Near East Kingdoms

Kisurra (City State) (Sumer)

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The city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture. It developed out of the end of the Pottery Neolithic across the Fertile Crescent, a period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices spread far and wide across the Near East and beyond.

As irrigation improved so the more southerly reaches of the Euphrates could at last be occupied by humans and their animals. Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was subjected to permanent settlement, initially in the form of pastoralists but soon as farmers too. Cultures around the edges of this progression included the Hassuna and Samarra which began this settlement process, and perhaps elements of the Hissar culture in the Iranian highlands were also involved.

By the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states which were independent of one another and which used local canals and boundary stones to mark their borders. Many early historical events in the region are found only in the Sumerian king list, which notates the rulers of the city states (and see feature link), but archaeology has also uncovered a wealth of detail.

The minor city of Kisurra in southern Mesopotamia is today the archaeological mound of Tell Abu Hatab. It was founded during the 'Early Dynastic Period', around 2700 BC, with an estimated population of less than five thousand inhabitants over less than twenty hectares. Its ancient name was linked to the archaeological site in 1902, based upon an inscribed brick translation by Friedrich Delitzsch.

It was located to the north of Shuruppak, on the west bank of the Euphrates before the river shifted in later periods (known as the Middle Euphrates). The city god was initially the Sumerian Ninurta but, in the later second millennium BC, this was superseded by Ishara. Apparently this god was already worshipped by many Syrians and Canaanites, which hints at the late ascendancy of a Semitic-speaking nobility. Numbers of Hittites later also followed this god.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, Samuel Noah Kramer ('List 1' of Sumerian rulers, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1963), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from The Ancient Near East, c.3000-330 BC, Amélie Kuhrt (Routledge, 2000, Vol I & II), from Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Road (Facts on File, 2000), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), from The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, S Lloyd (Revised Ed, London, 1984), from Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J N Postgate (Routledge, 1994), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), and from External Links: Ancient Worlds, and Evolution of Sumerian kingship (Ancient World Magazine).)

c.2700 BC

The small city of Kisurra is founded during Sumer's 'Early Dynastic Period', around 2700 BC and immediately preceding what may be the end of the Antediluvian period. Even at its height this small city has an estimated population of less than five thousand inhabitants over less than twenty hectares of ground space. It usually serves as a subject city for greater powers such as Isin, Larsa, and Uruk.

Extensive looting has taken place at the archaeological site of Tell Abu Hatab (the ancient city of Kisurra), as documented by the Qadis survey project in October 2018

c.2138 BC

The city of Kisurra establishes its own kingship for the first time, after around six hundred years of occupation of the site and dominance by larger cities around it. This break from its traditional position may be a result of weakening Gutian influence in the region. Gudea of Lagash rises to prominence in the south at about the same time.

from c.2138 BC

Gained independent control and built the city walls.

from c.2123 BC

Removed or defeated by Ur?

c.2113 BC

Kisurra loses its independence to Ur as that city's third dynasty is established by the powerful Ur-Nammu. The remaining kings of Kisurra appear to govern the city as vassals. It is Ur-Nammu who begins construction of the great ziggurat of Ur, to be completed by his son.

Some of the earliest cities, such as Sippar, Borsippa, and Kish in the north, and Ur, Uruk, and Eridu in the south, formed the endpoints of what became the complex Sumerian network of cities and canals (click or tap on map to view full sized)

from c.2108 BC

Vassal of Ur?

from c.2093 BC

Vassal of Ur?

from c.2078 BC

Vassal of Ur?

from c.2063 BC

Vassal of Ur? Name unknown.

c.2048 - 2030 BC

Between these two dates the kings of Kisurra are removed by Ur - apparently by Bur-Sin, 'king of Ur' although Shulgi is the ruler of Ur until about 2047 BC (Bur-Sin is king of Isin, two centuries later in time). Independence is restored around the time of Ibbi-Sin's accession in Ur, although the details are unknown.

c.2030 - 2013 BC

Last independent king of Kisurra.

c.2013 BC

The king of Kisurra is removed by Ibbi-Sin of Ur, as that powerful city prefers to concentrate power and replace local leaders with a strict and records-heavy administrative system.

This artistic reconstruction shows Ur-Nammu's ziggurrat in the city of Ur around the end of the twenty-second century BC, from C L Woolley, 1936

c.2013 - 2011? BC

Ensi (governor) of Kisurra for Ibbi-Sin of Ur?

c.2011 - 2004? BC

Ensi (governor) of Kisurra for Ibbi-Sin of Ur?

c.2004 BC

The waning Sumerian civilisation which has at its centre the city of Ur now collapses entirely when the Simashki ruler of Elam, Kindattu, together with the people of Susa, sacks the city and captures Ibbi-Sin.

The great brick mausoleums and temples of the third dynasty kings are destroyed and the king is carried off into captivity. Documentation from Kisurra now ceases, and Isin enjoys a period of dominance.

c.1760s BC

The city of Kisurra has survived as a business and transportation centre, and has also survived apparent devastation by fire during the disturbed century following the collapse of Sumerian civilisation (during the 1900s).

Babylon began life as a modest town which had been seized from Kazallu, but was quickly fortified by the building of a city wall in the nineteenth century BC

Now the city declines, during the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon. His defeat of the regionally-powerful Larsa is probably directly connected, but with power now concentrated in central Mesopotamia, the south suffers from lack of investment and a deterioration of resources.