The Sumerian King List or Chronicle of 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 the list, these reigns often span thousands of years. In the oldest known version, dated to the Ur III period 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 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, which is well-known from other contemporary sources.
Ziusudra of Shuruppak is listed in the WB-62 Sumerian King List recension as the last king of Sumer prior to the Great Flood. He is subsequently recorded as the hero of the Eridu Genesis and appears in the writings of Berossus as Xisuthros.
Atra-Hasis is an 18th-century BC Akkadian epic, recorded in various versions on clay tablets, named for its protagonist, Atrahasis. The Atra-Hasis tablets include both a cosmological creation myth and one of three surviving Babylonian flood myths. The name "Atra-Hasis" also appears, as a king of Shuruppak in the times before a flood, on one of the Sumerian King Lists.
Bad-tibira, "Wall of the Copper Worker(s)", or "Fortress of the Smiths", identified as modern Tell al-Madineh, between Ash Shatrah and Tell as-Senkereh and 33 kilometers northeast of ancient Girsu in southern Iraq, was an ancient Sumerian city on the Iturungal canal, which appears among antediluvian cities in the Sumerian King List. Its Akkadian name was Dûr-gurgurri. It was also called Παντιβίβλος (Pantibiblos) by Greek authors such as Berossus, transmitted by Abydenus and Apollodorus. This may reflect another version of the city's name, Patibira, "Canal of the Smiths".
Shuruppak, modern Tell Fara, was an ancient Sumerian city situated about 55 kilometres (35 mi) south of Nippur and 30 kilometers north of ancient Uruk on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq's Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate. Shuruppak was dedicated to Ninlil, also called Sud, the goddess of grain and the air.
Alulim was a mythological Mesopotamian ruler, regarded as the first king ever to rule. He is known from the Sumerian King List, Ballad of Early Rulers, and other similar sources which invariably place him in Eridu and assign a reign lasting thousands of years to him. The tablet of Old Babylonian period from Ur describing the divine appointment of Alulim by the gods notes that he was chosen among "vast and many people," and appointed by gods for the "shepherdship of the entirety of the many people". Another myth describing his appointment by the gods and incantations treating him as the creator of insects are also known. He is absent from Early Dynastic sources, and he is considered fictional by Assyriologists. His name was preserved in later Greek, Arabic and Persian works.
Sumerian literature constitutes the earliest known corpus of recorded literature, including the religious writings and other traditional stories maintained by the Sumerian civilization and largely preserved by the later Akkadian and Babylonian empires. These records were written in the Sumerian language in the 18th and 17th centuries BC during the Middle Bronze Age.
Aga commonly known as Aga of Kish, was the twenty-third and last king in the first dynasty of Kish during the Early Dynastic I period. He is listed in the Sumerian King List and many sources as the son of Enmebaragesi. The Kishite king ruled the city at its peak, probably reaching beyond the territory of Kish, including Umma and Zabala.
Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth, Sumerian Flood Story and the Sumerian Deluge Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, how the office of kingship entered human civilization, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities, and the global flood.
Alalngar was the second king of Eridu and Sumer, according to the Sumerian King List (SKL). Also according to the SKL: Alalngar was preceded by Alulim. Additionally, Alalngar was succeeded by En-men-lu-ana of Bad-tibira. Alalngar was said to have reigned for 36,000 years.
En-men-lu-ana appears as the first king of Bad-tibira in some version of the Sumerian King List. The list claims that En-men-lu-ana ruled for 43,200 years, and succeeded by Dumuzid the Shepard. The kings on the early part of the SKL are usually not considered historical, except when they are mentioned in contemporary documents. En-men-lu-ana is not one of them.
En-men-gal-ana appears as the second king of Bad-tibira in some version of the Sumerian King List. According to that literary composition, En-men-gal-ana ruled for 28,800 years. The kings on the early part of the SKL are usually not considered historical, except when they are mentioned in Early Dynastic documents. En-men-gal-ana is not one of them.
En-sipad-zid-ana appears as the second king of Larak in some versions of the Sumerian King List (SKL). According to that literary composition, En-sipad-zid-ana ruled for 28,800 years. The kings on the early part of the SKL are usually not considered historical, except when they are mentioned in Early Dynastic documents. En-sipad-zid-ana is not one of them.
The Instructions of Shuruppak are a significant example of Sumerian wisdom literature. Wisdom literature, intended to teach proper piety, inculcate virtue, and preserve community standards, was common throughout the ancient Near East. Its incipit sets the text in great antiquity by : "In those days, in those far remote times, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years." The precepts are placed in the mouth of a king Šuruppak (SU.KUR.RUki), son of Ubara-Tutu. Ubara-Tutu is recorded in most extant copies of the Sumerian king list as being the final king of Sumer prior to the deluge. Ubara-tutu is briefly mentioned in tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, where he is identified as the father of Utnapishtim, a character who is instructed by the god Ea to build a boat in order to survive the coming flood. Grouped with the other cuneiform tablets from Abu Salabikh, the Instructions date to the early third millennium BCE, being among the oldest surviving literature.
Larak was a city in Sumer that appears in some versions of the Sumerian King List as the third of five cities to exercise kingship in the antediluvian era. Its patron deity was Pabilsag, a Ninurta-like warrior god additionally associated with judgment, medicine and the underworld, usually portrayed as the husband of Ninisina. Gasan-aste, a version of the healing goddess Ninisina was worshiped at Larak.
The cuneiform sign tu, and for TU-(the Sumerogram, capital letter, in the Hittite language and other cuneiform texts, is a common-use syllabic sign for tu, and also with a syllabic use for "t", or "u". It is not a multi-use sign, with other alphabetic sub-varieties.
A City Lament is a poetic elegy for a lost or fallen city. This literary genre, from around 2000 BCE onwards, was particularly prevalent in the Mesopotamian region of the Ancient Near East. The Bible's Book of Lamentations concerning Jerusalem around 586 BCE, contains some elements of a city lament.
Lugalnamniršumma was an ancient Iraqi ruler. He ruled sometime during the Early Dynastic IIIb period ; additionally, temp. Akalamdug, Urnanshe, Akurgal, Paraganedu, and Ennail. Ursangpae may have preceded Lugalnamniršumma as a king of Uruk. Lugalnamniršumma may have also been succeeded by Lugalsilâsi I as a great king of Kish.
Lugalsilâsi I was an ancient Iraqi ruler. He ruled sometime during the Early Dynastic IIIb period ; additionally, temp. Eannatum, Akurgal, Ush, E-iginimpa'e, and Ikun-Mari. Lugalsilâsi I was preceded by Lugalnamniršumma as the king of Uruk. Lugalsilâsi I may have also been succeeded by Meskalamdug as a great king of Kish.
Urzage was an ancient Iraqi ruler. He ruled sometime during the Early Dynastic IIIb period ; additionally, temp. A'annepada, Entemena, Il, and Ishtup-Ishar. Urzage was preceded by Lugalsilâsi I as the king of Uruk. Urzage may have also been succeeded by Lugalkinishedudu as a great king of Kish.
