Sumerian King List


The Sumerian King List is an ancient text in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer from Sumerian and neighboring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths, and the locations of the kingship. This text is preserved in several recensions. The list of kings is sequential, although modern research indicates many were contemporaries, reflecting the belief that kingship was handed down by the gods and could be transferred from one city to another, asserting to a hegemony in the region.
The final attested version of the King List, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, aimed to legitimize Isin's claims to hegemony when Isin competed for dominance with Larsa and other neighboring city-states in southern Mesopotamia.

Composition

The list blends prehistorical, presumably mythical predynastic rulers enjoying implausibly lengthy reigns with later, more plausibly historical dynasties. Although the primal kings are historically unattested, that does not preclude their possible correspondence with historical rulers who were later mythicized. Some Assyriologists view the predynastic kings as a later fictional addition. Only one ruler listed is known to be female: Kug-Bau "the tavern-keeper", who alone accounts for the Third Dynasty of Kish. The earliest listed ruler whose historicity has been archaeologically verified is Enmebaragesi of Kish, c. 2600 BC. Reference to him and his successor, Aga of Kish, in the Epic of Gilgamesh has led to speculation that Gilgamesh himself may have been a historical king of Uruk. Three dynasties are absent from the list: the Larsa dynasty, which vied for power with the Isin dynasty during the Isin-Larsa period; and the two dynasties of Lagash, which respectively preceded and ensued the Akkadian Empire, when Lagash exercised considerable influence in the region. Lagash, in particular, is known directly from archaeological artifacts dating from c. 2500 BC. The list is important to the chronology of the 3rd millennium BC. However, the fact that many of the dynasties listed reigned simultaneously from varying localities makes it difficult to reproduce a strict linear chronology.

List

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 lone source of information. Beginning with Lugal-zage-si and the Third Dynasty of Uruk, 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 the mythical era before the great deluge. Some modern scholars believe the Sumerian deluge story corresponds to localized river flooding at Shuruppak and various other cities as far north as Kish, as revealed by a layer of riverine sediments, radiocarbon dated to c. 2900 BC, which interrupt the continuity of settlement. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period was discovered immediately below this Shuruppak flood stratum.
The antediluvian reigns were measured in Sumerian numerical units known as sars, ners, and sosses. Attempts have been made to map these numbers into more reasonable regnal lengths.

First dynasty of Kish

First rulers of Uruk

First dynasty of Ur

Dynasty of Awan

This was a dynasty from Elam.

Second dynasty of Kish

The First dynasty of Lagash 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

Dynasty of Mari

Third dynasty of Kish

Dynasty of Akshak

Fourth dynasty of Kish

Third dynasty of Uruk

Dynasty of Akkad

Fourth dynasty of Uruk

The Second dynasty of Lagash is not mentioned in the King List, though it is well known from inscriptions.

Gutian rule

Fifth dynasty of Uruk

Third dynasty of Ur

Independent Amorite states in lower Mesopotamia.
The Dynasty of Larsa from this period is not mentioned in the King List.

Dynasty of Isin

RulerEpithetLength of reignApprox. datesComments
Ishbi-Erra33 yearsc. 1953–1920 BC contemporary of Ibbi-Suen of Ur
Shu-Ilishu"the son of Ishbi-Erra"20 years
Iddin-Dagan"the son of Shu-ilishu"20 years
Ishme-Dagan"the son of Iddin-Dagan"20 years
Lipit-Eshtar"the son of Ishme-Dagan "11 yearscontemporary of Gungunum of Larsa
Ur-Ninurta*28 yearsContemporary of Abisare of Larsa
Bur-Suen"the son of Ur-Ninurta"21 years
Lipit-Enlil"the son of Bur-Suen"5 years
Erra-imitti8 yearsHe appointed his gardener, Enlil-Bani, substitute king and then suddenly died.
Enlil-bani24 yearscontemporary of Sumu-la-El of Babylon. He was Erra-imitti's gardener and was appointed substitute king, to serve as a scapegoat and then sacrificed, but remained on the throne when Erra－imitti suddenly died.
Zambiya3 yearscontemporary of Sin-Iqisham of Larsa
Iter-pisha4 years
Ur-du-kuga4 years
Suen-magir11 years
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