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Ur-Nammu

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Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian: 𒌨𒀭𒇉, ruled c. 2112 BC – 2094 BC middle chronology) founded the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule. Though he built many temples and canals his main achievement was building the core of the Ur III Empire via military conquest, 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.

Ur-Nammu
𒌨𒀭𒇉
Enthroned King Ur-Nammu, founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, on a cylinder seal. Inscription of the upper segment: "Ur-Nammu, the Great man, King of Ur".[1] The name of King Ur-Nammu (𒌨𒀭𒇉) appears vertically in the upper right corner.[2]
King of the Neo-Sumerian Empire
Reignc. 2112  BC – 2094  BC
PredecessorUtu-hengal
SuccessorShulgi
ConsortWatartum
IssueShulgi
Dynasty3rd Dynasty of Ur
ReligionSumerian religion

Reign

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Ur-Nammu dedication tablet for the Temple of Inanna in Uruk.[3] Inscription "For his lady Inanna, Ur-Nammu the mighty man, King of Ur and King of Sumer and Akkad":
𒀭𒈹 Dinanna.... "For Inanna-"
𒎏𒂍𒀭𒈾 Nin-e-an-na.... "Ninanna,"
𒎏𒀀𒉌 NIN-a-ni.... "his Lady"
𒌨𒀭𒇉 UR-NAMMU.... "Ur-Nammu"
𒍑𒆗𒂵 NITAH KALAG ga.... "the mighty man"
𒈗𒋀𒀊𒆠𒈠 LUGAL URIM KI ma.... "King of Ur"
𒈗𒆠𒂗𒄀𒆠𒌵𒆤 LUGAL ki en gi ki URI ke.... "King of Sumer and Akkad"

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] In the internegum after the fall of the Akkadian Empire a number of cities became independent and an area in the northeast came under the control of Elam. Ur-Nammu in his Sumerian language inscriptions reports defeating a coalition of Kutik-Insusinak, Elamite ruler, and some other cities including Tutub and Eshnunna.[8] It has been suggested that this was another name for the Elamite ruler Puzur-Inshushinak, about whom little is known. There is equal support for the idea that Puzur-Inshushinak with contemporary with Akkad ruler Naram-Sin a century earlier.[9] [10][11]

 
Ur-Nammu built the great Ziggurat of Ur.

Ur-Nammu was also responsible for ordering the construction of a number of ziggurats, including the Great Ziggurat of Ur.[12] It has been suggested, based on a much later literary composition, that he was killed in battle after he had been abandoned by his army.[7] He was succeeded by his son Shulgi.[4] One known daughter, Ama-barag, married a local man. The other known daughter was consecrated as the en-priestess of Nanna in Ur, taking the clerical name En-nir-gal-an-na (En-nirgal-ana). [13] Two inscriptions found in Ur read:

" For the goddess Ningal, his [la]dy, or the [li]fe of Ur-Nammu, [m]ighty [man], king] of the lands of Sumer and Akkad, her father, En-nirgal-ana, [e]n of the god Nanna, dedicated (this object) to her"[8]

 
Foundation statue of Ur-Nammu

A later Sumerian literary composition known variously as "The Coronation of Ur-Nammu" and "Ur-Namma D" lists canals built by Ur-Nammu.[14] It is known in three Old Babylonian Period recensions, from Nippur, Ur, and of an unknown provenance. There are a number of known Sumerian literary compositions about Ur-Namma, labeled from A to H.[15][16] The other important later Sumerian literary work is the "Death of Ur-Nammu" (Ur-Namma A), variously described as a "hymn', "lamentation" or "wisdom".[17] It describes the death, funeral, and passge through the underworld of Ur-Nammu. It is known from about 9 damaged tablets and fragments, held in various museums, which together allow restoration of much of the text. The description of Ur-Nammu's death is damaged, vague, and metaphoric, which has not stopped later scholars from interpreting it to say Ur-Nammu died in battle at the hands of his own troops.[18][19][20]

Deification debate

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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.[13] 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.[21] 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.[21] 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).[22] Sharlach has more recently noted that favour for Ur-Nammu not having been deified has been accepted by many scholars.[13]

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.[23] Building materials came from as far away as Babylon, Kutha, and Adab.[24] 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.[25][26]

Year names of Ur-Nammu

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Almost all of the year names of Ur-Nammu are known, documenting the major events of his reign.[27][28] 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"[29]

The Ur-Nammu Stela

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Stele of Ur-Nammu, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology

A portion of the stela fragments 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 [...].

— Leonard Woolley[30]
 
Ur Namma stele detail, Penn Museum

The first publisher of the stela called it the "Stela of the Flying Angels".[31] Most fragments were found near the base.[32] 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.[33] 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.[34]

 
Ur Namma stele drummers Penn Museum

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. The underlying basis for re-assembly is 1) one face is noticeably better preserved, 2) figures on the stela are larger the higher up they are, and 3) the edges of the stela are smooth. It is believed that there were originally five horizontal registers on each side. The identification and meaning of the surviving scenes has been much debated. When the stela was disassembled in 1989 for study mineralogical analysis showed that several fragments did not in fact belong to the stela.[35] 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.[36] It is currently held at the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.[37][38][39][40]

Artifacts

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    Code of Ur-Nammu
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    Fired mudbrick with stamped inscription of Ur-Nammu. There are two dog's paw-marks near one edge. From the Ziggurat of Ur. Ur III period. British Museum
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    Cylinder seal of Ur-Nammu. British Museum.[41]
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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.
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    Ur Namma cone AN1925.633
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    Three foundation cones from southern Iraq. The names of Gudea, Ur-Nammu, and Lipit-Ishtar. From Ur, Kish, and Warka, Iraq. Iraq Museum

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ 𒌨𒀭𒇉 URDNAMMU / 𒍑𒆗𒂵 NITAH KALAG ga / 𒈗𒋀𒀊𒆠𒈠 LUGAL URIM KI ma.
  2. ^ "Hash-hamer Cylinder seal of Ur-Nammu". British Museum.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ a b c Jacobsen 1939, pp. 122–123.
  5. ^ Year-names for Ur-Nammu
  6. ^ García Recio, Castro Lodeiro & Sánchez Abarrio 2021.
  7. ^ a b Hamblin, William J., Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC (New York: Routledge, 2006).
  8. ^ a b Frayne 1997.
  9. ^ Hallo, William W., "Royal Titles from the Mesopotamian Periphery", Anatolian Studies, vol. 30, pp. 189–95, 1980
  10. ^ Marchesi 2013.
  11. ^ Steinkeller 2013a.
  12. ^ "The ziggurat (and temple?) of Ur-Nammu". Archived from the original on 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
  13. ^ a b c Sharlach 2017a.
  14. ^ "Ur-Namma the canal-digger (Ur-Namma D)" at ETSCL
  15. ^ Hallo 1966.
  16. ^ Tinney 1999.
  17. ^ "The death of Ur-Namma (Ur-Namma A)" at ETSCL
  18. ^ Kramer, Samuel Noah, "The Death of Ur-Nammu and His Descent to the Netherworld", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 21, pp. 104–22, 1967
  19. ^ Castellino, G., "Urnammu. Three Religious Texts", in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 52, pp. 1-57, 1957
  20. ^ Kramer, Samuel Noah, "The Death of Ur-Nammu", in Near Eastern Studies. Dedicated to H.I.H. Prince Takahito Mikasa on the Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday.. Mori, Masao, Ogawa, Hideo, and Yoshikawa, Mamoru (ed). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, pp. 193-214, 1991
  21. ^ a b Michalowski 2012.
  22. ^ Winter 2008, p. 77.
  23. ^ Sollberger & Brinkman 1967.
  24. ^ Steinkeller 2013b.
  25. ^ Sharlach 2017b.
  26. ^ Moorey 1984.
  27. ^ Kraus 1951.
  28. ^ Sollberger 1956.
  29. ^ [1]"Year names of Ur-Nammu", Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
  30. ^ Dyson 1977, pp. 15–16.
  31. ^ Legrain 1933.
  32. ^ Canby 2004.
  33. ^ Woolley 1925.
  34. ^ Woolley 1974.
  35. ^ Winter 2003.
  36. ^ Suter 2005.
  37. ^ Legrain 1927.
  38. ^ Canby 2006.
  39. ^ Canby 1987.
  40. ^ Reade 2001.
  41. ^ "Hash-hamer Cylinder seal of Ur-Nammu". British Museum.

Sources

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Further reading

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  • 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.
  • Jordan, Julius (1932). "Die beiden Tieftempel mit den Aufgängen zur Eanna-Zikurrat aus der Zeit nach Urnammu". Dritter vorläufiger Bericht über die von der Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft in Uruk unternommenen Ausgrabungen (in German). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. pp. 31–35. doi:10.1515/9783112519349. ISBN 978-3-11-251934-9.
  • 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.
  • [2]Zettler, Richard L., "Archaeology and the problem of textual evidence for the Third Dynasty of Ur", Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 38, pp. 49-62, 2003
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Regnal titles
Preceded by
Utu-hengal
(Fifth dynasty of Uruk)
 King of Ur, Sumer and Akkad
ca. 21st century BC 		Succeeded by
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