ENMERKER
![](Priest-king_from_Uruk,_Mesopotamia,_Iraq,_c._3000_BCE._The_Iraq_Museum_(transparent).png)
Priest-king
of Uruk from the Late Uruk Period
King
of the First dynasty of Uruk
Reign : c. 3400 - 3100 BC (Late Uruk Period)
Preceded by : Meshkiangasher
Succeeded by : Lugalbanda
Dynasty : Uruk I
Regnal
titles of Enmerker : Ruler of Sumer and King of Uruk
Enmerker
/ Enmerkar was an ancient Sumerian ruler to whom the construction
of Uruk and a 420-year reign was attributed. According to literary
sources, he led various campaigns against the land of Aratt.
Historical
king :
Late Uruk period :
The tradition of Enmerkar as the founder of Uruk seems to date from
the Jemdet Nasr period (3100-2900 BC) as found in the Ad-gi4 list.
The lexical list mentions Enmerkar and his wife Enmerkarzi as the
builders of a town and the bringers of agriculture. A bilingual
edition of the list has been found at Nineveh, indicating that the
tradition was transmitted into the first millennium.
Enmerkar
and (his) wife Enmerkar-zi,
who
know (how to build) towns (made) brick and brick pavements.
When
the yearly flood reached its proper level,
(they
made) irrigation canals and all kinds of irrigation ditches.
Despite
his proclaimed divine descent from the poems, Enmerkar was not deified
as his successors Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh. These two last kings
were already listed in the god lists of Shuruppak and received offerings
during the Ur III period (2112-2004 BC). It concluded that Enmerkar
was only remembered as the founder and first king of Uruk.
Expeditions
to Aratt :
Some scholars have looked for historical matter in the literature
deeds of Enmerkar and the land of Aratt. For example, an archaic
tablet from Uruk recording the title "Lord of Aratt" was
given as a reason to believe the traditions surrounding Enmerkar's
deeds were based in reality. Moreover, there are suggestions that
Enmerkar and his administration may be factually attributed as the
first person/people to put cuneiform to clay tablets; and that writing
did indeed exist before Enmerkar, citing the fact that the Lord
of Aratt understood the message, but those writing were previously
done in different materials.
However,
assyriologist Dina Katz states that any attempt to find a historical
explanation of the legendary account invalidates the claim that
Enmerkar invented the clay tablet and the writing system, and weakens
the important ideological purpose of the narrative. She further
notices that the poem claiming writing as an invention by the founder
of the first Sumerian city after the flood is a political and ethnic
statement.
Akkadian
Empire :
During the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad, the king accused Enmerkar
of not recording his experience on a stele, so as a consequence
he holds him responsible for a defeat in war and the devastation
of Akkad.
Matter
of Aratt :
The Matter of Aratt is a group of four narrative poems in Sumerian,
dealing with the various ways Enmerkar won supremacy over the legendary
city of Aratt. The main motif of all four poems is the defeat of
Aratt throughout the wilderness by nonmilitary means to win the
favor of the goddess Inanna. The cycle originated in the Ur III
period (2112-2004 BC) and were subjects of scribal schools from
Ur and Nippur during the Isin-Larsa period (2017-1763 BC). The poems,
aimed to praise the glorious past of Uruk, were a political movement
of the Third Dynasty of Ur to consolidate themselves as the legitimate
and spiritual heirs of the ancient rulers of Uruk.
Enmerkar
and the Lord of Aratt :
In Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratt, Enmerkar, king of Uruk, wants
to embellish his city with precious metals and stones, goods that
are only found in the wealthy city of Aratt, which lies behind the
mountains. Inanna, which is the goddess of Aratt, favors Enmerkar
and advises him to send a messenger with a challenge to Aratt, requisitioning
what he wants and enforcing his claim by stating that she favors
him. Enmerkar casts the spell of Nudimmud, which makes Enlil reunite
all the languages (of Shubur, Hamazi, Sumer, Akkad, and the Martu
land) into one in order to be debates between kings. The lord of
Aratt refuses but wants to enter into a contest with Enmerkar to
see on which side Inanna lay. The unnamed lord of Aratt sends three
riddles to reconsider his submission:
•
To cart grain to Aratt in open nets instead of bags, Enmerkar uses
sprouting barley to close the interstices of the nets so that no
grain is spilled.
• To bring a scepter made of no existing material, Enmerkar
prepares a gluelike plastic substance that he pours into a hollow
reed; after it has hardened, he breaks away the reed mold.
• To bring a dog of no known color to fight his own dog, to
which Enmerkar weaves a cloth of no known color.
The messenger complains that the messages have become too long and
difficult to remember and reproduce.
Enmerkar invents writing, which throws the lord of Aratt into despair.
The land of Aratt suffers famine and drought. Inanna confirms her
predilection for Enmerkar but also tells him to institute peaceful
trade with Aratt from now on.
Enmerkar
and Ensuhgirana :
Ensuhgirana, lord of Aratt, claims to be the recipient of Inanna's
favors and demands the submission of Uruk. Enmerkar refuses and
points out that he is the only true and constant lover of Inanna,
however, the lord of Aratt refuses to submit to Uruk. A sorcerer
from Hamazi offers his services to break the stalemate, services
which are accepted by Enshugirana. The wizard casts a spell on the
cattle of the goddess Nisaba, and there is a famine in Sumer. Utu
sends a wise woman who catches up with the wizard on the banks of
the Euphrates, both start a competition of magic. The wizard throws
fish spawn in the river and draws out an animal; five times the
wise woman draws out another animal which hunts the wizard's animal.
The wizard admits his defeat and pleads for his life, but he is
killed and the spell is broken. Ensuhgirana admits defeat and submits
to Enmerkar.
Lugalbanda
poems :
In the lugalbanda poems(Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave and Lugalbanda
and the Anzud Bird or a version that is a mixture of both) Enmerkar
marches against Aratt, his warchief Lugalbanda falls ill and is
abandoned in a cave. He feasts Anzud's chick and gains the legendary
bird's favor. Lugalbanda is rewarded with the gift of speed and
goes to Enmerkar, who is laying siege to Aratt. The king sends Lugalbanda
to ask for Inanna's advice in Uruk, which does. At the end, Aratt
submits. The text also mentions that fifty years into Enmerkar's
reign, the Martu people had arisen in all of Sumer and Akkad, necessitating
the building of a wall in the desert to protect Uruk.
Later
influence :
In antiquity :
In a much later Greek legend related by Aelian (ca. AD 200), the
king of Babylon, Euechoros or Seuechoros (also appearing in many
variants as Sevekhoros, earlier Sacchoras, etc.), is said to be
the grandfather of Gilgamos, who later becomes king of Babylon (i.e.,
Gilgamesh of Uruk). Several recent scholars have suggested that
this "Seuechoros" or "Euechoros" is moreover
to be identified with Enmerkar of Uruk, as well as the fictional
Euechous named by Berossus as being the first king of Chaldea and
Assyria. This last name Euechous (also appearing as Evechius, and
in many other variants) has, along with a number of other fictional
and real Mesopotamian rulers, been identified with the historically
unattested biblical figure of Nimrod.
Identification
as Nimrod :
The historian David Rohl has claimed parallels between Enmerkar,
builder of Uruk, and Nimrod, ruler of biblical Erech (Uruk), who,
according to some extra-biblical legends, was supposedly the architect
of the Tower of Babel. One parallel Rohl has noted is between the
epithet "the Hunter", applied to Nimrod, and the suffix
-kar at the end of Enmerkar's name, which means "hunter".
Rohl has also argued that Eridu near Ur is the original site of
the city of Babel and that the incomplete ziggurat found there is
none other than the Biblical tower itself.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enmerkar