SUMER
(KI-EN-GIR)
Sumer
was one of the first great civilisations, emerging slightly ahead
of that of Ancient Egypt and up to a millennium before that of the
Indus Valley culture. Located in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq),
by the late fourth millennium BC Sumer (or Ki-en-gir, 'Land of the
Sumerian tongue'), was divided into approximately a dozen city states
which were independent of one another and which used local canals
and boundary stones to mark their borders.
Many
early events are found only in the Sumerian king list, which lists
the rulers of the Mesopotamian city states, and one which was updated
until about two centuries after the fall of Sumer. Ranging from
legendary early names (backed in lilac and which may still have
a basis in historical fact), to the later fully-historical dynasties
which are confirmed by archaeology, the list records many names
and lengths of rule (exceptionally long where the legendary rulers
are concerned), but omits others. It also lists some contemporaneous
dynasties as if they followed each other, suggesting that the kingship
which was handed down by the gods could only be passed to another
city through military conquest.
FeatureThere
are at least four different translations which sometimes agree and
sometimes disagree on the names of rulers and their (legendary)
lengths of rule. Here, for kings listed after the flood, List 1
(Samuel Kramer) is primarily used. For the most part, List 2 (JA
Black, et al) and List 4 (LC Gerts) seem to agree with one another,
so the latter is omitted here. Where List 2 and List 3 (Michael)
provide a noticeably different translation from List 1, the data
is shown here in the respective text colours. List 1 is used exclusively
for pre-Flood kings. Some additional data comes from the WB-62 translation
of the list.
The
Sumerian lugals (or kings, a title which long outlived the Sumerians
themselves) exercised power in eleven cities in southern Mesopotamia
(according to the Sumerian king list). This amounted to a total
of 134 kings (MS P4+Ha has 139), who altogether ruled for 28,876
+ X years (MS P4+Ha has 3,443 + X years). While the lengths of rule
for the semi-legendary kings are calculated on a scale which makes
them appear fanciful, the names themselves probably reflect real
rulers.
Kings
Before the Flood :
The
Sumerians were a non-Semitic people who may have moved southwards
into Mesopotamia in the mid-fifth millennium BC, although archaeological
evidence suggests a cultural continuity that originates them in
central Mesopotamia. From there they drifted into the south and
gradually started to develop the area. The earliest document describing
that Sumerian invention, the wheel, dates to circa 3500 BC. It may
have existed shortly before that, in a largely experimental fashion
that did not initially generate a large-scale adoption, but the
wheel certainly existed by this date, and its use exploded across
the ancient world, even reaching the comparatively isolated proto-Indo-Europeans
within a century or so.
Something
less obvious to many is that cannabis may have travelled in the
opposite direction - from the Pontic-Caspian steppes to Mesopotamia.
Greek kdnnabis and proto-Germanic *baniptx seem to be related to
the Sumerian kuriibu. Sumerian died out as a widely spoken language
after around 2000 BC, so the connection (probably with the Maikop
culture and Yamnaya horizon) must have been a very ancient one.
The international trade of the Late Uruk period (c.3300-3100 BC)
provides a suitable context for this trade.
FeatureThe
king list states that eight kings in five cities ruled for 241,200
years before the Flood swept over the land. Their reigns are measured
in sars - periods of 3600 years - and in ners - units of 600, and
one suggestion is that these should be converted into years and
months (those calculations are shown in the list in brackets). A
very different, and controversially non-scientific theory concerns
the Diatonic G-Scale Factor 9 (via the link, right).
(Additional
information from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age
Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David
W Anthony.)
The
Sumerian city states rise to power during the prehistoric Ubaid
and Uruk periods (5300-2900 BC), but the historical record only
begins to emerge with the Early Dynastic period from circa 2900-2334
BC, although it remains rather thin until the Lagash Dynasty period
begins in circa 2550 BC.
The
early city states of Sumer in order of ascendance are as follows:
Eridu, Bad-Tibira, Larak, Sippar, Shuruppak, and Nippur (usually
without a kingship of its own). Other ante-diluvian cities exist,
but without any known kingships of their own. Instead these flourish
later.
![](Sumer_Temple01_full.jpg)
Reconstruction
of a Sumerian temple
City
State of Eridu / Eridug :
Situated
seven miles south-west of the later city of Ur, Eridu was said to
be one of the five cities built before the Flood. According to Sumerian
mythology, Eridu was founded by the Sumerian deity named Enki, later
known by the Akkadians as Ea, god of water and wisdom. It seems
to have made the step up from being a village around 4000 BC, after
about a thousand years of local habitation. By the time of its kings
(roughly 3000-2900 BC) it had grown into a substantial city of mud
brick and reed houses. It was also home to the oldest known temples,
dating from the mid-sixth millennium.
According
to the king list, Eridu was host to the First Kingship (of Sumer,
before the Flood). 'When kingship was first handed down from Heaven,
the city of Eridu was chosen as the seat of kingship.' A total of
two kings ruled for 64,800 years, once (one dynasty) in Eridu and
then the kingship was removed to Bad-tibira.
Alulim
: Ruled
for 28,800 years (8 years?).
Alalgar
:
Ruled for 36,000 years (10 years?).
c.2045
BC :
By
this point, perhaps a millennium after hosting the kingship, the
city has declined, although Amar-Sin of Ur attempts to rebuild the
ziggurat. In fact much of the region is in decline in this period
as it apparently undergoes a climate-induced collapse. Uruk has
been struck and defeated by the Gutians at the same time as they
have destroyed Agade and carried off the Sumerian kingship. Egypt
is similarly affected, as is Anatolia (in city states which include
Hatti), and Syria (such as in Tuba).
As
far as Eridu is concerned, the city is abandoned during the reign
of Amar-Sin of Ur as salinity problems have made agricultural pursuits
in this region unprofitable. There is little evidence of occupation
after this date.
City
State of Bad-tibira :
Second
of the pre-Flood city states, Bad-Tibira (with a probable modern
location at Tell al-Madain) was situated on the Iturungal Canal,
below Umma. The Bible mentions it as Tubal. The city's main god
was Lulal, while the city's temple was E-mush-kalamma, which was
mentioned in the tale, Inanna's Descent to the Underworld. Bad-Tibira
seems to have greatly lost its importance after the Flood, although
it was known by the Greeks as Panti-Biblos.
According
to the Sumerian king list, a total of three kings ruled for 108,000
years, once (one dynasty) in Bad-tibira and then the kingship was
removed to Larak. A later version of the list written in Larsa in
the Gutian or Third Dynasty of Ur period, inserts Kichu-Ana as the
second king in the sequence. Perhaps this king had been omitted
from other lists for political reasons.
Enmenluanna
/ (En-Men-Lu-Ana) : Ruled for 43,200 years (12 years?).
Founded the city.
(En-Men-Ana
/ Kichu-Ana of Larsa) : (From the WB-62 list. Some versions
swap him for Kichu-Ana.)
Enmengalanna
/ (En-Men-Gal-Ana) : Ruled for 28,800 years (8 years?).
City
State of Larak / Larag :
The
location of Larak has not been identified, but it is believed that
the city was on the west bank of the Tigris to the east of Kish.
Its patron deity was Pabilsag, god of the trees.
According
to the Sumerian king list, one king ruled for 28,000 years, once
(one dynasty) in Larak and then the kingship was removed to Sippar.
Ensipazianna
/ (En-Sipad-Zid-Ana) : Ruled
for 28,000 years (8 years?).
City
State of Sippar / Zimbir :
Evidence
shows that Sippar was occupied from the Uruk Period (3900-2900 BC),
although there were actually two cities named Sippar. This one (modern
Tell Abu Habbah) was a dual city, half of which was under the protection
of the sun-god Utu of Sippar (Shamash in Akkadian), and half under
the goddess, Anunit. Sippar is known as Sepharvaim in the Old Testament,
which alludes to the city in its dual form. Another Sippar was probably
situated to the north, close to or part of early Agade.
According
to the Sumerian king list, one king ruled for 21,000 years, once
(one dynasty) in Sippar and then Sippar was abandoned and the kingship
was removed to Shuruppak.
![Sumerian lion head finial from Sippar](Sumer_Sippar_Pottery01_full.jpg)
Gypsum
lion head finial, possibly from the throne of a votive statue of
Early Dynastic III at Sippar, about 2500 BC. The Sumerian word for
'king' ('lugal') is inscribed on one side
fl
c. 2820 BC :
Enmeduranna
/ (En-Men-Dur-Ana)
: Ruled for 21,000 years (5.8 years?).
fl
c.1900? BC :
A
short dynasty of Amorite rulers appears to gain control in Sippar.
Altinu'u
: Possibly seized the throne.
Bunu-tahtun-ila
ImmerumSin-bani
by
c.1792 BC :
The
city has been conquered by the early kings of Babylon.
1174
BC :
Kutir-Nahhunte
III, king of Elam and conqueror of Babylon, sacks the city.
c.675
- 640 BC :
Achaemenes
(Hakhamanish)'King of Anshan'. Vassal of the Medes.
481
BC :
A
revolt against the Achaemenid Persian king, Xerxes, is put down.
All activities in the Sippar temple seem to cease after this date.
City
State of Shuruppak / Curuppag :
Shuruppak
began life near the beginning of the Jemdet Nasr Period (3100-2900
BC), which ended with the Flood. The city was located at modern
Tell Fa'rah, situated to the south of Nippur on the banks of the
Euphrates. It was also known as Curuppag ('the healing place').
Dedicated to Sud (who was also called Ninlil), the goddess of grain
and the air, it became a grain storage and distribution city, with
more silos than any other Sumerian city.
According
to the Sumerian king list, one king ruled for 18,600 years, once
(one dynasty) in Shuruppak and then the Flood came.
fl
c. 2810 BC :
Ubartutu
/ (Su-Kur-Lam?) : Ruled
for 18,600 years (5.17 years?) / (8 years, from WB-62 list.)
fl
c. 2800 BC :
(Ziusudra
/ Zin-Suddu) : (Son of Su-Kur-Lam. On the WB-62 list: 10
years).
c.2800
BC :
The
Flood ends the ante-diluvian Jemdet Nasr Period in Sumer.
c.2000
BC :
Probably
part of the holdings of Ur until its collapse, by this point the
city has already been abandoned.
Kings
After the Flood :
FeatureThe
Sumerian myth of Ziusudra exists in a single copy, the fragmentary
Eridu Genesis. This is datable by its script to the seventeenth
century BC, with a version later being adapted in Babylon, and then
in the Old Testament, compiled in the sixth century BC and changing
the name of Ziusudra to the Israelite ancestor figure of Noah (see
feature link, right, for details from the perspective of Noah).
It tells how the god Enki warns Ziusudra, king (or prince, or noble)
of Shuruppak, of the gods' decision to destroy mankind in a flood
(the passage describing why the gods have decided to do this has
been lost). Enki instructs Ziusudra to build a large boat (the instructions
for which were also thought lost until the chance discovery of a
tablet that revealed them. Dated to around 2000 BC and translated
in 2013, it laid out instructions for a massive, round, coracle-like
boat). After a flood of seven days, Ziusudra makes appropriate sacrifices
and prostrations to An (the sky-god) and Enlil (chief of the gods),
and is given eternal life in Dilmun (the Sumerian Eden) by Anu and
Enlil.
FeatureThe
Sumerian king list also mentions a great flood, and excavations
in Iraq have shown evidence of a flood which left deposits at Shuruppak,
Uruk and Kish somewhere between 2900-2750 BC. This flood should
not be confused with the Black Sea flooding event, which occurred
around two thousand years earlier (see link, right). The king of
Kish, Etana, supposedly founded the first post-diluvian Sumerian
dynasty: 'after the Flood, the kingship was handed down from Heaven
a second time, this time to the city of Kish which became the seat
of kingship.'
The
flood may have been no worse than that experienced in south-western
England during summer 2007, but to a purely agrarian society it
may have seemed like the end of the world. Fields and crops would
have been covered by water which may well have taken weeks to drain,
leaving the annual harvest largely destroyed. It would have been
a major event that was well-worth remembering by subsequent generations.
The
kingship is given for a second time to Kish, and then it passes
onto a succession of city states who each claim it in turn, according
to the king list.
The
Sumerian flood story includes a depiction of a large vessel which
is packed with various objects and, presumably, animals, clearly
showing a basis for the later Old Testament flood story of Noah
and the ark
Sumerians
continue to control southern Mesopotamia. The major city states
are: Adab, Agade (Akkad), Bad-Tibira, Borsippa, Eridu, Girsu, Isin,
Kish, Lagash, Larsa, Mari, Nippur, Shuruppak, Ur, and Uruk (Eanna).
The
minor city states are: Akshak, Awan, Dilbat, Eshnunna, Hamazi, Kisiga,
Kisurra, Kutha, Larak, Marad, Sippar, Umma, Zabala, and Zimbir.
Sumerian
domination of southern Mesopotamia comes to the end with the rise
of the Akkadian empire in circa 2334 BC. Following the Gutian period,
there is a brief 'Sumerian renaissance' at Ur in the twenty-second
century BC, but this is cut short in circa 2004 BC by an Elamite
invasion. The Elamites are pushed out six years later by the Amorites.
Their dynasties in Isin and Larsa persist until circa 1763 BC when
Mesopotamia is united under the rule of the Amorite Babylonian empire.
Other
Mesopotamian Cities :
Not
all cities in Sumerian Mesopotamia, or further north, were the seats
of kings, whether independent or subjects, even though they were
well-known and possibly played important roles in Sumerian history.
(Additional
information from External Link: US Central Command Cultural Property
Training Resource.)
City
of Borsippa (Mesopotamia) :
FeatureOne
of the more important cities in Sumer was built on either side of
a lake roughly 17.7km (11 miles) south-west of Babylon. Borsippa,
(modern Birs Nimrud) is tied in with Nimrod and the Tower of Babel,
thanks to its own ancient tower which reached a height of 70m (231ft)
when it was new. During the Third Dynasty Period of Ur, Borsippa
was usually mentioned in connection with Babylon, being dependent
upon it.
![Early Bronze Age pottery](BronzeAge_Pottery01_full.jpg)
This
fragment of Early Bronze Age pottery was produced in Mesopotamia
around 3000 BC, as the early city-building movement there began
to accelerate towards large-scale city states and a recorded history
City
of Girsu (Mesopotamia) :
The
city of Girsu (modern Telloh) was located approximately 25 km north-west
of Lagash. It may have been inhabited during the Ubaid Period (5300-3900
BC), but the main settlement dates to the Early Dynastic IIIb Period
(2500-2334 BC). During the reign of Gudea of Lagash, the city formed
the capital of the realm, and it continued as Lagash's religious
centre after political power had shifted to Lagash. Girsu lost all
importance after the Third Dynasty of Ur, but remained inhabited
until the 2nd century BC.
City
of Kutha / Kutu (Mesopotamia) :
The
minor city of Kutha (modern Tell Ibrahim) was situated on the right
bank of the eastern branch of the Upper Euphrates, north of Nippur.
Its patron deity was Nergal, the king of the Underworld.
Kutha
may be connected to the Cuthah of the Old Testament, in II Kings,
and Cuth in II Kings.
City
of Uzarlulu (Mesopotamia) :
Another
minor city was that of Uzarlulu (modern Tell al-Dhiba'i, on the
outskirts of Baghdad). It had its own temple, administrative centre,
and living quarters, all of which have been unearthed by archaeologists.
Hundreds of tablets have been found (including a later mathematical
text of the Pythagorus theory). Uzarlulu was also home to probably
one of the best examples of a coppersmith workshop.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsMiddEast/
MesopotamiaSumer.htm
#Shuruppak