| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Ancient Mesopotamia |
| Euphrates Tigris |
| Assyriology |
| Cities / Empires |
| Sumer: Uruk Ur Eridu |
| Kish Lagash Nippur |
| Akkadian Empire: Agade |
| Babylon Isin Susa |
| Assyria: Assur Niniveh |
| Nuzi Nimrud |
| Babylonia Chaldea |
| Elam Amorites |
| Hurrians Mitanni Kassites |
| Chronology |
| Kings of Sumer |
| Kings of Assyria |
| Kings of Babylon |
| Language |
| Cuneiform script |
| Sumerian Akkadian |
| Elamite Hurrian |
| Mythology |
| Enuma Elish |
| Gilgamesh Marduk |
The Sumerian king list is an ancient text in the Sumerian language listing kings of Sumer from Sumerian and foreign dynasties. The later Babylonian king list and Assyrian king list were similar. The list records the location of the "official" kingship and the rulers, with the lengths of their rule. The kingship was believed to be handed down by the gods and could be passed from one city to another by military conquest. The list mentions only one female ruler: Kug-Baba, the tavern-keeper, who alone accounts for the third dynasty of Kish.
The list peculiarly blends from ante- diluvian, probably mythological kings with impossibly long reigns over to clearly historical dynasties. It cannot be ruled out that even the earliest names in the list correspond to historical rulers who later became mythological figures. Conspicuously absent from the list are the rulers of Lagash, who are known directly from inscriptions from ca. the 25th century BC. The earliest ruler in the list who is clearly historical is Lugal-Zage-Si of Uruk of the 23rd century BC, who conquered Lagash, and who was in turn conquered by Sargon of AkkadSargon ( 2334 BC 2279 BC) was the first person in recorded history to create an empire, or multi-ethnic state. His empire encompassed the region of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and part of what is present-day Turkey. His capital was Agade in Akkad.. The list is central, for lack of a more accurate source, for the chronologyThe Chronology of the Ancient Orient deals with the notoriously difficult task of assigning years of the Common Era to various events, rulers and dynasties of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. The chronology of this region is based on five sets of primary mat of the 3rd millennium BC4th millennium BC 3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC other millennia) Events Foundation of the city of Mari ( Syria) ( 29th century BC ) Creation of the Kingdom of Elam ( Iraq) Germination of the Bristlecone pine tree "Methuselah" about 2700 BC, the olde. However, in addition to the sometimes unrealistic durations of reigns, the numbers cannot simply be added because the dynasties presented to have reigned in succession, with the kingship passing from city to city, more likely reigned simultaneously, with each dynasty ruling its own city. For this reason, Common EraThe Common Era also known as the Christian Era is a designation for the period of time from AD 1 onwards, abbreviated as CE''. Any year AD is the same year CE, thus AD 500 500 CE. The term permits the use of the Julian and Gregorian calendar without neces dates of early rulers given in older publications are often given as considerably more recent today. Uncertainty especially as to the duration of the Gutian periodThe Gutian kings came to some power in Mesopotamia by destabilising Akkad at the end of the reign of Shar-kali-sharri. They were invaders from a people known as Guti or Gutii who inhabited the Zagros Mountains. The last Gutian king was Tirigan, who was pr also makes dates for events predating the Third dynasty of Ur ( 21st century BC22nd century BC 21st century BC 20th century BC other centuries) ( 4th millennium BC 3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC) Events 2130 2080 BC Ninth Dynasty wars in Egypt 2112 2095 BC Sumerian campaigns of Ur- Nammu 2064 1986 BC Twin Dynasty wars in Egypt) with any accuracy nearly impossible (see also ShulgiShulgi of Urim is the second king of the " Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2047 BC 1999 BC short chronology (also tentatively dated to 2161 BC 2113 BC on the basis of a solar eclipse). See also Sumerian king list Sumer., Ur-Nammu).