Second dynasty of Uruk Uruk II | |
---|---|
Dynasty | |
![]() | |
Parent family | First dynasty of Uruk |
Country | Sumer |
Current region | Mesopotamia |
Place of origin | Uruk |
Founded | c. 2500 BCE |
Founder | Lugalnamnirshumma ( reign: c. 2500 BCE) |
Historic seat | Eanna |
Titles | List
|
Estate(s) | Eanna |
Dissolution | 2350 BCE |
Deposition | 2350 BCE |
The second dynasty of Uruk (abbreviated Uruk II) was a dynasty of rulers from the city of Uruk who reign: c. 2550 – c. 2154 BCE. Uruk II is part of the Early Dynastic III period ( c. 2600 – c. 2350 BCE) of ancient Mesopotamia. It was preceded by the dynasty of Hamazi on the Sumerian King List (SKL). Only three (out of a total of nine up to fourteen) of the rulers from the second dynasty of Uruk are mentioned on the SKL. Likewise on the SKL: the second dynasty of Uruk was succeeded by a second dynasty from Ur; however, the once supposed second dynasty of Ur may have never existed.
" Lugal" (“𒈗” was a Sumerogram ligature of two signs: #1 " 𒃲" meaning "big" [1] and/or "great", and #2 "𒇽" meaning "man"; the term literally means "big man") [2] may have once referred to both/either an "owner" of a property (such as that of a boat and/or a field) and/or the "head" of an entity (like that of a family and/or household.) [3] The cuneiform sign would later go on to serve as a determinative in cuneiform texts, indicating that the following word would be the name of a king. A lugal may have headed a confederacy and/or dominion (composed of several city-states–perhaps even the whole of Sumer.) The functions of such a lugal would include certain ceremonial and cultic activities, arbitration in border disputes, military defence against external enemies, and once the lugal died, the eldest son would take over. [4] [5]
Lugalnamniršumma [a] was an ancient Iraqi ruler. [6] He reigned sometime during the Early Dynastic IIIb period ( c. 2500 – c. 2350 BCE); 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 [b] as a great king of Kish. Lugalsilâsi I reigned temp. Eannatum, Akurgal, Ush, E-iginimpa'e, and Ikun-Mari.
Meskalamdug ( r. c. 2600, c. 2500, c. 2445 BCE) may have been the son of the first archaeologically recorded ruler from Ur said to have held the Sumerian title for king ( Ur-Pabilsag). Mesannepada ( r. c. 2500 BCE) is the first king of Ur listed on the SKL. It would seem that both Akalamdug and Mesannepada may have been sons of Meskalamdug, according to an inscription found on a bead in Mari, and Meskalamdug may have been the true founder of the first dynasty of Ur.
Mesilim ( r. c. 2550 – c. 2500 BCE) may have enjoyed suzerainty over Ur and Adab. He is also mentioned in some of the earliest monuments as arbitrating a border dispute between Lagash and Umma. Mesilim's placement before, during, or after the reign of Mesannepada in Ur is uncertain, owing to the lack of other synchronous names in the inscriptions, and his absence from the SKL. Some have suggested that Mesilim and Mesannepada were in fact one and the same; however, others have disputed this theory. Both Mesilim and Mesannepada also seem to have subjected Kish, thereafter assuming the title king of Kish for themselves. The title king of Kish would be used by many kings of the preeminent dynasties for some time afterward.
In Uruk, Enshakushanna became king; he ruled for sixty years. Lugalkinishedudu ruled for 120 years. Argandea ruled for seven years. Three kings; they ruled for 187 years. Then Uruk was defeated and the kingship was taken to Ur.
Enshakushanna ( r. c. 2440 – c. 2430, c. 2430 – c. 2400 BCE) was said to have reigned for sixty years on the SKL. [7] [8] [9] An inscription stated that his father was "Elili" (possibly Elulu of the first dynasty of Ur). [10] He is said to have conquered Ur, Akshak, Kish (where he overthrew Enbi-Ishtar), Akkad, Hamazi, and Nippur—effectively claiming hegemony over all of Sumer and adopting the title Lord of Sumer and King of all the Land. [11] [12] [13] He was preceded by three rulers who r. c. 2500 – c. 2440, c. 2450 – c. 2430 BCE: Lugalnamniršumma, Lugalsilâsi, and Urzage (all of whom assumed the title king of Kish; nonetheless, neither are mentioned on the SKL). [6] He was succeeded by Lugalkinishedudu ( r. c. 2430 – c. 2365, c. 2400 – c. 2350 BCE). [7] [8]
Lugalkinishedudu may have retained some of the power inherited by his predecessors—which included rule over Uruk, Ur, and assumed the title king of Kish. [14] [15] The oldest known written mention of a peace treaty between two kings is on a clay nail found in Girsu, commemorating the alliance between Lugalkinishedudu and Entemena of Lagash. [15]
Ruler | Approximated date and length of reign | Succession and death details | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Denotes a ruler described with the
Sumero-Akkadian equivalent for the title of
king
[c] | ||||
Early Dynastic IIIa period ( c. 2600 – c. 2500 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Lumma | r. c. 2510 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Ursangpae | r. c. 2510 – c. 2500 BCE | |||
Early Dynastic IIIb period ( c. 2500 – c. 2350 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Lugalnamniršumma | r. c. 2500 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Lugalsilâsi I | r. c. 2450 BCE | |||
First dynasty of Ur ( r. c. 2600 – c. 2260 BCE) | ||||
Meskalamdug | r. c. 2445 BCE | Possibly father or son of Akalamdug | ||
Mesannepada |
r. c. 2430 BCE (80 years) |
Possibly son of Meskalamdug | ||
First dynasty of Lagash ( r. c. 2600 – c. 2260 BCE) | ||||
Eannatum |
r. c. 2430 BCE (690 years) |
Son of Urnanshe or Akurgal | ||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Urzage | r. c. 2430 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Lugalkinishedudu |
r. c. 2430, c. 2400 BCE (120 years) | |||
Lugal-kisalsi | r. c. 2400 BCE | Son of Lugalkinishedudu | ||
Argandea |
r. c. 2380 BCE (7 years) |
Unclear succession | ||
Urni | r. c. 2370 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Lugalsilâsi II | r. c. 2360 BCE | |||
Proto-Imperial period ( c. 2350 – c. 2334 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Enshakushanna |
r. c. 2350 – c. 2348 BCE (60 years) |
Unclear succession | ||
First dynasty of Umma ( r. c. 2600 – c. 2260 BCE) | ||||
Lugalzagesi |
r. c. 2348 – c. 2316 BCE (25 or 34 years) |
Son of Ukush | ||
Akkadian period ( c. 2334 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Girimesi | r. c. 2316 – c. 2300 BCE | Unclear succession |
Grandmother | Akalamdug | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mother | Meskalamdug | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mesannepada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Westenholz
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page).The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), a project of the University of Oxford, comprises a selection of nearly 400 literary compositions recorded on sources which come from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and date to the late third and early second millennia BCE.
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (
link){{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date format (
link)Images presented online by the research project Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) are for the non-commercial use of students, scholars, and the public. Support for the project has been generously provided by the Mellon Foundation, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (ILMS), and by the Max Planck Society (MPS), Oxford and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); network services are from UCLA's Center for Digital Humanities.
The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project (PSD) is carried out in the Babylonian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. It is funded by the NEH and private contributions. [They] work with several other projects in the development of tools and corpora. [Two] of these have useful websites: the CDLI and the ETCSL.
Second dynasty of Uruk Uruk II | |
---|---|
Dynasty | |
![]() | |
Parent family | First dynasty of Uruk |
Country | Sumer |
Current region | Mesopotamia |
Place of origin | Uruk |
Founded | c. 2500 BCE |
Founder | Lugalnamnirshumma ( reign: c. 2500 BCE) |
Historic seat | Eanna |
Titles | List
|
Estate(s) | Eanna |
Dissolution | 2350 BCE |
Deposition | 2350 BCE |
The second dynasty of Uruk (abbreviated Uruk II) was a dynasty of rulers from the city of Uruk who reign: c. 2550 – c. 2154 BCE. Uruk II is part of the Early Dynastic III period ( c. 2600 – c. 2350 BCE) of ancient Mesopotamia. It was preceded by the dynasty of Hamazi on the Sumerian King List (SKL). Only three (out of a total of nine up to fourteen) of the rulers from the second dynasty of Uruk are mentioned on the SKL. Likewise on the SKL: the second dynasty of Uruk was succeeded by a second dynasty from Ur; however, the once supposed second dynasty of Ur may have never existed.
" Lugal" (“𒈗” was a Sumerogram ligature of two signs: #1 " 𒃲" meaning "big" [1] and/or "great", and #2 "𒇽" meaning "man"; the term literally means "big man") [2] may have once referred to both/either an "owner" of a property (such as that of a boat and/or a field) and/or the "head" of an entity (like that of a family and/or household.) [3] The cuneiform sign would later go on to serve as a determinative in cuneiform texts, indicating that the following word would be the name of a king. A lugal may have headed a confederacy and/or dominion (composed of several city-states–perhaps even the whole of Sumer.) The functions of such a lugal would include certain ceremonial and cultic activities, arbitration in border disputes, military defence against external enemies, and once the lugal died, the eldest son would take over. [4] [5]
Lugalnamniršumma [a] was an ancient Iraqi ruler. [6] He reigned sometime during the Early Dynastic IIIb period ( c. 2500 – c. 2350 BCE); 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 [b] as a great king of Kish. Lugalsilâsi I reigned temp. Eannatum, Akurgal, Ush, E-iginimpa'e, and Ikun-Mari.
Meskalamdug ( r. c. 2600, c. 2500, c. 2445 BCE) may have been the son of the first archaeologically recorded ruler from Ur said to have held the Sumerian title for king ( Ur-Pabilsag). Mesannepada ( r. c. 2500 BCE) is the first king of Ur listed on the SKL. It would seem that both Akalamdug and Mesannepada may have been sons of Meskalamdug, according to an inscription found on a bead in Mari, and Meskalamdug may have been the true founder of the first dynasty of Ur.
Mesilim ( r. c. 2550 – c. 2500 BCE) may have enjoyed suzerainty over Ur and Adab. He is also mentioned in some of the earliest monuments as arbitrating a border dispute between Lagash and Umma. Mesilim's placement before, during, or after the reign of Mesannepada in Ur is uncertain, owing to the lack of other synchronous names in the inscriptions, and his absence from the SKL. Some have suggested that Mesilim and Mesannepada were in fact one and the same; however, others have disputed this theory. Both Mesilim and Mesannepada also seem to have subjected Kish, thereafter assuming the title king of Kish for themselves. The title king of Kish would be used by many kings of the preeminent dynasties for some time afterward.
In Uruk, Enshakushanna became king; he ruled for sixty years. Lugalkinishedudu ruled for 120 years. Argandea ruled for seven years. Three kings; they ruled for 187 years. Then Uruk was defeated and the kingship was taken to Ur.
Enshakushanna ( r. c. 2440 – c. 2430, c. 2430 – c. 2400 BCE) was said to have reigned for sixty years on the SKL. [7] [8] [9] An inscription stated that his father was "Elili" (possibly Elulu of the first dynasty of Ur). [10] He is said to have conquered Ur, Akshak, Kish (where he overthrew Enbi-Ishtar), Akkad, Hamazi, and Nippur—effectively claiming hegemony over all of Sumer and adopting the title Lord of Sumer and King of all the Land. [11] [12] [13] He was preceded by three rulers who r. c. 2500 – c. 2440, c. 2450 – c. 2430 BCE: Lugalnamniršumma, Lugalsilâsi, and Urzage (all of whom assumed the title king of Kish; nonetheless, neither are mentioned on the SKL). [6] He was succeeded by Lugalkinishedudu ( r. c. 2430 – c. 2365, c. 2400 – c. 2350 BCE). [7] [8]
Lugalkinishedudu may have retained some of the power inherited by his predecessors—which included rule over Uruk, Ur, and assumed the title king of Kish. [14] [15] The oldest known written mention of a peace treaty between two kings is on a clay nail found in Girsu, commemorating the alliance between Lugalkinishedudu and Entemena of Lagash. [15]
Ruler | Approximated date and length of reign | Succession and death details | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Denotes a ruler described with the
Sumero-Akkadian equivalent for the title of
king
[c] | ||||
Early Dynastic IIIa period ( c. 2600 – c. 2500 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Lumma | r. c. 2510 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Ursangpae | r. c. 2510 – c. 2500 BCE | |||
Early Dynastic IIIb period ( c. 2500 – c. 2350 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Lugalnamniršumma | r. c. 2500 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Lugalsilâsi I | r. c. 2450 BCE | |||
First dynasty of Ur ( r. c. 2600 – c. 2260 BCE) | ||||
Meskalamdug | r. c. 2445 BCE | Possibly father or son of Akalamdug | ||
Mesannepada |
r. c. 2430 BCE (80 years) |
Possibly son of Meskalamdug | ||
First dynasty of Lagash ( r. c. 2600 – c. 2260 BCE) | ||||
Eannatum |
r. c. 2430 BCE (690 years) |
Son of Urnanshe or Akurgal | ||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Urzage | r. c. 2430 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Lugalkinishedudu |
r. c. 2430, c. 2400 BCE (120 years) | |||
Lugal-kisalsi | r. c. 2400 BCE | Son of Lugalkinishedudu | ||
Argandea |
r. c. 2380 BCE (7 years) |
Unclear succession | ||
Urni | r. c. 2370 BCE | Unclear succession | ||
Lugalsilâsi II | r. c. 2360 BCE | |||
Proto-Imperial period ( c. 2350 – c. 2334 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Enshakushanna |
r. c. 2350 – c. 2348 BCE (60 years) |
Unclear succession | ||
First dynasty of Umma ( r. c. 2600 – c. 2260 BCE) | ||||
Lugalzagesi |
r. c. 2348 – c. 2316 BCE (25 or 34 years) |
Son of Ukush | ||
Akkadian period ( c. 2334 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Second dynasty of Uruk ( r. c. 2550, c. 2500 – c. 2154 BCE) | ||||
Girimesi | r. c. 2316 – c. 2300 BCE | Unclear succession |
Grandmother | Akalamdug | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mother | Meskalamdug | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mesannepada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Westenholz
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page).The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), a project of the University of Oxford, comprises a selection of nearly 400 literary compositions recorded on sources which come from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and date to the late third and early second millennia BCE.
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (
link){{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date format (
link)Images presented online by the research project Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) are for the non-commercial use of students, scholars, and the public. Support for the project has been generously provided by the Mellon Foundation, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (ILMS), and by the Max Planck Society (MPS), Oxford and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); network services are from UCLA's Center for Digital Humanities.
The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project (PSD) is carried out in the Babylonian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. It is funded by the NEH and private contributions. [They] work with several other projects in the development of tools and corpora. [Two] of these have useful websites: the CDLI and the ETCSL.