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Near East Kingdoms

Ancient Mesopotamia

Sumer's Kings 'After the Flood' (Post-Diluvian) (Southern Mesopotamia)

Ancient Mesopotamia (Intro)

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One of the most important topics in the Sumerian history which followed the Pottery Neolithic is the 'Great Flood', and the Antediluvian period which led up to it. The Sumerian king list (see feature link) states that eight kings ruled in five cities before the 'Great Flood' swept over the land. And then the kingship was handed down anew.

The myth of Ziusudra and the flood exists in a single copy of the fragmentary 'Eridu Genesis', otherwise known as the 'Sumerian Creation Myth'. This is datable by its Near East script to the seventeenth century BC, with a version later being adapted in Babylon, and then in the Old Testament.

The latter was largely compiled in the sixth century BC, around two millennia after the most probable date for the event, by which time the name of Ziusudra had been altered to the Israelite ancestor figure of Noah (see feature link for details from the perspective of Noah).

It tells how the god Enki warns Ziusudra, king (or prince, or noble) of Shuruppak, of the gods' decision to destroy mankind in a flood (the passage describing why the gods have decided to do this was lost in the earliest version, but later versions state that the gods were tired of the constant noise from humans). Enki instructs Ziusudra to build a large boat, the instructions for which were also thought lost until the chance discovery of a tablet revealed them.

Dated to around 2000 BC and translated in AD 2013, it laid out instructions for a massive, round, coracle-like boat. After a flood of seven days, Ziusudra makes appropriate sacrifices and prostrations to An (the sky-god) and Enlil (chief of the gods), and is given eternal life in Dilmun (the Sumerian Eden) by Anu and Enlil. The best-known and most detailed Mesopotamian account of the flood is found in the Gilgamesh Epic which relates to Uruk's mid-third millennium BC king of the city's 'First Dynasty'.

The Sumerian king list also mentions a great flood, around which revolves the kingship itself. Excavations in Iraq have shown evidence of several floods, one of which left deposits at Shuruppak, Uruk, and Kish somewhere between 2900-2750 BC. The 'Great Flood' though seems to have been a little later, as covered under 'Before the Flood'.

None of them should be confused with the Black Sea flooding event, which occurred around two or three thousand years earlier (see link, right). The king of Kish supposedly founded the first post-diluvian Sumerian dynasty: 'After the Flood, the kingship was handed down from Heaven a second time, this time to the city of Kish which became the seat of kingship'. All dating for the king list is approximate, sometimes contradictory, and usually highly open to interpretation.

Subsequent to this major event in the collective Sumerian memory, the city states of the region emerged in full, each independent or semi-independent, each controlling a series of smaller cities, and each vying for supremacy in a crowded field, with heavily-used water supplies and grazing land.

Meskiaggasher, the first documented king of Uruk, was one of the first documented kings anywhere, and Uruk may even have driven the formation of the concept of kingship outside of tribal groups. He founded his own dynasty in the temple of Eanna (E-anna, or temple of Inanna, the holy sanctuary which is mentioned many times in the Epic of Gilgamesh).

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, Gwendolyn Leick (Penguin Books, 2001), 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 Political Change and Cultural Continuity in Eshnunna from the Ur III to the Old Babylonian Period, Clemens Reichel (List of Eshnunna's rulers, providing some names which are not on the Bruce R Gordon list as part of a dissertation proposal for the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, 11 June 1996), from Excavations at Tepe Hissar, Damghan, Erich F Schmidt (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), 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 The First Empires, J N Postgate (Oxford 1977), from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from Ancient History: A Theory About Ancient Times, L C Gerts ('List 4' of Sumerian rulers, Chapter 12: The Sumerian king list, 2002), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), from The Age of the God-Kings, Kit van Tulleken (Ed, Time Life Books, Amsterdam 1987), and from External Links: Ancient Worlds, and The Sumerian Kings List, J A Black, G Cunningham, E Fluckiger-Hawker, E Robson, & G Zólyomi ('List 2' of Sumerian rulers, available via the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford, 1998), and Ancient History, Anthony Michael Love ('List 3' of Sumerian rulers at Sarissa.org), and Eshnunna (the late Bruce R Gordon's Regnal Chronologies list of Eshnunna's rulers, providing some names which are missing from the Clemens Reichel list), and Ninhursag, Micha F Lindemans (formerly available via Encyclopaedia Mythica), and Images from History (University of Alabama), and Tepe Hissar (Encyclopaedia Iranica), and Hissar I, Erich F Schmidt (The Museum Journal XXIII, No 4, December, 1933, pp 340-365, accessed via Pennsylvania Museum), and The Flood: Mesopotamian Archaeological Evidence (National Center for Science Education).)

c.2600? BC

The Sumerian king list states that, 'After the Flood' which followed the Antediluvian period, 'the kingship was handed down from Heaven for a second time, this time to the city of Kish [and its 'First Dynasty'] which became the seat of kingship. In Kish, Gaur ruled for 1,200 years as the city's earliest king' (as far as is known).

Sumerian flood tablet

The Sumerian flood story includes a depiction of a large vessel which is packed with various objects and, presumably, animals, clearly showing a basis for the later Old Testament flood story of Noah and the ark

However, rough dating for the kings of Kish places Gaur around 3050 BC, towards the end of 'Early Dynastic I', the very start of dynastic Sumer. This is far too early for him to be able to succeed after the flood of about 2600 BC. The latter date is more realistic for him but the available dynastic list pushes him farther back, to about 3000 BC.

For the king list to work as a succession of potential over-kings or high kings, it must be Enmebaraggesi who claims the kingship, probably following his subduing of the Elamites. The names before that are simply his ancestors who rule only in Kish without any greater authority (although take note of Etana).

c.2585 BC

The Sumerian king list for the 'Post-Diluvian' period states: 'All told, twenty-three kings ruled for a total of 24,510 years, three months and three and-a-half days before Kish [of the 'First Dynasty'] was defeated in battle and its kingship carried off to [the rival city of Uruk and its core, commanding, temple region of] Eanna'.

Ziusudra of the Sumerian flood story

Ziusudra of the Sumerian flood story was either king of Shuruppak, or a prince or lord of that city, his father having been king, while he is the central figure who would later be known as Noah

c.2550 BC

The Sumerian king list now states that: 'all told, twelve kings ruled for a total of 2,310 years in Eanna [the important former temple region of Uruk] before Uruk was defeated in battle and its kingship carried off to Ur [of the "First Dynasty"]'.

c.2500 BC

Sumerians continue to control southern Mesopotamia. The major city states are: Adab, Akkad, Bad-tibira, Borsippa, Eridu, Girsu, Isin, Kish, Lagash, Larsa, Mari, Nippur, Shuruppak, Ur, and Uruk.

The minor cities and city states are: Akshak, Arina, Awan, Dilbat, Eresh, Eshnunna, Hamazi, Kazallu, Kid-nun, Kisiga, Kisurra, Kutallu, Kutha, Larak, Lullubi, Marad, Nerebtum, Nina, Puzrish-Dagan, Rapiqurn, Sippar, Tutub, Umma, Urukag, Uzarlulu, Zabalam, and Zimbir.

Lagash figurine

This figurine of a woman was dated by archaeologists at about 2500 BC, having been uncovered in the ancient Sumerian city of Lagash

By this time the scribes of Abu Salabikh bear Semitic names. Sumer is now a multi-lingual region, with at least two major languages being spoken in the form of Sumerian and Semitic (sometimes labelled proto-Akkadian, with that later being a dominant form of non-Sumerian).

Semitic predominates in northern Sumer and in northern Mesopotamia beyond that - such as at Ashur and Nineveh - as this is the route of entry into Sumer itself for Semitic-speakers.

Its use is most notable in early Akkadians, while Sumerian still dominates in the south and Amorites are already penetrating into north-western Mesopotamia to assume gradual control of small cities such as Terqa.

c.2450 BC

The Sumerian king list now states that: 'After kingship was brought to Ur [of the 'First Dynasty'], Mesannepadda ruled for 80 years; Meskiagnunna, the son of Mesannepadda, ruled for 36 years; Elulu ruled for 25 years, and Balulu ruled for 36 years. All told, four kings ruled for a total of 177 years before Ur was defeated in battle and its kingship carried off to Awan'.

The temple of Ninhursag

This illustration attempts to reassemble from the modern ruins and archaeological findings the temple of Ninhursag, built by Mesannepadda (A-ane-pada) around 2500 BC

c.2400s BC

The Sumerian king list states here that: 'After kingship was brought to Awan... [the text here has been destroyed]... All told, three kings ruled for a total of 356 years [or perhaps fifty-to-seventy years] before Awan was defeated in battle and its kingship carried off to Kish [of the "Second Dynasty", or probably instead Lagash of the "First Dynasty"]'.

More accurately it would seem that it is the Lagash of Eannatum which temporarily defeats Awan, apparently using terror as a matter of policy. This king should in theory be next in line to receive the (high) kingship but his city has been omitted entirely from the king list.

c.2400s BC

Perhaps Eannatum is the only king in this sequence who can claim the (high) kingship of Sumer but, as stated above, the king list avoids any mention of Lagash and its 'First Dynasty'. Instead it states that: 'Awan was defeated in battle and its kingship carried off to Kish [of the "Second Dynasty"]'. It would seem to be Kish which establishes regional dominance around this time.

Awan King List

The 'Awan King List' is a compilation of the rulers of the Elamite city and kingdom of Awan, one which possibly was compiled as early as 2100 BC, although extant manuscripts are between two and four centuries younger (External Link: Creative Commons Licence 4.0)

c.2400s BC

The Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought back to ["Second Dynasty"] Kish... [Susuda] ruled [for more than] 201 years; Dadasig ruled for 81 years; Mamagal ruled for 420 years; Kalbum, the son of Mamagal, ruled for 132 years; Tuge ruled for 360 years; Mennumna ruled for 180 years; Lugalmu ruled for 420 years, and Ibbi-Ea ruled for 290 (?) years.

'All told, eight kings ruled for a total of 3,195 years before Kish was defeated in battle [perhaps by Enshakushanna of Uruk during its "Second Dynasty"] and its kingship carried off to Hamazi'.

c.2430 BC

Now the Sumerian king list of the 'Post-Diluvian' period states that: 'After kingship was brought to Hamazi, Hadanish ruled for 360 years before Hamazi was defeated and its kingship carried off to ["Second Dynasty"] Uruk'.

c.2350 BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought to Uruk [of the "Second Dynasty"], Enshakanshanna ruled for 60 years; Lugalure ruled for 120 years, and Argandea ruled for 7 years. All told, three kings ruled for a total of 187 years before Uruk was defeated and its kingship carried off to Ur [of the "Second Dynasty"]'.

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)

c.2340 BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought back to Ur [of the "Second Dynasty"], Nani ruled for... [120 years]; Meshkiagnanna, son of Nani, ruled for... [48 years - and the rest is lost]. All told, four kings ruled for a total of 116 (?) years before Ur was defeated and its kingship carried off to Adab'.

c.2340 BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought to Adab, Lugalannemundu ruled for ninety years [possibly with much of this falling before he achieves this victory] before Adab was defeated and its kingship carried off to Mari'.

c.2300s BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought to Mari, Ilshu [Anabu] ruled for 30 years... [Anba], the son of Ilshu, ruled for 17 years; Bazi, the leatherworker, ruled for 30 years; Zizi, the fuller, ruled for 20 years; Limer, the gudu priest, ruled for 30 years, and Sharrumiter ruled for 9 years.

'All told, six kings ruled for a total of 136 years before Mari was defeated and its kingship carried off to Kish [of the "Third Dynasty"]'. It seems unlikely that the dynasty survives in Mari as no further names are mentioned and the city quickly falls just three decades later.

Sumerian clay tablet

This tablet from eighteenth century BC Mari contains records of food supplies, with the symbol of a human head with a triangular object in front of it being the verb 'to eat' in later Sumerian

c.2300s BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was again brought back to Kish [of the "Third Dynasty"], Ku-Bau, the innkeeper, she who made firm the foundations of Kish, ruled for a hundred years as "king" before Kish was defeated and its kingship carried off to Akshak'.

c.2300s BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought to Akshak, Unzi ruled for thirty years; Undalulu ruled for twelve years; Urur ruled for six years; Puzur-Nirah ruled for twenty years; Ishu-Il ruled for twenty-four years, and Shu-Sin, son of Ishu-Il, ruled for seven years.

'All told, six kings ruled for a total of ninety-nine years before Akshak was defeated and its kingship carried off to Kish [of the "Fourth Dynasty"]'.

c.2300s BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought back to Kish [of the "Fourth Dynasty"], Puzur-Sin, son of [the city's female "Third Dynasty" ruler,] Ku-Bau, ruled for 25 years; Ur-Zababa, son of Puzur-Sin, ruled for 400 years; Simudarra ruled for 30 years; Usiwatar, son of Simudarra, ruled for 7 years; Ishtar-muti ruled for 11 years; Ishme-Shamash ruled for 11 years, and Nannia, the stoneworker, ruled for 7 years.

'All told, seven kings ruled for 491 years before Kish was defeated [for the final time] and its kingship carried off to Uruk [of the "Third Dynasty"]'.

The ruins of the city of Kish

French archaeologists made early excavations of Kish in the nineteenth century, followed by more extensive work by joint expeditions from Oxford University and the Field Museum of Chicago in the early twentieth century

c.2334 BC

Sumerian domination of southern Mesopotamia comes to an effective end with the rise of the Akkadian empire circa 2334 BC. Following the subsequent Gutian period, there is a brief 'Sumerian renaissance' at Ur of the 'Third Dynasty' in the twenty-second century BC, but this is cut short circa 2004 BC by an Elamite invasion under the Simashki ruler. The Elamites are pushed out six years later by Amorites.

Intrusive but now-dominant Amorite dynasties in Isin and Larsa persist through a short regional dark age (of sorts) until circa 1763 BC when Mesopotamia is united under the rule of the Amorite Babylonian empire.

c.2330 BC

Now the Sumerian king list states that: 'After kingship was brought back to Uruk [of the "Third Dynasty"], Lugalzaggesi [of Umma] ruled for 25 years before Uruk was defeated and its kingship carried off to Agade [of the Akkadian empire]'.

Remains of the city of Umma

An aerial photo which reveals the mass of holes and pits which have been dug by robbers in the heavily-looted archaeological site of Umma, Tell Jokha in Iraq in 2003

c.2193 - 2192 BC

The 'Post Diluvian' king list now states: 'Who was king? Who was not king? Igigi the king; Nanum, the king; Imi the king; Elulu, the king - the four of them were kings but reigned only three years' (see post-imperial Agade).

Civil war apparently grips the city of Agade. In the north the Hurrians arise as a notably separate group which begins to dominate the upper Tigris Valley and the upper Euphrates.

c.2154 BC

The king list states: '[following Igigi, Nanum, Imi, and Elulu,] Dudu took control and ruled for twenty-one years and Shudurul, son of Dudu, ruled for fifteen years [nine]. All told, eleven kings ruled for a total of one hundred and ninety-seven years before Agade was defeated and its kingship carried off to ["Fourth Dynasty"] Uruk.

c.2100s BC

Now the king list states that: 'After kingship was brought back to Uruk [of the "Fourth Dynasty"], Urnigin ruled for seven years; Urgigir, son of Urnigin, ruled for six years; Kudda ruled for six years; Puzur-ili ruled for five years, and Ur-Utu ruled for six years. All told, five kings ruled for a total of thirty years before Uruk was smitten by the Gutian Hordes and its kingship carried off by them'.

Sumerian administrative tablet

This Sumerian administrative tablet shows five commodities which, to date, have not been identified, revealing the fact that Sumerian cuneiform scripts have not yet been absolutely and fully translated

c.2100s BC

Now the king list states that: 'After the Gutian Hordes seized kingship... Elulumesh ruled for six years; Inimbakesh ruled for five years; Igeshaush ruled for six years; Iarlagab ruled for fifteen years; Ibate ruled for three years; Iarla ruled for three years; Kurum ruled for one year; Apilkin ruled for three years; Laerabum ruled for two years; Irarum ruled for two years.

'Ibranum ruled for one year; Hablum ruled for two years; Puzur-Sin, the son of Hablum, ruled for seven years; Iarlaganda ruled for seven years; [unnamed, but actually Si'um] ruled for seven years, and Tiriga (?) ruled for forty days.

'All told, twenty-one kings ruled for ninety-one years and forty days before the Gutian Hordes were defeated and kingship carried back to Uruk [of the "Fifth Dynasty"]'.

c.2112 BC

Now the Sumerian king list of the 'Post-Diluvian' period states that: 'After kingship was brought back to ["Fifth Dynasty"] Uruk, Utuhegal ruled for seven years, six months, and fifteen days before Uruk was defeated [Utuhegal died] and its kingship carried off to Ur [of the "Third Dynasty"]'.

Uruk Trough

The Uruk trough belongs to the late prehistoric period, about 3300-3000 BC, but as it was probably a cult object in Inanna (Ishtar), it may have remained in use for quite some time

c.2017 BC

Now the king list states: 'After kingship was brought back to Ur [of the "Third Dynasty"], Ur-Nammu ruled for eighteen years; Shulgi, son of Ur-Nammu, ruled for forty-eight years; Amar-Sin, son of Shulgi, ruled for nine years; Shu-Sin, son of Amar-Sin [an error for 'son of Shulgi'], ruled for nine years, and Ibbi-Sin, son of Shu-Sin, ruled for twenty-four years.

'All told, five kings ruled for a total of 108 years before Urim [Ur] was defeated. The very foundation of Sumer was torn out [as a result of outsiders claiming superiority and the worldwide climate-induced farming catastrophe], and its kingship carried off to Isin'.

c.2004 BC

Ancient Babylon

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

c.1840 BC

Now the king list states that: 'After kingship was brought to Isin, Ishbi-Erra ruled for thirty-three years; Shuilishu, son of Ishbi-Erra, ruled for ten years; Idin-Dagan, son of Shuilishu, ruled for twenty-one years; Ishme-Dagan, son of Idin-Dagan, ruled for twenty years; Lipit-Ishtar, son of Ishme-Dagan, ruled for eleven years.

'Ur-Ninurta ruled for twenty-eight years; Bur-Sin, son of Ur-Ninurta, ruled for twenty-one years; Lipit-Enlil, son of Bur-Sin, ruled for five years; Erraimitti ruled for eight years; Enlil-bani ruled for twenty-four years; Zambia ruled for three years; Iterpisha ruled for four years; Urdukuga ruled for four years, and Sinmagir ruled for eleven years.

'All told, fourteen kings ruled for a total of 203 years'. The Sumerian king list ends here, having been supported by an Isin which has been very keen to establish its authenticity and right to rule but which is soon superseded by Babylonia.

The Kültepe tablets

The Kültepe tablets were written by Assyrian traders who were based at Kanesh between 1920-1740 BC, recording business transactions in the Old Assyrian dialect of Akkadian

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