meskalamdug establishes the kingdom, and according
to the king list he gains the kingship from Uruk.
First
Dynasty :
c.2500 - 2445 BC
Ur
gained supremacy over the First Dynasty of Uruk. The first king
of this dynasty, Mesannepadda, is identified by some as being the
same person as Mesilim of Kish, who is strangely absent from the
king list. despite clearly having been a figure of authority in
the region. However, this raises the question of why the two cities
were subsequently ruled separately.
This
is the third set of entries on the Sumerian list comprising kings
36-39. Four kings ruled for 177 / 71 years (Lists 1 & 2).
c.2500
BC :
Mesannepadda
/ Mec-Ane-pada : Ruled for
80 years. Also known as A-ane-pada.
Possibly
the son of Meskalamdug (according to one artefact found at Ur),
A-ane-pada lays the foundations for the Temple of Ninhursag.
![The temple of Ninhursag](Sumer_Ninhursag01_full.jpg)
The
temple of Ninhursag, built by Mesannepadda (A-ane-pada) around 2500
BC
Meskiagnunna
/ Mec-ki-aj-Nanna : Son. Ruled
for 36/30 years.
Elulu
: Ruled for 25 years.
Balulu
: Ruled for 36 years. Akshak was perhaps a vassal state.
c.2455
BC :
The
kingship passes to Lagash (which is not mentioned on the king lists),
along with control of Ur itself during the lifetime of Eannatum
of Lagash.
Second
Dynasty :
c.2340 - 2340 BC
Ur
regained the kingship from the Second Dynasty at Uruk. However,
the city was largely eclipsed at this time by Akkad and very little
is known of this dynasty of kings. They were probably tributary
to Akkad, at least during the reign of Sargon and probably immediately
afterwards, too.
Extremely
lacking in detail, this is the eighth set of entries on the Sumerian
list comprising kings 55-58. Four kings ruled for (probably) 116
years (List 1), or three kings ruled for 582 / 578 years, or two
kings ruled for 120 + X years (List 2), or four kings ruled for
108 years (List 3).
c.2340
- ? BC :
(Name
unknown) / Nani / Nami :
Ruled for ?/120+x/54+x years.
(Name
unknown ) / Mec-ki-aj-Nanna
: Son. Ruled for ?/48
years.
(Name
unknown) : Ruled for ?/2/414
years.
?
- c.2340 BC :
(Name
unknown) : Ruled for ? years (not on all
lists).
Urim
(Ur) is defeated and the kingship is carried off to Adab.
Third
Dynasty :
c.2112 - 2004 BC
The
Third Dynasty was established by the former general, Ur-Nammu, replacing
Uruk's final dynasty as the leading Sumerian power. It rose to control
all of Mesopotamia, including the Assyrian city states to the north.
Viewed as the 'last great Sumerian renaissance', the region was
already becoming heavily settled by Amorites (Martu) who would found
the city state of Isin in circa 2017 and who would later
found Babylon. Although Ur re-established Sumerian as the primary
language, it was already on the way to becoming a purely literary
and liturgical language (just as Latin would later be in early modern
Europe). Ur also traded with the Indus Valley peoples of India.
Some
sources name Ur-gur (or Ur-Engur) and Dungi, who both rebuilt Naram-Sin's
temple work at Nippur, as kings of Ur around 3000 BC, while also
placing them as successors of Sargon and Naram-Sin of Agade. This
places them at no earlier than circa 2200 BC and ties them
in with the resurgence of Ur at this time. The probability is that
they were in fact Ur-Nammu and Shulgi.
This
is the nineteenth set of entries on the Sumerian list comprising
kings 120-124. Five kings ruled for 108 years (List 1), or four
kings ruled for 108 years, or five kings ruled for 117 / 120 + X
/ 123 years (List 2).
c.2112
- 2095 BC :
Ur-Nammu
/ Ur-Namma / (Ur-gur?) :
Ruled for 18 years. Founded the dynasty.
c.2113
BC :
Ur-Nammu
subjugates the kings of Kisurra, although vassal kings are allowed
to remain there. Ebla also falls under Ur's control.
![Ur-Nammu's ziggurrat](Sumer_Ur_Ziggurrat01_full.jpg)
Reconstruction
of Ur-Nammu's ziggurrat at Ur, from C L Woollley, 1936
c.2094
- 2047 BC :
Shulgi
/ Culgi / (Dungi) :
Son. Ruled for 48/46/48/58
years.
Shulgi
extends his father's empire to include all of the Assyrian city
states and their at-present non-Assyrian neighbours such as the
Lullubi. He also re-conquers Susa from Elam, and may be responsible
for finishing off rebuilding work at Nippur. The vassal kings of
Kisurra are removed entirely. In his twenty-sixth year, Shulgi attempts
to forge an alliance between himself and the king of Marhashi, giving
his daughter, Nialimmidashu, in marriage to the king.
c.2090s?
BC :
The
Old Testament provides a list of descendants from Noah to Abraham,
along with the ages of each descendant at the time his own son is
born. While many of those ages seem plausible, the earliest do not.
A rough calculation of about twenty to thirty years for each generation
supplies an approximate date of 2090 BC for Noah. His Israelite
descendants supposedly emigrate from Ur around 1750 BC, but while
there is no confirmation either way that they have previously been
long term residents of the city or its immediate environs, much
of their story probably comes from this region (including the Biblical
flood, which can be equated with the Sumerian Flood story).
c.2046
- 2038 BC :
Amar-Sin
/ Amar-Suena : Son. Ruled
for 9/25 years.
A
great renovator of Sumer's ancient sites, Amar-Sin apparently works
on the ziggurat at Eridu, although the city has to be abandoned
during his reign. Hamazi also becomes part of Ur's empire at this
time, while he has to campaign against Arwilukpi, the new king of
Marhashi.
c.2037
- 2029 BC :
Shu-Sin
/ Cu-Suen : Son. Ruled for
9/7/20+x/16 years.
Shu-Sin
gives a daughter in marriage to the Elamite prince of Anshan.
c.2028
- 2004 BC :
Ibbi-Sin
/ Ibbi-Suen : Son. Ruled for
24/25/15/23? years. Captured by the
Elamites.
c.2026
- 2025 BC :
Eshnunna
breaks away from Ur's control in the second year of Ibbi-Sin's reign,
while it seems that Larsa follows suit in the following year, becoming
at least semi-independent and forming its own line of kings. In
Anatolia, it is likely that a trading colony is established at Kanesh.
c.2017
BC :
As
with much of southern Mesopotamia, Ur is rapidly fading in power
and influence as harvests fail and the population declines. One
of Ibbi-Sin's officials takes the opportunity to move to the subject
city of Isin and create his own city state: 'then Urim was defeated.
The very foundation of Sumer was torn out. The kingship was taken
to Isin'.
![Ruins of Ur](Sumer_Ur_Digs02_full.jpg)
The
ruins of the once-vast city of Ur were excavated in 1922 by Sir
Leonard Wooley, which is when the Royal Tombs were discovered
c.2016
BC :
The province of Hamazi is occupied and plundered by Isin as the
empire collapses.
c.2013
BC :
The
final king of Kisurra is removed. Kazallu is conquered by Isin.
c.2004
BC :
The
waning Sumerian civilisation collapses when the Elamite king, Kindattu,
together with the people of Susa, sacks Ur and captures Ibbi-Sin.
The great brick mausoleums and temples of the third dynasty kings
are destroyed and the king carried off into captivity.
Isin claims the kingship.
Amorite
Rulers of Ur :
The
Amorites began to fill the void left by Sumer's collapse by assuming
control of former Sumerian cities such as Mari, and by establishing
powerful centralised kingdoms such as Babylonia. The Assyrians also
achieved temporary independence in Assur at the same time. Six years
after Ur's conquest by Elam, the city was seized by the successor
Amorite city state of Isin, which restored the temples, though Ur
was no longer a capital city. The small city state of Kazallu in
Akkad shares in the spoils of the victory.
This is also the period in which the early Semitic Israelites supposedly
became émigrés from southern Mesopotamia, after leaving the city
of Ur during the reign of Hammurabi. If not so at the beginning,
they soon became a confederation of tribes which initially settled
on the coast of the Dead Sea to form one or more small kingdoms
in Canaan.
c.1998
- 1920 BC :
Ur
is controlled by Isin, until the governor of Lagash (and Larsa)
forms his own independent state around 1920 BC, although the date
is only a rough estimate. Larsa also seizes Ur and controls it directly.
c.1920?
- 1906 BC :
Gungunum
: Governor of Lagash & Larsa. Seized Ur for
Larsa.
c.1920
- 1763 BC :
Ur
remains controlled by Larsa, until, in circa 1763 the latter
city is attacked and defeated by Hammurabi's Babylonian empire,
handing all of its subject cities to the Babylonians. Perhaps not
coincidentally, this is the dame period in which Terah leads his
people out of Ur to settle in Harran, a city far up and to the east
of the Euphrates, near the Hatti, where he dies. His son, Abraham,
inherits the leadership, and continues the migration of his group
into Canaan, where they settle as the early Israelites.
![Figurines from Ur](Sumer_Ur_Pottery02_full.jpg)
Animal
figurines from Ur, possibly bulls, decorated with paint alongside
a model probably resembling a gabled hut (right) from Tell al-'Ubaid
c.587
- 500 BC :
New
construction work is carried out at Ur under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar
II of the Neo-Babylonian empire. The last Babylonian king, Nabonidus,
also improves the ziggurat. However the city begins a decline
from around 550 BC, possibly as a result of the Euphrates changing
its course, and is abandoned after circa 500 BC, by which
time the Achaemenid Persians are in control of Mesopotamia. It
continues in use for some time as a necropolis. A record dated
at 324 BC mentions it as being inhabited by Arabs, but by that
time its existence as a great city had been forgotten.
The site remains largely intact, in archaeological terms, being
marked even today by the ruins of a ziggurat - a temple of Nanna,
the moon deity in Sumerian mythology - and by a settlement mound.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsMiddEast/
MesopotamiaUr.htm#
Third%20Dynasty