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88-709: 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

176-525: A D.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and an LL.D. from Princeton in 1896. As second Assyriologist in charge, he participated in the first campaign of excavations at Nippur (modern Nuffar, Iraq ) in 1889. In the following two campaigns he was a member of the scientific committee in Philadelphia and eventually travelled to Constantinople to examine the portable finds and arrange

264-498: 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

352-492: 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

440-463: 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

528-405: 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

616-469: 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

704-736: 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

792-500: A moat and heaped up a pile of corpses." As with many Mesopotamian rulers he dealt with nomadic incursion in his 37th year, he was obliged to build a large wall in an attempt to keep out the Tidnumite nomads. Shulgi is known to have made dedications at Susa , as foundation nails with his name, dedicated to god Inshushinak have been found there. One of the votive foundation nails reads: "The god 'Lord of Susa,' his king, Shulgi,

880-433: 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

968-1685: A single day Year name 39 of Shulgi was "The year Šulgi, king of Ur, king of the four quarters, built é-Puzriš-Dagan, a residence {palace? temple?} of Šulgi". ( 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

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1056-446: 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 ,

1144-446: 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

1232-460: 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,

1320-462: Is king 2. Year: The foundations of the temple of Ningubalag were laid 6. Year: The king straightened out the Nippur road 7. Year: The king made a round trip between Ur and Nippur (in one day) 10. Year: The royal mountain-house (the palace) was built 18. Year: Liwirmittašu, the daughter of the king, was elevated to the queenship of Marhashi 21c. Year: Der was destroyed 24. Year: Karahar

1408-583: Is known from a cuneiform tablet. A daughter, Taram-Šulgi was married to the ruler of Pašime , Šudda-bani. Shulgi also boasted about his ability to maintain high speeds while running long distances. He claimed in his 7th regnal year to have run from Nippur to Ur , a distance of not less than 100 miles. Kramer refers to Shulgi as "The first long distance running champion." Shulgi wrote 26 royal hymns to glorify himself and his actions. In one Shulgi claimed that he spoke Elamite as well as he spoke Sumerian . In another he refers to himself as "the king of

1496-402: 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

1584-524: 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

1672-634: 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

1760-422: Is unclear how much he actually wrote, there are numerous praise poems written by and directed towards this ruler. He had proclaimed himself a god by his 21st regnal year (there are indications this occurred as early as S12), and was recognized as such by the whole of Sumer and Akkad . Some much later chronicles castigate Shulgi for his impiety: The Weidner Chronicle (ABC 19), a literary composition written in

1848-442: Is unknown, only that it occurred in his 48th regnal year, in or before the 11th month. In the 3rd month of his successor, libations to the dead were first recorded for Shulgi and two wives Geme-Ninlila and Shulgi-simti. All three appear to have died in the year 48. Several researchers have suggest Shulgi was assassinated, partly based on omen texts, including one based on an eclipse . He was succeeded by Amar-Sin . The name Amar-Sin

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1936-728: 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 ),

2024-440: 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

2112-490: 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,

2200-469: 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

2288-528: 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

2376-540: 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

2464-405: 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

2552-753: The University of Erlangen . In 1886, he left for the United States, where he became linguistic editor of the Sunday-School Times , and a professor of Assyrian at the University of Pennsylvania . Also in 1886, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society . The next year, 1887, he also became curator for the Semitic department of the University of Pennsylvania's museum. In 1894, Hilprecht took

2640-484: The "Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection of Babylonian Antiquities" (eventually Germanized under the regime of the Nazis in "Frau Professor Hilprecht Sammlung Babylonischer Altertümer") in remembrance of his first wife. It incorporates more than 2000 cuneiform tablets and pieces and the personal archive of him. One of the most recognized pieces is the "city map of Nippur" one of the earliest city maps recovered presumably from

2728-483: The 1st millenium BC, states that "he did not perform his rites to the letter, he defiled his purification rituals". CM 48, written late in the 1st millennium BC, charges him with improper tampering with the rites, composing "untruthful stelae, insolent writings" on them. The Chronicle of Early Kings (ABC 20), written in the mid-2nd millennium BC, accuses him of "criminal tendencies, and the property of Esagila and Babylon he took away as booty." The manner of death

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2816-419: 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

2904-669: 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

2992-520: 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

3080-408: The Old Babylonian period so the order is not completely certain and a few years attribution is uncertain between Ur-Nammu and Shulgi. There are also multiple year names for some years which is not unprecedented. For example year 20 is "Year: “Ninḫursaga of Nutur was brought into her temple”" and "Year: “The sons of Ur were conscripted as lancers”". Some of the most important are: 1. Year : Šulgi

3168-521: 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 Hermann Volrath Hilprecht Hermann Volrath Hilprecht (July 28, 1859 – March 19, 1925) was a German - American Assyriologist and archaeologist. Hilprecht

3256-469: The army, reformed the writing system and weight and measures, unified the tax system, and created a strong bureaucracy . He also wrote a law code, now known as the Code of Ur-Nammu because it was originally thought to have been authored by Ur-Nammu. He also built or rebuilt numerous temples throughout the empire. Shulgi is best known for his extensive revision of the scribal school's curriculum. Although it

3344-424: 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

3432-535: 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

3520-466: The correct pronunciation of the 𒂄 sign. The spelling of Shulgi's name by scribes with the diĝir determinative reflects his deification during his reign, a status and spelling previously claimed by his Akkadian Empire predecessor Naram-Sin . Shulgi was a contemporary of the Shakkanakku rulers of Mari , particularly Apil-kin and Iddi-ilum . An inscription mentions that Taram-Uram ,

3608-547: The daughter of Apil-kin, became the "daughter-in-law" of Ur-Nammu , and therefore the Queen of king Shulgi. In the inscription, she called herself "daughter-in-law of Ur-Nammu ", and "daughter of Apil-kin, Lugal ("King") of Mari", suggesting for Apil-kin a position as a supreme ruler, and pointing to a marital alliance between Mari and Ur . Nin-kalla , Amat-Sin, and Ea-niša were queens of Shulgi. This had influence and performed official functions which continued even after

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3696-401: The death of Shulgi. Another queen, Shulgi-simti , who is known from a high number of texts presenting evidence for her economic power, had similar status. The archive shows she sirected various large animals to use in rituals for deities including Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban , Annunitum , Ulmašītum , Nanna, Ninlil and Enlil. From thirty-second to forty-seventh year of Shulgi's reign she

3784-543: The demise of Puzur-Inshushinak , and they built numerous buildings and temples there. This control was continued by Shulgi as shown by his numerous dedications in the city-state. He also engaged in marital alliances, by marrying his daughters to rulers of eastern territories, such as Anšan , Marhashi and Bashime . There are extensive remains for the year names of Shulgi, which have been largely reconstructed from year 1 to year 48 thoug some are fragmentary. There are no contemporary lists of year names, only partial texts from

3872-440: 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

3960-548: The efforts of continuing the US excavations. With announcing the discovery of the Temple Library of Nippur after finishing the fourth campaign, some other team members including the former expedition director John Punnett Peters built a strong opposition against Hilprecht who claimed "the cream" of nearly every important discovery as his work. Some American orientalists joined in and the so-called "Peters-Hilprecht-Controversy"

4048-422: 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

4136-548: The files of the archaeological context). After this the publication series were changed to the "Publications of the Babylonian Section" (=PBS). Afterwards he returned to the United States, where he became a citizen. He died in Philadelphia in 1925. After his death his second wife, according to H. V. Hilprechts last will, handed over his collection of Babylonian antiquities to the University of Jena founding

4224-413: 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

4312-427: 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

4400-414: The four-quarters, the pastor of the black-headed people ". While Der had been one of the cities whose temple affairs Shulgi had directed in the first part of his reign, in his 20th year he claimed that the gods had decided that it now be destroyed, apparently as some punishment. The inscriptions state that he "put its field accounts in order" with the pick-axe. His 18th year-name was Year Liwir-mitashu,

4488-413: 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

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4576-462: The hearings and all documents related to it in the publication "The So-Called Peters-Hillprecht Controversy." This fierce controversy fought in newspapers and even lectures prevented most of the research of the acquired material for the next years. After his resignation in 1911 of which (besides the "Peters-Hilprecht-Controversy") the main reason was the breakup of his bureau late in 1911. The numbered boxes were opened, confused and burned (including

4664-599: 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

4752-607: The king's daughter, was elevated to the ladyship in Marhashi , referring to a country near Anshan and her dynastic marriage to its king, Libanukshabash. Following this, Shulgi engaged in a period of expansionism at the expense of highlanders such as the Lullubi , and destroyed Simurrum (another mountain tribe ) and Lulubum nine times between the 26th and 45th years of his reign. He is also known to have destroyed Karaḫar , Harši, Šašrum, and Urbilum. In his 30th year, his daughter

4840-420: 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

4928-693: The late Kassite period. He is known among Assyriologists by his Freibrief Nebukadnezars I (Leipzig, 1883). In the spring of 1887, he delivered, in the chapel of the University of Pennsylvania, a course of lectures on "The Family and Civil Life of the Egyptians," "The Most Flourishing Period of Egyptian Literature," and "Egypt in the Time of Israel's Sojourn." His other literary works consist of contributions to Luthardt's Theologisches Literaturblatt (Leipzig), and to other periodicals. Shulgi Shulgi ( 𒀭𒂄𒄀 šul-gi , formerly read as Dungi ) of Ur

5016-439: 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

5104-505: 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

5192-552: 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

5280-552: The mighty male, king of Ur, king of Sumer and Akkad, the..., his beloved temple, built." . An etched carnelian bead , now located in the Louvre Museum (Sb 6627) and inscribed with a dedication by Shulgi was also found in Susa, the inscription reading: " Ningal , his mother, Shulgi, god of his land, King of Ur, King of the four world quarters, for his life dedicated (this)" . The Ur III dynasty had held control over Susa since

5368-416: 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

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5456-427: 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

5544-539: 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

5632-402: 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

5720-504: 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

5808-616: 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

5896-461: The responsibility of the whole excavation for the last part of this campaign from March 1 until May 11, 1900. Afterwards he undertook the editing of the publications programme of the "Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania"(=BE). This publication series incorporated also quantities of bought cuneiform tablets, acquired in Baghdad from the antiquities dealers which tried to undermine

5984-521: The second half of his reign. He used the symbol for divinity ( 𒀭 ) before his name, marking his apotheosis , from at least the 21rd year of his reign and was worshipped in the Ekhursag palace he built. Shulgi was the son of Ur-Nammu king of Ur and his queen consort Watartum. Shulgi apparently led a major modernization of the Third Dynasty of Ur . He improved communications, reorganized

6072-455: 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

6160-707: The separation/acquisition of duplicate pieces for the newly constructed University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. He also rearranged the Imperial Ottoman Museum for which the director Osman Hamdi Bey showed his gratitude with a favorable separation of the findings. During the fourth and last campaign he was coordinating director of the expedition, sending out John Henry Haynes accompanied by his wife Cassandria as field director from 1898-1900 (later in 1899 efforts were increased by sending out two young architects H. V. Geere and C. S. Fisher). Hilprecht himself overtook

6248-406: 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

6336-482: 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

6424-425: 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

6512-404: 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

6600-429: 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

6688-645: 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,

6776-618: 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

6864-699: Was born in 1859 at Hohenerxleben (now a part of Staßfurt ), Kingdom of Prussia . He graduated from Herzogliches Gymnasium at Bernburg in 1880. Afterwards he went on to the University of Leipzig where he studied theology , philology , and law. In 1882, he spent two months in the British Museum studying cuneiform literature. He received his Ph.D. from Leipzig in 1883. He then spent two years in Switzerland for his health. From 1885 to 1886 he became an instructor in Old Testament theology at

6952-466: Was born. Peter's officially charged Hilprecht with inaccuracies and, worse, deception in relation to his Nippur publications and lectures. Hilprecht put the entire matter in the hands of the board of the University of Pennsylvania, which conducted an official examination, much like a modern court case, with all sides submitting their arguments and evidences. Hilprecht was fully cleared of the accusations brought against him and published full documentation of

7040-431: 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

7128-414: Was destroyed 25. Year: Simurrum was destroyed 27. Year after: "Šulgi the strong man, the king of the four corners of the universe, destroyed Simurrum for the second time" 27b. Year: "Harszi was destroyed" 30. Year: The governor of Anšan took the king's daughter into marriage 31. Year: Karhar was destroyed for the second time 32. Year: Simurrum was destroyed for the third time 34. Year: Anshan

7216-459: Was destroyed 37. Year: The wall of the land was built 42. Year: The king destroyed Šašrum 44. Year: Simurrum and Lullubum were destroyed for the ninth time 45. Year: Šulgi, the strong man, the king of Ur, the king of the four-quarters, smashed the heads of Urbilum, Simurrum, Lullubum and Karhar in a single campaign 46. Year: Šulgi, the strong man, the king of Ur, the king of the four-quarters, destroyed Kimaš, Hurti and their territories in

7304-450: 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

7392-583: Was in charge of the acceptance of ritual animals. On their death "libation places" for her and Shulgi were established. Another important woman was Geme-Ninlilla who appears in texts at the end of the king's reign. Other, less well known royal women are Šuqurtum , Simat-Ea and Geme-Su'ena. Shulgi, with many wives and concubines, is known to have had at least sixteen sons including Etel-pū-Dagān, Amar- Da-mu, Lu- Nanna, Lugal-a-zi-da, Ur- Suen, and possibly Amar-Sin (his throne name) as well as one daughter, Peš-tur-tur. The name of another daughter, Šāt-Kukuti,

7480-402: Was married to the governor of Anshan ; in his 34th year, he was already levying a punitive campaign against the place. He also destroyed Kimaš and Ḫurti (cities to the east of Ur , somewhere near Elam ) in the 45th year of his reign. An inscribed brick recorded: "Sulgi, god of his land the mighty, king of Ur, king of the four quarters, when he destroyed the land of Kimas and Hurtum, set out

7568-470: 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

7656-416: Was not recorded before his ascension and is a " throne name ". His original name, and whether he was actually the son of Shugi, is unknown. Early uncertainties about the reading of cuneiform led to the readings "Shulgi" and "Dungi" being common transliterations before the end of the 19th century. However, over the course of the 20th century, the scholarly consensus gravitated away from dun towards shul as

7744-477: Was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur . He reigned for 48 years, from c.  2094  – c.  2046 BC ( Middle Chronology ). His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the Great Ziggurat of Ur , begun by his father Ur-Nammu . On his inscriptions, he took the titles "King of Ur", " King of Sumer and Akkad ", adding " King of the four corners of the universe " in

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