Urukagina

Template:Short description Template:Infobox royalty Template:Location map Uru-ka-gina, Uru-inim-gina, Eri-enim-ge-na, or Iri-ka-gina (Template:Langx Template:Transliteration; died Template:Circa 2368 BC) ruled in the 24th century BC as King of the city-states of Lagash and Girsu in Mesopotamia, and was the last ruler of the 1st Dynasty of Lagash.<ref>Lambert, W. G., "The Reading of the Name Uru.KA.Gi.Na", Orientalia, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 419–419, 1970</ref> He assumed the kingship, claiming to be divinely appointed, following the reign of his predecessor Lugalanda. It is generally thought that Lugalanda lived on for 4 or 5 years after the ascension of Urukagina with the title "ensi-gal".<ref>Diakonoff, Igor M., "Some Remarks on the «Reforms» of Urukagina", Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 52.1, pp. 1-15, 1958</ref> The wife of Urukagina was named Sagsag, and a statue of her in the temple of Baba in Lagash was still being venerated centuries later in the Ur III dynasty.<ref>Jonker, G.,"The Boundaries of Cultural Memory: The Geographical and Temporal Boundaries Imposed as Conditions for Society’s Past", in The Topography of Remembrance. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 33-70, 1995</ref> When Baranamtarra, the wife of Lugalanda, died in the 2nd year of Urukagina's reign, Sagsag was responsible for the funeral and repeated memorial rites. The funeral included "177 slave-girls, 92 lamentation singers, and 48 ‘wives of elders (?)’, who participated on two consecutive days at the ‘place of mourning’ (ki.ḫul)".<ref>Stol, Marten, "The court and the harem before 1500 BC", Women in the Ancient Near East, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 459-511, 2016</ref>

In the later half of his reign, Lagash fought wars against its traditional rival city of Umma, under the rule of Lugal-Zage-Si. In the end, Lagash was destroyed and Urukagina retreated to rule at Girsu. The destruction of Lagash was described in a later lament: "the men of Umma ... committed a sin against Ningirsu. ... Offence there was none in Urukagina, king of Girsu, but as for Lugal-Zage-Si, governor of Umma, may his goddess Nisaba make him carry his sin upon his neck".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lugal-Zage-Si himself was soon defeated and his kingdom was annexed by Sargon of Akkad.

History

It is known that Urukagina was part of the Lagash structure before assuming rulership based on several text from the reign of his predecessor. In those texts his title, under the name Uru-ka, is ugula-uku₃, a high military commander. It has been suggested that his father's name was Ur-Utu. Engilsa has also been proposed but this has been refuted.<ref>Schrakamp, Ingo, "Urukagina, Sohn des Engilsa, des Stadtfürsten von Lagaš“: Zur Herkunft des Urukagina, des letzten Herrschers der 1. Dynastie von Lagaš", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 15-23, 2015</ref><ref>Sallaberger, Walther and Ingo Schrakamp, "Philological Data for a Historical Chronology of Mesopotamia in the 3rd Millennium", in History & Philology. ARCANE III, edited by Walther Sallaberger and Ingo Schrakamp, pp. 1–136. Turhout: Brepols, 2015</ref><ref>Schrakamp, Ingo, "Urukagina und die Geschichte von Lagaš am Ende der Präsargonischen Zeit", in It’s a Long Way to a Historiography of the Early Dynastic Period(s), Altertumskunde des Vorderen Orients 15, edited by Reinhard Dittmann, Gebhard J. Selz, and Ellen Rehm, Münster: Ugarit Verlag, pp. 303–385, 2015</ref> Urukagina had a son named Šubur-^dBa-ba₆.<ref>Garcia-Ventura, Agnès and Karahashi, Fumi, "Socio-Economic Aspects and Agency of Female Maš-da-ri-a Contributors in Presargonic Lagash", Women and Religion in the Ancient Near East and Asia, edited by Nicole Maria Brisch and Fumi Karahashi, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 23-44, 2023</ref> Based on textual sources, it is thought that Urukagina had another son and also two daughters, named Game₂-^dBa-ba₆ andGeme₂-tar-sir₂-sir₂.<ref>[1]Karahashi, Fumi, "Some Remarks on Women in the Presargonic E2-MI2 Corpus from Lagaš/Girsu", Dissertation, Chuo University, 2018</ref>

In what is generally considered the first year of his reign, he had the title of ensi (governor). In a text following the 4th and 5th year of his predecessor as ruler Lugalanda. Template:Blockquote

It is generally assumed that Lugalanda died very late in his 6th year or very early in his 7th year. In this early period, there was no term for a partial regnal year. In succeeding years, Urukagina took the title of lugal (king). Lugalanda appears to have had no male offspring. He is known to have had one brother, Ur-silasirsir, generally thought to have died in the first regnal year of Urukagina.<ref>Balke, Thomas, "Das altsumerische Onomastikon. Namengebung und Prosopografie nach den Quellen aus Lagas", dubsar 1. Münster: Zaphon, 2017</ref> The manner of Urukagina coming to rulership has been long debated. Earlier it was thought that he took power by overthrowing the prior administration. There is no indication of that and Urukagina regularly made offerings to the spirits of Lugalanda and his family including wife Barag-namtara, his father En-entarzi, his grandfather Dudu, and brother Ur-silasirsir and paid respects to MesanDU, who was the personal god of Lugalanda’s family.<ref>Steinkeller, Piotr, "Babylonian Priesthood during the Third Millennium BCE: Between Sacred and Profane", JANER 19, pp. 112–151, 2019</ref><ref name="Steinkeller2022" >Steinkeller, P., "Urukagina’s Rise to Power", in The IOS Annual Volume 23, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 3-36, 2022</ref>

Urukagina conducted a wide ranging civic and religious building program constructing a number of temples and other cultic sites. Template:Blockquote as well as infrastructure projects "He built [the reservoir] of the Nimin-DU canal. He built it for him out of 432,000 fired bricks and 1,820 standard gur (2649.6 hl.) of bitumen".<ref name="Frayne2008" />

The cites of Umma and Lagash had long been in conflict. Somewhere about the midpoint of the reign of Urukagina, Umma entered an expansionist phase and its ruler, Lugalzagesi, had himself declared King of all Sumer by the priests of Enlil in Nippur. After attempts at diplomacy a long war began with neither side gaining an upper hand. Finally, Lugalzagesi, prevailed apparently by changing to a strategy of destroying holy sites.<ref>Westenholz, Aage, "Diplomatic and Commercial Aspects of Temple Offerings as Illustrated by a Newly Discovered Text", Iraq, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 19–21, 1977</ref><ref>Lambert, Maurice, "La guerre entre Urukagina et Lugalzaggesi", Rivista degli studi orientali 41.Fasc. 1, pp. 29-66, 1966</ref><ref>H. Hirsch, "Die 'Sunde' Lugalzagesis", Festschrift jiir Wilhelm Eilers, Wiesbaden, pp. 99-106, 1967</ref> Template:Blockquote

Towards the end of his 10 or 11 year reign (Lagash I regnal years were marked by numbers rather than "year names" and "year 10" tablets have been found) Lagash, particularly its religious sites, was attacked and devastated by Lugalzagesi, ruler of Umma. Urukagina then changed his title to King of Girsu.<ref>J.S. Cooper, "Reconstructing History from Ancient Inscriptions: The Lagash-Umma Border Conflict", SANE 2/1, Malibu: Undena Publications, 1983</ref> A movement in population at the time to Girsu, 25 kilometers to the north, is reflected in the archaeology.<ref>[2]Goodman, Reed, et al., "The Flooding of Lagash (Iraq): Evidence for Urban Destruction Under Lugalzagesi, the King of Uruk and Umma", Geoarchaeology 40.5, 2025</ref>

There has long been speculation that Urukagina is mentioned on the Manishtushu Obelisk four times as "Iri-ka-gina, son of Englisa, ensi of Lagash". Manishtushu is generally considered to be the 3rd ruler of the Akkad though one recension of the Sumerian King List has him as the 2nd, after Sargon of Akkad.<ref>P. Steinkeller, "An Ur III Manuscript of the Sumerian King List", in Literatur, Politic und Recht in Mesopotamien: Festschrift für Claus Wilcke, ed. W. Sallaberger, K. Volk, and A. Zgoll, pp. 267–92. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2003</ref> The chronology of the period is uncertain and it is unclear how much overlap there was between the timeline of northern and southern Mesopotamia so this cannot be ruled out.<ref name="Gelb1991" >I. J. Gelb, P. Steinkeller, and R. M. Whiting Jr, "OIP 104. Earliest Land Tenure Systems in the Near East: Ancient Kudurrus", Oriental Institute Publications 104 Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1989, 1991 ISBN 978-0-91-898656-6 Text Plates</ref> It has been suggested that Urukagina allied himself with the northerner Sargon and later his sons against Lugal-Zage-Si.<ref name="Powell1996" >Powell, Marvin A., "The sin of Lugalzagesi", Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 86, pp. 307-314, 1996</ref>

The Sin of Lugalzagesi

A 10.2 cm by 9.9 cm by 2.3 cm clay tablet (AO 4162) found at Girsu lists the outrages against the religious establishments of Lagash towards the end of the war by Lugal-Zage-Si. It has been considered a City Lament but lacks many of that types features. The text has been called by many names including "The Sin of Lugalzagesi" and "The Destruction of Lagash" and "Urukagina Lament" and "The Fall of Lagash" and also "Ukg 16".<ref name="Powell1996" />

The majority of the text is a list of the cultic sites despoiled: Template:Blockquote

followed by an indictment of Lugalzagesi:

Template:Blockquote

Reforms

There is no solid evidence for a single "reform of Urukagina" or "law code of Urukagina". Rather there are short lists of claims embedded in inscriptions on three rescensions which have differing though related text:<ref name="Frayne2008" /><ref>[3]Karahashi, Fumi, "On the Cultic Aspect of the “Reforms of Urukagina” Changes in the Festival of the Goddess Baba", Orient 55, pp. 63-70, 2020</ref>

The main version has Urukagina as "king of Lagash" dating it to the first two thirds of his reign. Also, it is dated, based on references in the text, to the 2nd year of Urukagina at the latest. Purchased on the antiquities market and thought to come from Girsu.

AO 3278 - clay foundation cone with a height of 28.2 cm and a base diameter of 16.5 cm
AO 3149 - clay foundation code with a height of 27 cm and a base diameter of 14.2 cm
Crozer Theological Seminary no. 5 - a fragment containing only a few lines.

The second version has Urukagina as "King of Girsu" so dates to the later part of his reign. Also, building activities are limited to Girsu, Tiras and Antasur, the later two locations known to have been near to Girsu.

Clay cone and jar fragments (MNB 1390, AO 12181, AO 12782, IM 5642), found at Tell H at Girsu.

The third is a damaged clay plaque (ES 1717) found at Girsu.

Unfortunately, many of the entries in these texts are obscure and difficult to read and interpret which has resulted in a number of different translations for them being extant.<ref>Foster, Benjamin, "A New Look at the Sumerian Temple State", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 225–41, 1981</ref><ref>Pomponio, Francesco, "Urukagina 4 VII 11 and an Administrative Term from the Ebla Texts", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 96–100, 1984</ref>

Example of one change in the Reforms

Before - When a corpse was brought to the grave, the undertaker took his seven jugs (140 l.) of beer, his 420 loaves of bread, 2 gur (72 l.) of azi-grain, one woolen garment, one lead goat, and one bed. The wailing women took one ul (36 l.) of barley. When a man was brought (for burial) at the “reeds of Enki,” the undertaker took his seven jugs (140 l.) of beer, his 420 loaves of bread, of barley, 2 ul (72 l.) of barley, one wool garment, one bed, and one chair. The old wailing women took one gur (72 l.) of barley.
After - When a corpse is brought for burial, the undertaker takes his 3 jugs (60 l.) of beer, his 80 loaves of bread, one bed, and one “leading goat” and the wailing women takes 3 ban (18 l.) of barley. When a man is brought for the “reed of Enki,” then the undertaker takes his 4 jugs (80 l.) of beer, his 420 loaves of bread, and one gur (36 l.) of barley, the wailing women take 3 ban (8 l.) of barley and the eres-dingir-priestess takes one lady’s headdress, and one sila (l l.) of aromatic oil.<ref name="Frayne2008" >Douglas Frayne, "Lagas", in Presargonic Period: Early Periods, Volume 1 (2700-2350 BC), RIM The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Volume 1, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 77-293, 2008 ISBN 9780802035868</ref>

Cone fragment inscribed with part of the text of the reforms of Uruinimgina (Urukagina) - Oriental Institute Museum
Transcription of cone AO3149. Urkagina appears as "King of Lagash".
Reform text of Urukagina, king of Lagash. From Girsu, Iraq. 24th century BC. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.
Reform cone of Urukagina Louvre Museum AO 3278

Some historians assert that the "reforms" of Urukagina were inspired or copied a previous reform that enacted by Entemena:

Template:BlockquoteAs Enmetena was the Lagash king who fough Ur-Lumma, and the details of the reform are written on the same plaque, historians, including Kim San-hae has claimed this.

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:S-start Template:S-reg Template:Succession box Template:S-end Template:Rulers of Sumer

Template:Authority control

Urukagina

Contents

History

The Sin of Lugalzagesi

Reforms

Example of one change in the Reforms

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Navigation menu

Urukagina

History

The Sin of Lugalzagesi

Reforms

Example of one change in the Reforms

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Navigation menu

Search