Sumerian Kings List - Urim (Ur)- Third Dynasty

From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved "Volume III - Sumerian Kings List - Urim (Ur)- Third Dynasty"

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Sumerian Kings List - Urim (Ur)- Third Dynasty

    Kings after the Flood, the city of Urim (Ur) reigns.

    Neo Sumerian Renaissance (2100-2000 B.C.) the inheritance of the Sumerian culture in the previous centuries is consolidated, a term not meant as a revival of Sumerians, but as a revival of the Sumerian culture and in particular Sumerian literature.    The language spoken is Akkadian.    Sumerian is becoming an extinct language.    It is, however, in this era the only written language and the consolidation of Sumerian literature is advanced and promoted by the kings of the third dynasty of Ur, called Ur-III dynasty.
    Large archives have been excavated in the ruins of Umma, Pezrichdagan and Gursu, so the period of Ur-III is historically fairly well known.
    Third dynasty of Ur (Ur-III 2100-2000 B.C.) is well represented in the present collection of clay tablets.    More than hundred thousand clay tablets have been found of which only a fraction has been studied extensively.    The Ur-III dynasty consists of five rulers, whose reigns add in total to 109 years. They were all great builders of temples.

Neo-Sumerian Domination

City	King City No.	King Flood No.	Kings Name	Years ruled	Other Notes
Urim (Ur) - Third Dynasty	1	119	Ur-Namma	18 years	.

    One source calls this king Ur-nammu (Urnammu), who became King and reigned for 18 years at 2107-2089 B.C. or 2112-2095 B.C.    Ennirgalanna, the daughter of Ur-nammu, was High Priestess of Nanna/Sin at Ur.
    Some claim that it was in 2250 B.C. when Ur-Nammu established the Third Dynasty of Ur and he also dedicated a ziggurat at Ur for the moon-god Nanna, and sets up an early law code.    He was originally a general who took the title of 'king of Sumer and Akkad,' in his own words the title was from the local ruler Utuhengal of Uruk.    Under this king (possibly his brother) he was appointed as governor of Ur, revolted and subsequently defeated him and king Nammahani of Lagash.    Urnammu succeeded for the last time to construct a well-organized empire, in which Sumer and Akkad were united, and renewed the law and order of past times.    Urnammu built ziggurats with a three-stage system and probably with a temple on the highest level.    Different types of 'high terraces' were parts of many temples in Babylonian cities since the Ubaid period.    Use was made of mud bricks each stamped with the name of the city, city deity and the name of the temple.    His development in temple construction was an innovation, which would be used for many centuries.    Urnammu rebuilt and enlarged one of the most famous temples in ancient time, the Ekur temple in the city Nippur, for Enlil.
    Urnammu's death is bemoaned in a lamentation hymn, which is an example of a type of court poetry that became in use since this period in time.    Urnammu is sometimes tagged as the ruler who built the "Tower of Babel," which he only built a new one on top of an older structure.

City	King City No.	King Flood No.	Kings Name	Years ruled	Other Notes
Urim (Ur) - Third Dynasty	2	120	Culgi	46 years	Other manuscripts have 48 or 58 years. Son of Ur-Namma.

    One source calls this king Divine Šulgi (Shulgi, šulgi), son of Divine Ur-nammu, a king who rule for 48 years between 2089-2041 B.C., or 47 years at 2094-2047 B.C.     Ennirzianna, the daughter of Šulgi, was the High Priestess of Nanna/Sin.
    He extended his father's empire to all of Assyria.    He was known from odes in later texts, which was the Maecenas (patron of arts) of the Sumerian language and promoted the canonization of Sumerian literature (the language in this time period is called New Sumerian).    Halfway during his reign one finds a dramatic increase in the number of texts or clay tablets as everything is being recorded, possibly related to an all time low in the water supply around 2000 B.C.

    The following is from the Sumerian ^dShulgi under Scorpius Introduction, all in regard to the Sumerian Shulgi and Pisces Introduction in regard to Fish.

    Scorpius Introduction.

Sumerian dShulgi, which may be associated with the calendar that was reformed in the Ur III period by Shulgi, king of Sumer from 2094-2047 B.C., and seen as (^dšul, young man, warrior + gi_(n), justice), for "A Divine Young Man/Warrior of Justice."
- Sumerian šul: n., young man; warrior; adj., strong, heroic.
  - Sumerian SHU.GI, Akkadian shibu, "The Old Man," in Perseus.
    - Sumerian šu-gi₄: old ('hand' + 'to return' ?, 'to lock up' ?).
      - Sumerian šu: n., hand; share, portion, bundle; strength; v., to pour.
        
        Sumerian šú: (cf., šuš₍₂₎).
        Sumerian šu₁₂: (cf., šùde).
      - Sumerian gi₍₄₎: to surround, besiege; to lock up.
        
        Sumerian gi₄, ge₄: to return, come back; to send (back) (with -ši-); to restore; to answer (person to whom answer is given resumed by dative prefix, and with -ni-).
        Sumerian gi: reed; length measure.
        
        Sumerian gí, gé: reed mat.
        
        Sumerian gi(n), ge(n): v., to act justly; to stabilize, strengthen; to confirm; to establish something as the property of someone (dative); adj., just; firm; fixed; reliable.
        Sumerian gi₍₁₇₎: n., young man; adj., small.
        Sumerian gi₇: (cf., gir₁₅).
- Sumerian gi(n), ge(n): v., to act justly; to stabilize, strengthen; to confirm; to establish something as the property of someone (dative); adj., just; firm; fixed; reliable.

Pisces Introduction in regard to Fish.

From www.lexiline.com, "The 15^th of Addaru, the fish (KU6) and the old one (SHU.GI), the Seed-Furrow AB.SIN and the Wolf UR.IDIM set. The opposite is the He-Goat UZ."

City	King City No.	King Flood No.	Kings Name	Years ruled	Other Notes
Urim (Ur) - Third Dynasty	3	121	Amar-Suena	9 years	Other manuscripts have 25 years. Son of Culgi.

One source calls this king Divine Amar-Sin, son of Divine Šulgi, who reigned for 9 years around 2041-2032 B.C. or 2046-2038 B.C.

Urim (Ur)
- Third Dynasty

122

Cu-Suen

9 years

Other manuscripts have 7, 20 + X, or 16 years.
Son of Amar-Suena.

One source calls this king Šu-Sin (Shu-Sin), son of Divine Amar-Sin, who reigned for 9 years at 2032-2023 B.C. or 2037-2029 B.C.

Urim (Ur)
- Third Dynasty

123

Ibbi-Suen

24 years

Other manuscripts have 25, 15 or 23 years. Son of Cu-Suen.

One source calls this king Ibbi-Sin, son of Šu-Sin, who reigned for 24 years around 2023-1999 B.C. or 2028-2004 B.C. Ibbi-Sin's daughter, whose name is unknown, was the High Priestess of Nanna/Sin. During this time the Amorites weaken the Sumerian power.

City	Number of Kings	Total Years Ruled
Urim (Ur) - Third Dynasty	5	408 years. Other manuscripts have 5 kings for 117 years, 120 + X days or 123 years.

I only counted 106 ruler years for the 5 Kings, but others claim it is 108 to 109 years. The dating goes from 2107/2112 B.C. to 1999/2004 B.C., which is 108 years. Starting Date 2114 B.C., for the New Sumerian Age, the Fifth Dynasty of Unug, which lasted a little over 7 years to 2107 B.C., which led into the Third Dynasty of Ur, called the Neo Sumerian Renaissance, which ended around 2000 B.C. providing a time frame of 114 years.
End of the Ur-III period or dynasty is caused by an attack of the Elamites around 2004-2000 B.C., which destroyed Ur, also hastened by internal discord. With help of semi nomads from the west the Elamites captures the capital Ur and dismissed the last ruler. Many archives were buried under the ruins.

This file was created on November 20, 2004.

Go to the top of this page To return to the previous city Unug - Fifth Dynasty or go to the next city Isin To return to Volume III - Introduction to the Sumerian Kings List
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