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 City State of Ur / Urim
The city of Ur or Urim (modern Tell el-Mukayyar) was
located close to Eridu,
near the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris, close to the Persian Gulf (which
is now several kilometres further to the south due to silting). While it appears to
have been inhabited in the earliest stages of village life in southern
Mesopotamia (the
Ubaid Period, to 3900 BC), it seems to have been abandoned
for a time. However, by the Early Dynastic III Period (beginning circa
2600 BC) the small farming villages had consolidated into a thriving centre
of industry. Ur was by this time considered sacred to the god Nanna, and was
ruled by at least two pre-dynastic kings, whose names have been discovered
on artefacts near their tombs and who are not present on the king list.
According to the
Sumerian king list, a total of twelve
kings ruled for 396 years, three times (dynasties) in Ur. Here, List 1 is
primarily used, backed up by List 2 and List 3
(see Sumer for
details). |
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fl c.2600 BC |
Meskalamdug |
'Hero of the good
land'. Not on the king list. m Ninbanda. |
c.2550 BC |
The city of
Adab is a subject state under the control of Ur. Because
Mesilim of Kish
is active in Adab at this time, perhaps Ur may also be a subject of Kish.
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A lead tumbler from Ur of the Early Dynastic I period, 2900-2800 BC
- using lead for drinking vessels was largely restricted to this
period
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fl c. 2550 BC |
Pu-abi / Shubad |
Nin, or priestess-queen. |
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Pu-abi is a Semitic
Akkadian (her Sumerian name
is Shubad), showing just how culturally intermixed the Semitic Akkadians had
become with the Sumerians. Her tomb later reveals her to be a priestess or
queen (or both - very acceptable at this time). If she is the wife of a king
of Ur, then which one isn't known. The tomb is in the Royal Cemetery, which
serves to show later archaeological discovers Sumerian culture at its
height. It also serves as a model for similar tombs in cities in northern
Mesopotamia and
Syria such as
Tuttul. |
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Akalamdug |
Not on the king
list. |
c.2500 BC |
The probable son of Meskalamdug establishes the kingdom,
and according to the king list he gains the kingship from
Uruk. |
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First Dynasty
c.2500 - 2445 BC
Ur gained supremacy over the First Dynasty of
Uruk. The
first king of this dynasty, Mesannepadda, is identified by some as being the
same person as Mesilim of
Kish, who is
strangely absent from the king list. despite clearly having been a figure of
authority in the region. However, this raises the question of why the two
cities were subsequently ruled separately. This is the third set of entries on the
Sumerian list comprising kings 36-39. Four kings ruled for 177 /
171 years (Lists 1 & 2). |
c.2500 BC |
Mesannepadda /
Mec-Ane-pada |
Ruled for 80 years.
Also known as A-ane-pada. |
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Possibly the son of Meskalamdug (according to one artefact
found at Ur), A-ane-pada lays the foundations for the Temple of Ninhursag.
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The temple of Ninhursag, built by Mesannepadda (A-ane-pada) in around 2500 BC |
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Meskiagnunna /
Mec-ki-aj-Nanna |
Son. Ruled for 36/30 years. |
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Elulu |
Ruled for 25 years. |
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Balulu |
Ruled for 36 years.
Akshak was perhaps a
vassal state. |
c.2455 BC |
The kingship passes to
Lagash (which
is not mentioned on the king lists), along with control of Ur itself during
the lifetime of Eannatum of Lagash. |
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Second Dynasty
c.2340 - 2340 BC
Ur regained the kingship from the Second Dynasty at
Uruk.
However, the city was largely eclipsed at this time by
Akkad and very little
is known of this dynasty of kings. They were probably tributary to Akkad, at
least during the reign of Sargon and probably immediately afterwards, too.
Extremely lacking in detail, this is the eighth set of entries on the
Sumerian list comprising kings 55-58. Four kings ruled for (probably) 116
years (List 1), or three kings ruled for 582 / 578 years, or two kings ruled
for 120 + X years (List 2), or four kings ruled
for 108 years (List 3). |
c.2340 - ? BC |
(Name unknown) /
Nani / Nami |
Ruled for ?/120+x/54+x years. |
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(Name unknown ) /
Mec-ki-aj-Nanna |
Son. Ruled for ?/48 years. |
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(Name unknown) |
Ruled for ?/2/414 years. |
? - c.2340 BC |
(Name unknown) |
Ruled for ? years
(not on all lists). |
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Urim (Ur) is defeated and the kingship is carried off to
Adab. |
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Third Dynasty
c.2112 - 2004 BC
The Third Dynasty was established by the former
general, Ur-Nammu, replacing
Uruk's
final dynasty as the leading
Sumerian power. It rose to control all of
Mesopotamia, including the
Assyrian city states to the north.
Viewed as the 'last great Sumerian renaissance', the region was already
becoming heavily settled by Amorites (Martu) who would found the city state
of Isin in circa 2017 and who would later found
Babylon. Although Ur re-established Sumerian as the primary
language, it was already on the way to becoming a purely literary and
liturgical language (just as Latin would later be in early modern Europe).
Ur also traded with the
Indus
Valley peoples of
India.
Some sources name Ur-gur (or Ur-Engur) and Dungi, who
both rebuilt Naram-Sin's temple work at
Nippur, as kings of Ur in around
3000 BC, while also placing them as successors of Sargon and Naram-Sin
of Agade. This places them at no earlier than circa 2200 BC and
ties them in with the resurgence of Ur at this time. The probability is that
they were in fact Ur-Nammu and Shulgi.
This is the nineteenth set of entries on the Sumerian list comprising kings 120-124. Five kings ruled for 108 years (List
1), or four kings ruled for 108 years, or five kings ruled for 117 / 120 + X
/ 123 years (List 2). |
c.2112 - 2095 BC |
Ur-Nammu /
Ur-Namma / (Ur-gur?) |
Ruled for 18 years. Founded the dynasty. |
c.2113 BC |
Ur-Nammu subjugates the kings of
Kisurra, although vassal
kings are allowed to remain there. Ebla
also falls under Ur's control.
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Reconstruction of Ur-Nammu's ziggurrat at Ur, from C L Woollley,
1936
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c.2094 - 2047 BC |
Shulgi /
Culgi / (Dungi) |
Son.
Ruled for 48/46/48/58 years. |
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Shulgi extends his father's empire to include all of the
Assyrian
city states and their at-present non-Assyrian neighbours such as the
Lullubi. He also
re-conquers Susa from
Elam, and may
be responsible for finishing off rebuilding work at
Nippur. The vassal kings
of Kisurra are removed
entirely. In his twenty-sixth year, Shulgi attempts to forge an alliance
between himself and the king of
Marhashi, giving his
daughter, Nialimmidashu, in marriage to the king. |
c.2090s? BC |
The
Old Testament provides a list of descendants from Noah to Abraham, along
with the ages of each descendant at the time his own son is born. While many
of those ages seem plausible, the earliest do not. A rough calculation of
about twenty to thirty years for each generation supplies an approximate
date of 2090 BC for Noah. His
Israelite descendants supposedly emigrate from Ur around 1750 BC, but
while there is no confirmation either way that they have previously been
long term residents of the city or its immediate environs, much of their
story probably comes from this region (including the Biblical flood, which
can be equated with the
Sumerian Flood
story). |
c.2046 - 2038 BC |
Amar-Sin /
Amar-Suena |
Son. Ruled for 9/25
years. |
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A
great renovator of Sumer's ancient sites, Amar-Sin apparently works on the
ziggurat at Eridu,
although the city has to be abandoned during his reign.
Hamazi also becomes
part of Ur's empire at this time, while he has to campaign against Arwilukpi,
the new king of Marhashi. |
c.2037 - 2029 BC |
Shu-Sin /
Cu-Suen |
Son. Ruled for 9/7/20+x/16
years. |
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Shu-Sin
gives a daughter
in marriage to the Elamite prince of
Anshan. |
c.2028 - 2004 BC |
Ibbi-Sin /
Ibbi-Suen |
Son. Ruled for
24/25/15/23? years. Captured by
the Elamites. |
c.2026 - 2025 BC |
Eshnunna breaks away
from Ur's control in the second year of Ibbi-Sin's reign, while it seems
that
Larsa follows suit in the
following year, becoming
at least semi-independent and forming its own line of kings. In Anatolia, it
is likely that a trading colony is established at
Kanesh. |
c.2017 BC |
As
with much of southern
Mesopotamia, Ur is rapidly fading in power and
influence as harvests fail and the population declines. One of Ibbi-Sin's
officials takes the opportunity to move to the subject city of
Isin and create his own
city state: 'then Urim was defeated. The very foundation of Sumer was torn
out. The kingship was taken to Isin'.
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The ruins of the once-vast city of Ur were excavated in
1922 by Sir Leonard Wooley, which is when the Royal Tombs
were discovered
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c.2016 BC |
The province of Hamazi
is occupied and plundered by
Isin as the empire
collapses. |
c.2013 BC |
The final king of
Kisurra is removed.
Kazallu is conquered
by
Isin. |
c.2004 BC |
The
waning Sumerian civilisation
collapses when the Elamite king,
Kindattu, together with the people of Susa, sacks Ur and captures Ibbi-Sin.
The great brick mausoleums and temples of the third dynasty kings are
destroyed and the king carried off into captivity.
Isin claims the kingship. |
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Amorite Rulers of Ur
The Amorites
began to fill the void left by
Sumer's collapse by
assuming control of former Sumerian cities such as
Mari,
and by establishing powerful centralised kingdoms such as
Babylonia.
The Assyrians
also achieved temporary independence in Assur at the same time. Six years after Ur's
conquest by Elam, the city
was seized by the successor Amorite city state of
Isin, which
restored the temples, though Ur was no longer a capital city. The small city
state of Kazallu
in Akkad shares in the spoils of the victory.
This is also the period in which the early Semitic
Israelites supposedly
became émigrés from southern
Mesopotamia, after
leaving the city of Ur during the reign of Hammurabi. If not so at the
beginning, they soon became a confederation of tribes which initially settled on the
coast of the Dead Sea to form one or more small kingdoms in
Canaan. |
c.1998 - 1920 BC |
Ur is controlled by
Isin, until the governor of
Lagash (and
Larsa)
forms his own independent state in around 1920 BC, although the date is only
a rough estimate. Larsa also seizes Ur
and controls it directly. |
c.1920? - 1906 BC |
Gungunum |
Governor of
Lagash &
Larsa. Seized Ur
for Larsa. |
c.1920 - 1763 BC |
Ur remains
controlled by Larsa,
until, in circa 1763 the latter city is attacked and defeated by Hammurabi's
Babylonian empire, handing all
of its subject cities to the Babylonians. Perhaps not coincidentally, this is the
dame period in which Terah leads his people out of Ur to settle in
Harran, a city far up and to
the east of the Euphrates, near the
Hatti, where he dies. His
son, Abraham, inherits the leadership, and continues the migration of his group
into Canaan, where they settle
as the early Israelites.
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Animal figurines from Ur, possibly bulls, decorated with paint
alongside a model probably resembling a gabled hut (right) from
Tell al-'Ubaid
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c.587 - 500 BC |
New construction work is carried out at Ur under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar
II of the
Neo-Babylonian empire. The last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, also
improves the ziggurat. However the city begins a decline from around 550 BC,
possibly as a result of the Euphrates changing its course,
and is abandoned after circa 500 BC, by which time the
Achaemenid Persians are in control of
Mesopotamia. It continues in use
for some time as a necropolis. A record dated at 324 BC mentions it as being
inhabited by Arabs, but by that time its existence as a great city had been
forgotten.
The site remains largely intact, in archaeological terms, being marked even
today by the ruins of a ziggurat - a temple of Nanna, the moon deity in
Sumerian mythology - and by a settlement mound. |
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