Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu 𒌨𒀭𒇉 | |
---|---|
King of the Neo-Sumerian Empire | |
Reign | c. 2112 BC – 2094 BC
(Middle Chronology) c. 2048 BC – 2030 BC (Short Chronology) |
Predecessor | Utu-hengal |
Successor | Shulgi |
Consort | Watartum |
Issue | Shulgi |
Dynasty | 3rd Dynasty of Ur |
Religion | Sumerian religion |
Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian: 𒌨𒀭𒇉, ruled c. 2112 BC – 2094 BC middle chronology, or possibly c. 2048–2030 BC short chronology) founded the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule. His main achievement was state-building, and Ur-Nammu is chiefly remembered today for his legal code, the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known surviving example in the world. He held the titles of "King of Ur, and King of Sumer and Akkad". His personal goddess was Ninsuna.
Reign[edit]
According to the Sumerian King List, Ur-Nammu reigned for 18 years.[4] Year-names are known for 17 of these years, but their order is uncertain. One year-name of his reign records the devastation of Gutium, while two years seem to commemorate his legal reforms ("Year in which Ur-Nammu the king put in order the ways [of the people in the country] from below to above", "Year Ur-Nammu made justice in the land").[5]
Among his military exploits were the conquest of Lagash and the defeat of his former masters at Uruk. He was eventually recognized as a significant regional ruler (of Ur, Eridu, and Uruk) at a coronation in Nippur, and is believed to have constructed buildings at Nippur, Larsa, Kish, Adab, and Umma.[6] He was known for restoring the roads and general order after the Gutian period.[7] It is now known that the reign of Puzur-Inshushinak in Elam overlapped with that of Ur-Nammu.[8][citation needed] Ur-Nammu, who styled himself "King of Sumer and Akkad" is probably the one who, in his reign, reconquered the territories of central and northern Mesopotamia that had been occupied by Puzur-Inshushinak, possibly at the expense of the Gutians, and conquered Susa.[9][10]
Ur-Nammu was also responsible for ordering the construction of a number of ziggurats, including the Great Ziggurat of Ur.[11]
He was killed in a battle against the Gutians after he had been abandoned by his army.[7] Ur-Nammu's death in battle was commemorated in a long Sumerian elegiac composition, "The Death of Ur-Nammu".[7][12][13] He was succeeded by his son Shulgi.[4] One daughter was consecrated as the en-priestess of Nanna in Ur, taking the clerical name En-nir-gal-an-na (En-nirgal-ana). The remaining known daughter, Ama-barag, married a local man.[14]
A Sumerian literary composition known variously as "The Coronation of Ur-Nammu" and "Ur-Namma D" lists canals built by Ur-Nammu. It is known in three Old Babylonian Period recensions, from Nippur, Ur, and of an unknown provenance.[15][16]
Deification debate[edit]
Ur-Nammu is notable for having been one of the few Mesopotamian kings of the third millennium BC who was not deified after his death.[14] This is testified by the posthumous Sumerian literature which never includes the divine determinative before Ur-Nammu's name (this can be seen on the transliterations for the texts on ETCSL), the themes of divine abandonment in "The Death of Ur-Nammu", and the fact that Shulgi promoted his lineage to members of the legendary Uruk dynasty as opposed to Ur-Nammu.[17] While some translations of Sumerian texts had included the divine determinative before Ur-Nammu's name[4] more recent evidence indicates this was a mistaken addition.[17] Despite this, the belief that the king was deified after death has been expressed just as recently, demonstrating a lack of certainty on this issue (though these were written during the same year as the new interpretations of the evidence and thus could not refer to them).[18] Sharlach has more recently noted that favour for Ur-Nammu not having been deified has been accepted by many scholars.[14]
Whatever the current state of the deification debate, Ur-Nammu was clearly worshiped after his death. The palace at Tummal included funerary chapels for Ur-Nammu (e Tum-ma-al Ur-dNamma) and his wife. His wife is known to have been named SI . A.tum, read as Watartum.[19] Building materials came from as far away as Babylon, Kutha, and Adab.[20] The ki-a-nag, or funerary offerings for Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu were carried out at Tummal. As his grave was not found in Ur this has sparked speculation he was buried in Tummal.[21][22]
Year names of Ur-Nammu[edit]
Almost all of the year names of Ur-Nammu are known, documenting the major events of his reign.[23][24] The main year names are:
- "Year Ur-Nammu (became) king"
- "Year Ur-Nammu made justice in the land"
- "Year in which the city wall of Ur was built"
- "Year in which the temple of Nanna was built"
- "Year Gutium was destroyed"
- "Year in which the temple of Enlil was built"
- "Year in which the canal 'en-erin-nun' was dug"
- "Year in which the temple of Ninsun in Ur was built"
- "Year in which the god Lugal-bagara was brought into his temple"[25]
The Un-Nammu Stela[edit]
A portion of the stela fragements were found during excavations at Ur in the 1920s, primarily in 1925, by Leonard Woolley under the auspices of the Joint Expedition of The University Museum and The British Museum in the temple precinct of Nanna.
But our main discovery was made in the courtyard of E-dublal-mah and in the gate-chamber leading to it, Here there were scattered over the pavement quantities of limestone fragments, large and small, which proved to be parts of one, or possibly two, huge stelae measuring five feet across and perhaps fifteen feet high, covered on both sides with finely executed reliefs. On some pieces the stone is astonishingly well preserved, on others its surface has suffered greatly by flaking and the action of salts; the reliefs had been intentionally smashed, and the fragments scattered all over the site ...[26]
The first publisher of the stela called it the "Stela of the Flying Angels".[27] Most fragments were found near the base.[28] Some fragments had been moved and used for other purposes, including door sockets, and found on the Kassite period (c. 1595-1155 BC) levels, over half a millennium later. One side was noticeably better preserved than the other. One large fragment was recovered in the 1932-1933 season.[29] As a few fragments were found in the level from fall of the Ur III Empire the excavator indicated that the stela had been shattered at the end of the reign of the final Ur III ruler Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028–2004 BC) and the pieces later used as convenient construction material by the Kassites.[30]
The limestone slab measures 3 meters high and 1.52 meters across, assuming it has been re-assembled properly. The stela fragments have been assembled several times, beginning in 1927, each time differently. When the stela was disassembled in 1989 for study mineralogical analysis showed that several fragments did not in fact belong to the stela.[31] At the same time more fragments then in storage were identified as belonging to the stela of Ur-Nammu. This brought the fragment total to 106 including one fragment held at the British Museum (two others there are suspected as also belonging to the Ur-Nammu stela). This stela and the Utuhegal Stela were excavated at the same time and the finds divided between the sponsors. The issue of what fragments belong to this stela is still open.[32] It is currently held at the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.[33][34][35]
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Stele of Ur-Nammu, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.
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Ur Namma stele detail, Penn Museum.
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Ur Namma stele drummers Penn Museum
Artifacts[edit]
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Fired mudbrick, stamped. The cuneiform inscription mentions the name of Ur-Nammu, and there are two presumably accidentally impressed dog's paw-marks near one edge. From the Ziggurat of Ur, Ur, Iraq. Ur III period, 21st century BC. British Museum
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Cylinder seal of Ur-Nammu. British Museum.[36]
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Name of Ur-Nammu on a seal, and standard cuneiform
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"Ur-Nammu, King of Ur, and King of Sumer and Akkad" (𒌨𒀭𒇉: Ur-Nammu 𒈗𒋀𒀊𒆠: Lugal Urimki 𒈠: ma 𒈗𒆠𒂗𒄀: Lugal Kiengir 𒆠𒌵: Kiuri)
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Foundation figure in the form of a peg surmounted by the bust of King Ur-Nammu.
See also[edit]
- Nammu: the god Ur-Nammu was named after
- List of Mesopotamian dynasties
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ 𒌨𒀭𒇉 URDNAMMU / 𒍑𒆗𒂵 NITAH KALAG ga / 𒈗𒋀𒀊𒆠𒈠 LUGAL URIM KI ma.
- ^ "Hash-hamer Cylinder seal of Ur-Nammu". British Museum.
- ^ Enderwitz, Susanne; Sauer, Rebecca (2015). Communication and Materiality: Written and Unwritten Communication in Pre-Modern Societies. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 28. ISBN 978-3-11-041300-7.
- ^ a b c Jacobsen 1939, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Year-names for Ur-Nammu
- ^ García Recio, Jesús etal, "Ur-Nammá en Adab", Nomina in aqua scripta. Homenaje a Joaquín María Córdoba Zoilo, hrsg. v. Adolfo J. Domínguez Monedero, pp. 467-486, 2021
- ^ a b c Hamblin, William J., Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC (New York: Routledge, 2006).
- ^ Wilcke; See Encyclopedia Iranica articles AWAN, ELAM
- ^ Marchesi, Gianni, "Ur-Nammâ (k)’s conquest of Susa", Susa and Elam. Archaeological, Philological, Historical and Geographical Perspectives. Brill, pp. 285-291, 2013
- ^ Steinkeller, Piotr. "Puzur-Inˇsuˇsinak at Susa: A Pivotal Episode of Early Elamite History Reconsidered". Susa and Elam. Archaeological, Philological, Historical and Geographical Perspectives. Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse: 298–299.
- ^ "The ziggurat (and temple?) of Ur-Nammu". Archived from the original on 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
- ^ Shipp, R. Mark (2002). Of Dead Kings and Dirges: Myth and Meaning in Isaiah 14:4b-21. BRILL. pp. 61–63. ISBN 978-90-04-12715-9.
- ^ Kramer, Samuel Noah (1967). "The Death of Ur-Nammu and His Descent to the Netherworld". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 21: 104–122. doi:10.2307/1359365. ISSN 0022-0256. JSTOR 1359365. S2CID 163757208.
- ^ a b c Sharlach 2017a.
- ^ Hallo, William W., "The Coronation of Ur-Nammu", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 20, no. 3/4, pp. 133–41, 1966
- ^ Tinney, Steve, "Ur-Namma the Canal-Digger: Context, Continuity and Change in Sumerian Literature", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 51, pp. 31–54, 1999
- ^ a b [1]Piotr Michalowski, "The Mortal Kings of Ur: A Short Century of Divine Rule in Ancient Mesopotamia", in Religion and Power: Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond – Nicole Brisch ed., pp. 33–45, Oriental Institute Seminars 4, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2012 ISBN 978-1-885923-55-4
- ^ Winter, Irene (2008). Brisch, Nicole (ed.). "Touched by the Gods: Visual Evidence for the Divine Status of Rulers in the Ancient Near East". Religion and Power: Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond: 77.
- ^ Sollberger, Edmond, and J. A. Brinkman, "Ladies of the Ur-III Empire", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 69–70, 1967
- ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "Corvée Labor in Ur III Times", From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.: Proceedings of the International Conference on Neo-Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22–24 July 2010, edited by Steven J. Garfinkle and Manuel Molina, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 347-424, 2013
- ^ Sharlach 2017b.
- ^ Moorey, P. R. S., "Where Did They Bury the Kings of the IIIrd Dynasty of Ur?", Iraq, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 1–18, 1984
- ^ F.R.Kraus, "Zur Chronologic der Konige Ur-Nammu und Sulgi von Ur", Orientalia NS 20, pp. 385-98, 1951
- ^ E. Sollberger, "Sur la chronologic des rois d'Ur et quelques problemes connexes", AfO 17, pp. 10-14, 1954-56)
- ^ [2]"Year names of Ur-Nammu", Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
- ^ [3]Dyson, Robert H., "Archival glimpses of the Ur Expedition in the years 1920 to 1926", Expedition 20.1, pp. 5-34, 1977
- ^ Legrain, L., "'Restauration de la Stèle d'Ur-Nammu", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 111–15, 1933
- ^ Canby, Jeanny Vorys, "More on the ‘Ur-Nammu’ Stela", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 124, no. 2, pp. 323–24, 2004
- ^ C. L. Woolley, "The Excavations at Ur, 1923–1924", Antiquaries Journal 5, pp. 1–20, 1925
- ^ Leonard Woolley, "The Buildings of the Third Dynasty", Ur Excavations, vol VI, Philadelphia: Trustees of the British Museum and The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1974 ISBN 978-0686177722
- ^ Winter, Irene J., "Review of Canby, Jeanny Vorys, "The" Ur-Nammu" Stela"", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 123, no. 2, pp. 402–406, 2003
- ^ Suter, Claudia E., "Review of Canby, Jeanny Vorys, "The" Ur-Nammu" Stela"", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 109, no. 2, pp. 301–03, 2005
- ^ [4]Legrain, Leon, "The stela of the flying angels", Museum Journal 18, pp. 74-98, 1927
- ^ Canby, Jeanny Vorys, "The" Ur-Nammu" Stela", Vol. 110, UPenn Museum of Archaeology, 2006 ISBN 978-1-931707-89-3
- ^ [5]Canby, Jeanny Vorys, "A Monumental Puzzle - Reconstructing the Ur-Nammu Stela", Expedition 29.1, pp. 54-64, 1987
- ^ "Hash-hamer Cylinder seal of Ur-Nammu". British Museum.
Sources[edit]
- Jacobsen, Thorkild (1939). The Sumerian King List (PDF). Assyriological Studies. Vol. 11. University of Chricago Press.
- Sharlach, T. M. (2017a). "Historical Introduction: The Reigns of Ur-Namma and Shulgi of Ur". An Ox of One's Own: Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur. De Gruyter. pp. 3–30. doi:10.1515/9781501505263. ISBN 978-1-5015-0526-3.
- Sharlach, T. M. (2017b). "The Death of Shulgi and his Wives". An Ox of One's Own: Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur. De Gruyter. pp. 175–188. doi:10.1515/9781501505263. ISBN 978-1-5015-0526-3.
Further reading[edit]
- Badamchi, Hossein (2017). "Usurpation of Agricultural Land and Codex Ur-Namma, 39". Akkadica. 138 (2): 81–188.
- Civil, Miguel (1985). "On Some Texts Mentioning Ur-Namma". Orientalia. 54 (1/2): 27–45. JSTOR 43075307.
- Finkelstein, Jacob J. (1968). "The Laws of Ur-Nammu". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 22 (3–4): 66–82. doi:10.2307/1359121. JSTOR 1359121.
- Gurney, Oliver R. (1982). "A Gate Socket of Ur-Nammu". Iraq. 44 (2): 143–144. doi:10.2307/4200160. JSTOR 4200160.
- Kramer, Samuel Noah (1954). "Ur-Nammu Law Code". Orientalia. 23 (1): 40–51. JSTOR 43073169.
- Kramer, Samuel Noah (1983). "The Ur-Nammu Law Code: Who Was Its Author?". Orientalia. 52 (4): 453–456. JSTOR 43075250.
- Szlechter, Émile (1953). "A propos du Code d'Ur-Nammu". Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale (in French). 47 (1): 1–10. JSTOR 23295406.
- Szlechter, Émile (1955). "Le Code d'Ur-nammu". Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale (in French). 49 (4): 169–77. JSTOR 23295601.
- Yaron, Reuven (1985). "Quelques remarques sur les nouveaux fragments des Lois d'Ur-Nammu". Revue Historique de Droit Français et Étranger (1922-) (in French). 63 (2): 131–142. JSTOR 43848790.
- Yildiz, Fatma (1981). "A Tablet of Codex Ur-Nammu from Sippar". Orientalia. 50 (1): 87–97. JSTOR 43075013.
External links[edit]
- Site drawings of the temple built by Ur-Nammu at Ur to the moon god Nanna.
- Nabonidus dedication to the Ziggurat
- Foundation Figurine of King Ur-Nammu at the Oriental Institute of Chicago
- A brief description of the reign of Ur-Namma.
- I am Ur-Namma. The life and death of Ur-Namma, as told in Babylonian literature.