Near East Kingdoms

Urusagrig (City) (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 city of Urusagrig has a name which has also been translated as Urusaĝrig (with the accented 'g'), or Irisaĝrig, or Iri-Saĝrig or, in Akkadian, Al-Šarrākī (and possibly Šarrākum or Sharrakum). It was located close to the small but important city of Kesh, which it administered, but as yet the name cannot definitively be linked to any modern archaeological site.

The preferred choice of a site for Kesh generally falls between Tell al-Wilayah and Tulul al-Baqarat, with the former being the favourite. This makes it more likely that Tulul al-Baqarat is the archaeological site for Urusagrig, although the reverse is also a possibility.

(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 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 Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J N Postgate (Routledge, 1994), from Women at Work and Women in Economy and Society during the Neo-Sumerian Period, Bertrand Lafont (The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East, Brigitte Lion & Cécile Michel, Eds, De Gruyter, 2016), and from External Links: Evolution of Sumerian kingship (Ancient World Magazine), and New cuneiform texts from Tell Al-Wilaya (ancient Kesh?) kept in the Iraqi Museum, Abather Rahi Saadoon (Sumerian Studies State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), and available as a PDF via ResearchGate), and Stolen Sumerian Tablets Come from the Lost City of Irisagrig, Owen Jarus (Live Science, 2018), and Two Sargonic Seals from Urusagrig, Piotr Steinkeller (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 2021, in English).)

c.2900 BC

The Jemdet Nasr period (with its type site being the city of Jemdet Nasr) now fades in favour of a new, outward-looking 'Early Dynastic' period. True writing now blossoms as it moves closer to spoken Sumerian, archives explode with mercantile records and administrative acts, and the first kings begin to appear as leading city figures take on more duties and increasing power, ostensibly as deputies of the gods themselves.

Nippur becomes the focus of Sumer's unified cult practices, in favour of Ur. Positioned centrally in Sumer, perhaps this location is more satisfactory for the region's cities. This unique status lasts until the eighteenth century BC (which witnesses the rise of Babylon). Seals mention it frequently, even when they are found in small or obscure Sumerian cities such as Abu Salabikh, Arina, Kesh, Urum, and Zabalam.

Neighbouring the city of Kesh and providing for its administration, the city of Urusagrig is first mentioned in the 'Early Dynastic'. If this city can successfully be linked to one or other of the sites of Tell al-Wilayah and Tulul al-Baqarat then the two cities are connected by a canal which fills the six kilometre distance between them.

The Second Gulf War witnessed the collapse of internal Iraqi authority and the subsequent widespread looting and virtual destruction of many ancient archaeological sites, with looted tablets which mention Urusagrig here being seized in the USA

c.2254 - 2218 BC

Facing revolts from the start of his reign at the head of the Akkadian empire, Naram-Sin remains 'victorious in nine battles' because Ishtar is on his side. He conquers Ebla in Syria, defeats a coalition which is led by Kish, another coalition which is led by Uruk (when combined these coalitions include all of the major cities of Mesopotamia), and also attacks Nippur and the Hatti.

fl late 2200s BC

Son of Naram-Sin of Akkad, and ensi of Urusagrig.

He places his son, Sharkalisharri, in control of Nippur, and another, Šaratigubišin, at Urusagrig, and also conquers the hillfolk Lullabi in the north. With Akkad declining markedly (and especially so after the death of Naram-Sin), Elam and Marhashi declare their independence (although they are again re-conquered for a time).

c.2113 BC

Ur-Nammu subjugates the kings of Kisurra, although vassal kings are allowed to remain there. Ebla also falls under control of his 'Third Dynasty' of the city of Ur, while the small city of Urusagrig becomes an important provicial centre.

The city also eventually contains three temples to deified Ur III rulers, and is visited frequently by its kings. It is the first of the Ur III rulers, Ur-Nammu, who also begins construction of the great ziggurat of Ur, to be completed by his son.

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.2094 - 2047 BC

Shulgi of Ur 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 its Simashki rulers, and may be responsible for finishing off rebuilding work at Nippur.

One of his governors of Urusagrig is known by name, that of Lubanda, although precise dates of office for him or any of the other likely Ur III governors are usually not available.

fl early 2000s BC

Ensi of Urusagrig for Shulgi of Ur.

c.2039 BC

One governor of Urusagrig for the city of Ur is known through details about his daughter, Ninsaga. He is ensi (governor) from the seventh year of the reign of Amar-Sin. He remains in office throughout the reign of his successor, Shu-Sin, and up to the ninth year of the reign of Ibbi-Sîn (around 2019 BC). His daughter manages her large estate in the city, one which includes hundreds of male and female slaves.

fl c.2039 - 2019 BC

Ensi of Urusagrig for Amar-Sin of Ur.

fl c.2019 - ? BC

Ensi of Urusagrig for Ibbi-Sin of Ur.

c.2018 BC

As with much of southern Mesopotamia, Ur is rapidly fading in power and influence as harvests fail and the population declines. Grain prices in Ur seem to increase fifteen times over, but the city's massive bureaucracy hinders it from making rapid decisions to ameliorate the situation.

The city of Malgium takes the opportunity to strike, capturing Urusagrig in the tenth year of the reign of Ibbi-Sin. Recovered tablets reveal the fact that six of Malgium's rulers control Urusagrig. They leave the Ur III administrative system in place, presumably alongside its governor and his equally-presumed successor, but the calendar is changed for that of Malgium.

fl c.2010s BC

Ensi of Urusagrig for Ibbi-Sin of Ur. And then for Malgium?

fl c.2000s? BC

Ensi of Urusagrig for Malgium? Named on a Kesh tablet.

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 Umma now ceases. Isin now enjoys a period of dominance in Sumer while a now-Amorite-dominated Ur re-emerges in a reduced state.

The city of Urusagrig continues to be occupied into the early centuries of the Old Babylonian period, but conditions are far from ideal at this time. A good deal of climatic-related dryness occurs in Sumer, and the Euphrates may change course at this time, flicking itself away from some long-established cities in the south to leave them in little more than a desert wilderness.