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119-608: According to the Sumerian King List , a dynasty from Awan exerted hegemony in Sumer after defeating the First Dynasty of Ur , probably in the 25th century BC. It mentions three Awan kings, who supposedly reigned for a total of 356 years. Their names have not survived on the extant copies, apart from the partial names of the second and third kings, "...Lu" and Ku-ul...", who it says ruled for 36 years. This information

238-477: A " Luh-ishan king of Elam, son of Hishiprashini", and mentions plunder seized from Awan, among other places. Luhi-ishan is the eighth king on the Awan king list, while his father's name "Hishiprashini" is a variant of that of the ninth listed king, Hishepratep - indicating either a different individual, or if the same, that the order of kings on the Awan king list has been jumbled. Sargon's son and successor, Rimush ,

357-400: A "fierce power". "If a man begat sons, divorced his wife and married another, that man shall be uprooted from the house and property and may go after whom he loves. His wife (on the other hand) she claims the house." The Laws of Eshnunna consist of two tablets, found at Shaduppum (Tell Harmal) and a fragment found at Tell Haddad, the ancient Mê-Turan . They were written sometime around

476-498: 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

595-540: A campaign against Qabra, and Shamshi-Adad and Dadusha's recount of the events were recorded in the Mardin stela and Dadusha stela respectively. The victory over Qabra was celebrated in the following year name of Dadusha, although the king would later die in the same year. Negotiations with Dadusha's successor Ibal-pi-El II proved difficult for Shamshi-Adad, and envoys from Eshnunna continued to come to Shamshi-Adad's kingdom to negotiate an agreement years later. Later, during

714-436: A campaign of devastation throughout northern Sumer, seizing such important cities as Eshnunna . When he finally conquered Akkad he was declared king of the four quarters, owner of the known world. Later, Ur-Nammu of Ur , founder of the 3rd dynasty of Ur defeated Elam, ending the dynasty of Awan. Kutik-Inshushinak's work was not only as a conqueror; he created Elam's organization and the administrative structure. He extended

833-492: 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

952-500: A diplomatic marriage with Elam , giving his daughter Me-Kubi to Tan-Ruhuratir. The name of Kirikiri is non-Semitic, and possibly Elamite. Bilalama attempted to maintain good relationships with Ilum-muttabbil of Der and Elam, although Der and Elam were at war. Bilalama was succeeded by Ishar-ramassu. The palace was then destroyed in a fire, which may have been the result of a foreign invasion. Ilum-mutabbil of Der may have taken Eshnunna and replaced Ishar-ramassu with Usur-awasu, which if

1071-463: 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

1190-407: 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

1309-585: A few thousand troops, likely because they were attacked by Halmam. Zimri-Lim then successfully sieged Andarig and took the city. The Yaminites also attacked Mari at this time, and Charpin suggested that there was a plan to have the Eshnunnian army and the Yaminites meet, although it wasn't successful. After Mari took back Andarig, they began peace talks, although several groups in Mari were against concluding

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1428-567: A geometric style, were found in the Square Temple; these are known as the Tell Asmar Hoard . They are some of the best known examples of ancient Near East sculpture. The group, now split up, show gods, priests and donor worshipers at different sizes, but all in the same highly simplified style. All have greatly enlarged inlaid eyes, but the tallest figure, the main cult image depicting the local god, has enormous eyes that give it

1547-533: A high position in international relations, and eventually Siwe-palar-huppak asked both Mari and Babylon for support against Eshnunna in Zimri-Lim's 7th year, which both obliged. Durand recently suggested that Eshnunna may have acted as an agent of Elam prior to Ibal-pi-El, which means that the Elamite invasion of Eshnunna was essentially an act against a rogue vassal. However, eventually an anti-Elamite coalition

1666-517: 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

1785-571: A letter sent to Zimri-Lim (Zimri-Lim's Mari is likely not mentioned because it is taken for granted): "No king is truly powerful just on his own: ten to fifteen kings follow Hammurabi of Babylon, as many follow Rim-Sin of Larsa, as many follow Ibal-pi-El of Eshnunna, and as many follow Amut-pi-El of Qatna; but twenty kings follow Yarim-Lim of Yamhad" Later, between Zimri-Lim's 7th year and 9th year, contact with Elam increased with gift exchanges going both sides, with Mari receiving tin on multiple occasions. The sukkalmah of Elam had henceforth occupied

1904-738: 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

2023-699: A palace from the Akkadian period were also excavated. Much effort was also put into the search for E-sikil, temple of Tishpak, without success. In records written in Sumerian the temple is dedicated to Ninazu while those in Akkadian refer to Tishpak. Despite the length of time since the excavations at Tell Asmar, the work of examining and publishing the remaining finds from that dig continues to this day. These finds include, terracotta figurines, toys, necklaces, cylinder seals, and roughly 200 clay sealings and around 1,750 cuneiform tablets (about 1000 of which came from

2142-409: A peace treaty with Eshnunna, with the most famous case being a line from an oracle of Dagan being relayed to Zimri-Lim in three different tablets, that "beneath straw runs water." In particular, Inib-shina (priestess and sister of Zimri-Lim) directly connects the oracle with the king of Eshnunna, and mentions that Dagan will destroy Ibal-pi-El. Lupakhum, someone also connected with the god Dagan, gave

2261-434: 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

2380-446: 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 ,

2499-414: A steep and mountainous area, was never reached by Akkad. The Elamites remained a major source of tension, that would contribute to destabilizing the Akkadian state, until it finally collapsed under Gutian pressure. When the Akkadian empire started to break down around 2240 BC, it was Kutik-Inshushinak (or Puzur-Inshushinak), the governor of Susa on behalf of Akkad, who liberated Awan and Elam, ascending to

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2618-605: A straight line east of Baqubah . It was first located by Henri Pognon in 1892 but he neglected to report the location before he died in 1921. It was refound, after antiquities from the site began to appear in dealers shops in Baghdad, and excavated in six seasons between 1930 and 1936 by an Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen , Pinhas Delougaz, Gordon Loud, and Seton Lloyd . The expedition's field secretary

2737-494: A temple to Shu-Sin in a new lower town. Soon after Shu-Sin's death, Ituria was followed by his son Shu-iliya, who in 2026 BCE got rid of the Ur III calendar and replaced it with a local one. He also stopped calling himself the ensi (governor) of Eshnunna, instead referring to himself as lugal (king) and "beloved of Tishpak ". His seal also mentioned the deities Belat-Shuhnir and Belat-Terraban. His personal seal shows him facing

2856-424: A vague warning about Eshnunna, and reprimanded the goddess Dērītum for counting on a peace treaty with Eshnunna. Regardless, Zimri-Lim signed the treaty with the king of Eshnunna. With the treaty between Zimri-Lim and Ibal-pi-El in Zimri-Lim's 5th year, Mari was able to keep Hit, and Rapiqum was given to Babylon. By the 6th year of Zimri-Lim, then the geopolitical situation had grown very complicated, as shown in

2975-447: 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

3094-460: 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,

3213-402: 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

3332-422: Is not considered reliable, but it does suggest that Awan had political importance in the 3rd millennium BC. A royal list found at Susa gives 12 names of the kings in the Awan dynasty. The twelve kings of Awan given in the list are: Pieli , Tari/ip , Ukkutahieš , Hišur , Šušuntarana , Na-?-pilhuš , Kikkutanteimti , Luhhiššan , Hišepratep , Hielu?, Hita-Idaddu-napir , Puzur-Inšušinak . The twelve kings of

3451-588: 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

3570-634: 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

3689-554: Is recorded in a tablet addressed to Enetarzi, a minor ruler or governor of Lagash, testifying that a party of 600 Elamites had been intercepted and defeated while attempting to abscond from the port with plunder. Events become a little clearer at the time of the Akkadian Empire (c. 2300 BC), when historical texts tell of campaigns carried out by the kings of Akkad on the Iranian plateau . Sargon of Akkad boasted of defeating

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3808-485: Is said to have conquered Elam, defeating its king who is named as Emahsini. Emahsini's name does not appear on the Awan king list, but the Rimush inscriptions claim that the combined forces of Elam and Warahshe , led by General Sidgau, were defeated at a battle "on the middle river between Awan and Susa". Scholars have adduced a number of such clues that Awan and Susa were probably adjoining territories. With these defeats,

3927-594: 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

4046-729: 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 ),

4165-515: The Diyala Valley northwest of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu. It is sometimes, in archaeological papers, called Ashnunnak or Tuplias. The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak (Tišpak) though other gods, including Sin , Adad , and Inanna of Kiti ( Kitītum ) were also worshiped there. The personal goddesses of the rulers were Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban . Inhabited since

4284-675: The Jemdet Nasr period , around 3000 BC, Eshnunna was a major city during the Early Dynastic period of Mesopotamia. It is known, from cuneiform records and excavations, that the city was occupied in the Akkadian period though its extent was noticeably less than it reached in Ur III times. Areas of the Northern Palace date to this period and show some of the earliest examples of widespread sewage disposal engineering including toilets in private homes. The first known rulers of

4403-444: 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

4522-492: 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,

4641-471: 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

4760-472: 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

4879-541: 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

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4998-543: The Shimashki Dynasty are: Girnamme, Tazitta, Ebarti, Tazitta, Lu?-x-luuhhan, Kindattu , Idaddu, Tan-Ruhurater, Ebarti, Idaddu, Idaddu-Temti. As there are very few other sources for this period, most of these names are not certain. Little more of these kings' reigns is known, but Elam seems to have kept up a heavy trade with the Sumerian city-states during this time, importing mainly foods, and exporting cattle, wool, slaves and silver, among other things. A text of

5117-408: 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

5236-409: The 10th year of Zimri-Lim. Later, the new king of Eshnunna blocked messengers between Elam and Babylon when the two were trying to reestablish relationships, which likely resulted in a rise in tension between Babylon and Eshnunna. Silli-Sin would later send a letter telling Ishme-Dagan and Hammurabi of Kurda to not send troops to Babylon even if asked and even tried to ask Zimri-Lim to do the same, but

5355-437: The 11th year name of Hammurabi, which celebrated his conquest of Rapiqum. Rapiqum was, however, conquered by Dadusha and then Ibal-pi-El II. Eventually, through the ambitions of both Sumu-la-El of Babylon and Ipiq-Adad II a line of demarcation between the two kingdoms was formed, running somewhere along Sippar-Amnanum. The boundary line changed multiple times after that, with Apil-Sin conquering Ashtabala and other cities along

5474-429: The 12th century BC the Elamite ruler Shutruk-Nakhunte conquered Eshnunna and carried back a number of statues, ranging from the Akkadian period to the Old Babylonian period, to Susa. Because of its promise of control over lucrative trade routes, Eshnunna could function somewhat as a gateway between Mesopotamian and Elamite culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic, sought-after goods such as horses from

5593-422: 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

5712-558: The Abu Temple at Tell Asmar (Eshnunna) went through a number of phases. This included the Early Dynastic Archaic Shrine, Square Temple, and Single-Shrine phases of construction. They, along with sculpture found there, helped form the basis for the three part archaeological separation of the Early Dynastic period into ED I, ED II, and ED III for the ancient Near East. A cache of 12 gypsum temple sculptures, in

5831-672: 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

5950-776: 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

6069-522: 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

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6188-414: The Old Babylonian dialect of the Akkadian language , termed "archaic Old Babylonian". They are roughly in two groups a) earlier primarily from the reigns of Bilalama, Nur-ahum and Kirikiri and b) later primarily from the reigns of Usur-awassu, Ur-Ninmar, and Ipiq-Adad I. From 2001 until 2002, Iraqi archaeologists worked at Tell Asmar. Excavation focused on an area of private houses in the southern part of

6307-475: 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

6426-642: 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 Eshnunna Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate , Iraq ) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian ) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali . Although situated in

6545-595: The Tigris, which was reversed by Naram-Sin of Eshnunna. Naram-Sin, the successor of Ipiq-Adad II, also continued to use the divine determinative before his name and used similar ambitious epithets. Naram-Sin was also mentioned in Assyrian King List in the section on Shamshi-Adad, being the one who forced Shamshi-Adad into exile. The Laws of Eshnunna and the building of the Naram-Sin audience hall were from

6664-492: The Yaminite chief Yaggih-Addu took Assur and Ekallatum, and the event was described in a letter to Zimri-Lim how "Assur, Ekallatum and Eshnunna have now become one house." Ishme-Dagan seemed to have left the capital to go to Babylon before Ekallatum was invaded. Eshnunna succeeded in capturing Shubat-Enlil, which seemed to have caused the submission of several kings in the region to Eshnunna. Eshnunna laid siege to Kurda after

6783-660: The agreement satisfactory, as he wanted to control the Suhum, and rejected the offer. The need to evacuate people from the Suhum in the 2nd year of Zimri-Lim could imply a renewed offensive by Eshnunna. Mari and Eshnunna would be at war between the 3rd year and the 5th year of Zimri-Lim. Eshnunna captured Rapiqum in the 3rd year of Zimri-Lim, which was celebrated in Ibal-pi-El's 9th year name. Later Ibal-pi-El sent an ultimatum to Zimri-Lim that he would take Shubat-Enlil . The army of Eshnunna, lead by former king of Allahad Atamrum and

6902-514: The border of their respective kingdoms at Harradum and to renew the relationship between Mari and Eshnunna from the time of the Mariote king Yahdun-Lim. He informed his benefactor Yarim-Lim, king of Yamhad (Aleppo) that although Eshnunna wanted to forge an alliance, Zimri-Lim always turned the envoys down, which may not have been the case as there were several discussions between him and Eshnunna during this time. Ultimately, Zimri-Lim did not consider

7021-479: The case would have meant that Der had attempted to break up the alliance between Elam and Eshnunna. The reigns of the successors Azuzum, Ur-Ninmarki and Ur-Ningishzida appeared to have been peaceful. There followed a period of political uncertainty in the Diyala. Ipiq-adad II was the first king of Eshnunna to put the divine determinative before the name since Shu-Iliya, and took on the titles "mighty king" "king of

7140-424: 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

7259-473: The city rejected the peace offerings, but they failed the siege and had to fall back to Andarig. They also supported the Yaminites against Zimri-Lim, who had to deal with a revolt by them earlier in his reign. Zimri-Lim, in his 4th year, stayed at Ashlakka for a while, a city which he took in his 3rd year, likely using the city as a base of operations to attack the Eshnunnian army. Then, Eshnunna withdrew from Shubat-Enlil leaving Yanuh-Samar behind as king with

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7378-559: The city were a series of vassal governors under the Third dynasty of Ur . Eshnunna may have had special relationships to the royal family. For example, Shulgi's wife Shulgi-Simtum showed devotion to two goddesses closely connected with the governor's dynasty at Eshnunna, and Shu-Sin's uncle Babati temporarily lived in Eshnunna. Ituria is attested as the governor of Eshnunna under Ur from at least Su-Sun year 9 to Ibbi-Sin year 2. He erected

7497-537: 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

7616-440: 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

7735-509: The eponym of Nimer-Sin, Shamshi-Adad's troops would join Eshnunna and Babylon's in a campaign against Malgium. After the death of Shamshi-Adad, his kingdom split into two with Ishme-Dagan as king in Ekallatum and Yasmah-Addu as king in Mari . However, Zimri-Lim would take the throne of Mari and Yasmah-Addu would disappear. Ibal-pi-El entered negotiations with Zimri-Lim, proposing to draw

7854-424: 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

7973-413: 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

8092-427: 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

8211-507: The four quarters, Shu-iliya (is) his...". Kirikiri then ousted Nur-ahum from power. Not having ties to the previous ruler, he was likely an usurper, and a fire destroyed the northwestern part of the Su-Sin temple. However, he still called himself “ensi of Eshnunna” on behalf of Tishpak. An alternative view is that Kirikiri was actually the brother of Nur-ahum. Kirikiri established a new line of rulers with his son Bilalama. Bilalama formed

8330-413: 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

8449-445: The god Tishpak, who is holding a rod and ring in one hand and an axe in the other while standing on two subdued enemies. After the fall of the Ur III empire there was a period of chaos in Akkad with numerous city-states vying for power. Eshnunna was briefly seized by Subartu who may have ousted Shu-iliya. Ishbi-Erra (in his 9th year, circa 2010 BC) of the southern Mesopotamia city of Isin defeated Subartu and installed Nur-ahum as

8568-600: 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

8687-447: The king of Eshnunna his lord. Dadusha, the king of Eshnunna during this time, also sent an invitation to Hammurabi of Babylon to join him in the expedition to Maniksum, which Hammurabi refused. Dadusha also launched an offensive to the middle-Euphrates, but Ishme-Dagan reassured Yasmah-Addu that there are plans for a counter-attack. A peace treaty was eventually signed between Shamshi-Adad and Dadusha. Both would eventually cooperate in

8806-427: 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

8925-442: 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

9044-498: 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

9163-505: 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

9282-563: The low-lying, westerly parts of Elam became a vassal of Akkad, centred at Susa . This is confirmed by a document of great historical value, a peace treaty signed between Naram-Sin of Akkad and an unnamed king or governor of Awan, probably Khita or Helu. It is the oldest document written in Elamite cuneiform that has been found. Although Awan was defeated, the Elamites were able to avoid total assimilation. The capital of Anshan , located in

9401-554: 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

9520-469: The messenger was intercepted and the incident was reported to Zimri-Lim. Troops from Mari were still stationed in Babylonian territory from the previous war with Elam, and Zimri-Lim wished to recover those. Hammurabi, when asked later to send the troops back to Mari, cited concerns with Eshnunna as the reason for why he was reluctant to do so. Charpin suggests that the territorial demands from Hammurabi

9639-418: 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

9758-422: The new ruler of Eshnunna. Bricks were found with his standard inscription "Nur-ahum, beloved of the god Tispak, governor of Esnunna". Rulers of Eshnunna after Shu-iliya would call themselves the steward of Eshnunna on behalf of Tishpak, and Tishpak even took on traditional titles usually attested by kings. The seal of Shu-iliya had him ruling under Tishpak ie "Tišpak, mighty king, king of the land Warum, king of

9877-435: 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

9996-463: The north, copper, tin, and other metals and precious stones . In a grave in Eshnunna, a pendant made of copal from Zanzibar was found. A small number of seals and beads from the Indus Valley civilization were also found. The remains of the ancient city are now preserved in the tell , or archaeological settlement mound, of Tell Asmar, some 50 miles northeast of Baghdad and 15 km in

10115-539: 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

10234-403: 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

10353-451: The other hand, which only occurs once before this time (in an inscription of Manishtushu ), becomes increasingly more commonplace beginning with king Gudea of Lagash, who claimed to have conquered it around the same time. It has accordingly been conjectured that Anshan not only replaced Awan as one of the major divisions of Elam, but that it also included the same territory. The following list should not be considered complete: "Then Ur

10472-439: The palace). Because only inexperienced laborers were available many of the tablets were damaged or broken during the excavation. A project to clean, bake, and catalog all the tablets did not occur until the 1970s. The tablets from the Akkadian period were published in 1961. While most of the Eshnunna tablets are of an administrative nature 58 are letters which are rare in this time period. The letters are written in an early form of

10591-440: The presence of a diplomat from Eshnunna was remarkable as Eshnunna and now an indirect enemy of Andarig and Karana for supporting Ishme-Dagan, and suggests that they were tolerated as observers as they were not officially enemies. Eshnunna seemed to have finally concluded a peace treaty with Babylon, and so dropped their support of Ishme-Dagan. Hammurabi and Silli-Sin also had a diplomatic marriage, where one of Hammurabi's daughters

10710-585: The region of Puzurran from Eshnunna. Pongratz-Leisten suggests that the political power of Eshnunna extended to cultural influence with its neighbors, which could be seen from the similarities in style between the Dadusha stela, Mardin stela and the Yahdun-Lim's building inscriptions, which may have in turn influenced Assyria's ideology later. After the death of Naram-Sin, three kings, Iqish-Tishpak, Ibbi-Sin, and Dannum-tahaz, ruled in short succession. Out of

10829-417: The reign of Naram-Sin of Eshnunna. Mari, during the reign of Yahdum-Lim, adopted the writing system from Eshnunna with its sign usage and tablet shape, and a later letter addressed from Ibal-pi-El II to Zimri-Lim at the beginning of the latter's reign mentioned that Yahdun-Lim called the king of Eshnunna "father" which indicates a superior position on the part of the king of Eshnunna. Yahdum-Lim also bought

10948-514: The reign of king Dadusha of Eshnunna and appear to not be official copies. When the actual laws were composed is unknown. They are similar to the Code of Hammurabi . Rulers from the Early Dynastic period and governors under the Akkadian empire are currently unknown. Eshnunna was ruled by vassal governors under Ur III for a time, then was independent under its own rulers for several centuries, and finally controlled by vassal governors under Babylon after

11067-504: 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

11186-617: 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

11305-455: 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

11424-419: The site. Nineteen cylinder seals, two very damaged, were recovered. One seal is inscribed "Azuzum Governor of the (city of) Eshnunna Atta-ilī Scribe, your/his slave". Another reads "Bilalama! beloved [of the god Tishpak] ruler of the (city of) Eshnunna Ilšu-dan on of Ur-Ninsun the scribe (is) your/his servant". The final report from that excavation is in the publication process. During the Early Dynastic period,

11543-407: 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

11662-485: 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

11781-594: The temple of Inshushinak , where he erected a statue of her. After his defeat, the Awan dynasty disappears from history, probably cut down by the Guti or Lullubi tribes that then sowed disorder in Mesopotamia and the Zagros, and Elam was left in the hands of the Shimashki dynasty . The toponym "Awan" only occurs once more following the reign of Kutik-Inshushinak, in a year-name of Ibbi-Sin of Ur. The name Anshan , on

11900-426: 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

12019-404: 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

12138-470: The three, Iqish-Tishpak was unrelated to Ipiq-Adad II and was probably a usurper. The sequence of these three rulers has not been established with certainty. After these three rulers, Dadusha, a brother of Naram-Sin, became king of Eshnunna. Shamshi-Adad I had multiple conflicts with the kingdom of Eshnunna, especially over the cities of Saduppum and Nerebtum. A letter addressed to the later king of Mari Zimri-Lim described how Shamshi-Adad had once called

12257-478: The throne. By this time, Susa had started to gain influence in Elam (later, Elam would be called Susiana), and the city began to be filled with temples and monuments. Kutik-Inshushinak next defeated Kimash and Hurtum (neighboring towns rebelling against him), destroying 70 cities in a day. Next he established his position as king, defeating all his rivals and taking Anshan, the capital. Not content with this, he launched

12376-435: The time refers to a shipment of tin to the governor of the Elamite city of Urua, which was committed to work the material and return it in the form of bronze — perhaps indicating a technological edge enjoyed by the Elamites over the Sumerians. It is also known that the Awan kings carried out incursions in Mesopotamia, where they ran up against the most powerful city-states of this period, Kish and Lagash. One such incident

12495-429: 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

12614-585: 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,

12733-419: The world" and "king who enlarged the kingdom of Eshnunna." The Mari Chronicles mentions that he defeated Aminum of Assur but was defeated by Elam. Later, he effectively brought the Diyala region under the control of Eshnunna. Ipiq-Adad II may have also conquered Rapiqum , but the year-name had been suggested by other scholars to instead read "Rapiqum and its surroundings," and that it is an alternative form of

12852-574: Was Mary Chubb . The primary focuses of the Chicago excavations were the palace and the attached temple (28 meters by 28 meters with 3 meter wide walls) of Su-Sin (termed by the excavators The Palace of the Rulers and The Gimilsin Temple respectively). The palace was built during the time of Ur III ruler Shugi and the Temple by governor Ituria to the deified Ur III ruler Su-Sin during his reign. The palace

12971-618: 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

13090-431: 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

13209-1680: Was defeated and the kingship was taken to Awan ." "3 kings; they ruled for 356 years. Then Awan was defeated and the kingship was taken to Kish ." ( 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

13328-453: 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

13447-460: Was formed, and Elam was forced to retreat back, but not before sacking the city of Eshnunna. Hammurabi would later write a letter to the sukkalmah that he did say the people of Eshnunna "would not fail to live up to their reputation as rebels." Silli-Sin , who was not related to the previous royal family of Eshnunna, was installed as king in Eshnunna by the Eshnunnian troops. Hammurabi and Silli-Sin exchanged tablets with each other to swear oaths in

13566-492: Was given control of Shubat-Enlil. Atumrum seemed to have kept his old allegiance to Eshnunna, since Eshnunna was listed as one of his allies. However, the relationship between them seemed to have deteriorated as Atumrum later moved the troops from Eshnunna to a new quarters, which the soldiers complained was "a city in ruins." Representatives of Eshnunna was present in a treaty talk between Atamrum (king of Andarig and Allahad) and Ashkur-Addu (king of Karana). Heimpel remarks that

13685-519: Was married to Silli-Sin. In 1762 BC, in Year 31 of Hammurabi of Babylon, the Babylonians occupied the city of Eshnunna. He returned the titular deity of Assur which had been removed when Eshnunna captured the city of Assur. The fate of Silli-Sin is unknown, as the Mari archives would end 4 months later. In his 38th year name, Hammurabi would claim to have destroyed Eshnunna with a flood. In

13804-407: 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

13923-439: Was partially destroyed during the reign of Bilalama but was eventually fully restored. The remaining excavation efforts were directed to the Abu Temple whose beginnings went back to the Early Dynastic I period and which had undergone a series of major changes over the centuries. A large Southern Building was discovered, believed to be from the time of Ipiq-Adad II, of which only the foundations remained. A number of private houses and

14042-417: Was to discourage the new king of Eshnunna, as he would not conclude peace with Eshnunna if he's not given Upi, Shahaduni and the banks of the Tigris. Silli-Sin seemed to have rejected these proposals. Silli-Sin may have also called for a mobilization of troops, which would have worried Hammurabi. Ishme-Dagan also forsook his past alliance with Mari and Babylon and allied with Eshnunna, perhaps because Atamrum

14161-422: 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

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