Third Dynasty of Ur
Encyclopedia
The Third Dynasty of Ur, also known as the Neo-Sumerian Empire or the Ur III Empire refers simultaneously to a 21st
to 20th century BC
(short chronology) Sumer
ian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur
and a short-lived territorial-political state that some historians regard as a nascent empire
. The Third Dynasty of Ur is commonly abbreviated as Ur III by historians of the period.
The Third Dynasty of Ur came to preeminent power in Mesopotamia
after several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian
kings. It controlled the cities of Isin
, Larsa
and Eshnunna
and extended as far north as the Jazira
.
, and the first king of Ur III, Ur-Nammu
, is not well documented, but most Assyriologists posit that there was a brief "dark ages", followed by a power struggle among the most powerful city-states. On the king-lists, Shar-kali-shari is followed by two more kings of Akkad and six in Uruk, however there are no year-names surviving for any of these, nor even any artifacts confirming any of these reigns were historical — save one artifact for Dudu of Akkad (Shar-kali-sharri's immediate successor on the list). Akkad's primacy instead seems to have been usurped by Gutian
invaders from the Zagros, whose kings ruled in Mesopotamia for an indeterminate period (124 years according to some copies of the kinglist, only 25 according to others.) An illiterate and nomadic people, their rule was not conducive to agriculture, nor record-keeping, and by the time they were expelled, the region was crippled by severe famine and skyrocketing grain prices. Their last king, Tirigan, was driven out by Utu-hengal
of Uruk
, beginning the "Sumerian Renaissance".
Following Utu-Hengal's reign, Ur-Nammu
(originally a general) founded the dynasty of Ur-III, but the precise events surrounding his rise are unclear. The Sumerian king list
tells us that Utu-hengal had reigned for seven years (or 426, or 26 in other copies), although only one year-name for him is known from records, that of his accession, suggesting a shorter reign.
It is possible that Ur-Nammu was originally his governor. There are two stelae discovered in Ur
that include this detail in an inscription about Ur-Nammu's life. Some scholars theorize that Ur-Nammu led a revolt against Utu-hengal, deposed him, and seized control of the region through force.
Another hypothesis is that Ur-Nammu was a close relative to Utu-hengal, and the latter had asked the former to rule over the city of Ur in his name. After four years of ruling in Ur, Ur-Nammu rose to prominence as a warrior-king when he crushed the ruler of Lagash
in battle, killing the king himself. After this battle, Ur-Nammu seems to have earned the title 'king of Sumer and Agade.'
The details of how the kingdom switched hands are unclear, but some scholars oppose the idea that Ur-Nammu staged a hostile takeover. For one thing, Ur and Uruk continued to foster, seemingly uninterrupted, a close relationship. Also, Mesopotamian kings tended to disparage publicly any rulers they were able to defeat, but no such evidence exists to show that Ur-Nammu fought against Utu-hengal.
Ur's dominance over the Neo-Sumerian Empire was consolidated with the famous Code of Ur-Nammu
, probably the first such law-code for Mesopotamia since that of Urukagina
of Lagash
centuries earlier.
Many significant changes occurred in the empire under Shulgi
's reign. He took steps to centralize and standardize the procedures of the empire. He is credited with standardizing administrative processes, archival documentation, the tax system, and the national calendar. He established a standing army of Ur. Shulgi was deified during his lifetime, an honor usually reserved for dead kings.
With the fall of the Ur III Dynasty after an Elam
ite invasion in 1940 BC, Babylonia
fell under foreign (Amorite
) influence.
Short chronology
Alternative Middle chronology
. It is quite similar to the famous codex of Hammurabi
, resembling its prologue and bodily structure. Extant copies, written in Old Babylonian
, exist from Nippur
, Sippar
, and also Ur
itself. Although the prologue credits Ur-Nammu
, the author is still somewhat under dispute; some scholars attribute it to his son, Shulgi
.
The prologue to the law-code, written in the first person, established the king as the beacon of justice for his land, a role that previous kings normally did not play. He claims to want justice for all, including traditionally unfortunate groups in the kingdom like the widower or the orphan.
More legal disputes were dealt with locally by government officials called mayors, although their decision could be appealed and eventually overthrown by the provincial governor. Sometimes legal disputes were publicly aired with witnesses present at a place like the town square or in front of the temple. However, the image of the king as the supreme judge of the land took hold, and this image appears in many literary works and poems. Citizens sometimes wrote letters of prayer to the king, either present or past.
systems and centralization of agriculture. An enormous labor force was amassed to work in agriculture, particularly in irrigation, harvesting, and sowing.
Textiles were a particularly important industry in Ur during this time. The textile industry was run by the state. Men, women, and children alike were employed to produce wool and linen clothing. The detailed documents from the administration of this period exhibit a startling amount of centralization; some scholars have gone so far as to say no other period in Mesopotamian history reached the same level.
Trading was another huge industry. The state employed independent merchants to run such commercial activities through a barter system. A standard system of weights was established to aid this process. Coins made of copper, bronze, gold, or silver were produced in certain, pre-set weights so merchants could easily discern values.
). In certain tumultuous regions, military commanders assumed more power in governing.
Each province contained a redistribution center where provincial taxes would all go to be shipped to the capital. Taxes could be payable in various forms, from crops to livestock to land. The government would then apportion out goods as needed, including giving food rations to the needy and funding temples.
Certain groups indeed seem to work under compulsion. Others work in order to keep property or get rations from the state. Still other laborers were free men and women for whom social mobility was a possibility. Many families travelled together in search of labor. Such laborers could amass private property and even be promoted to higher positions. This is quite a different picture of a laborer's life than the previous belief that they were afforded no way to move out of the social group they were born into.
Slaves also made up a crucial group of labor for the state. One scholar estimates [citation missing] that 2/5 of chattel slaves mentioned in documents were not born slaves but became slaves due to accumulating debt, being sold by family members, or other reasons. However, one surprising feature of this period is that slaves seem to have been able to accumulate some assets and even property during their lifetimes such that they could buy their freedom. Extant documents give details about specific deals for slaves' freedoms negotiated with slaveowners.
Some scholars believe that the Uruk epic
of Gilgamesh
was written down during this period into its classic Sumerian
form. The Ur III Dynasty attempted to establish ties to the early kings of Uruk by claiming to be their familial relations.
For example, the Ur III kings often claimed Gilgamesh's divine parents, Ninsun
and Lugalbanda
, as their own, probably to evoke a comparison to the epic hero.
Another text from this period, known as "The Death of Urnammu," contains an underworld scene in which Ur-Nammu showers "his brother Gilgamesh" with gifts.
21st century BC
The 21st century BC is a century which lasted from the year 2100 BC to 2001 BC.- Events :Note: all dates from this long ago should be regarded as either approximate or conjectural; there are no absolutely certain dates, and multiple competing reconstructed chronologies, for this time period.* c....
to 20th century BC
20th century BC
The 20th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 2000 BC to 1901 BC.-Events:* 2000 BC: Arrival of the ancestors of the Latins in Italy.* 2000 BC: Town of Mantua was presumably founded.* 2000 BC: Stonehenge is believed to have been completed....
(short chronology) Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur
Ur
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
and a short-lived territorial-political state that some historians regard as a nascent empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
. The Third Dynasty of Ur is commonly abbreviated as Ur III by historians of the period.
The Third Dynasty of Ur came to preeminent power in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
after several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian
Gutian
Gutian may refer to:* Gutian County, county in Ningde Municipality, Fujian, China** Gutian Massacre, massacre of Christians in Gutian County* Gutian , town in Shanghang County, Longyan Municipality, Fujian, China...
kings. It controlled the cities of Isin
Isin
Isin was an ancient city-state of lower Mesopotamia about 20 miles south of Nippur at the site of modern Ishan al-Bahriyat in Iraq's Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate.-History:...
, Larsa
Larsa
Larsa was an important city of ancient Sumer, the center of the cult of the sun god Utu. It lies some 25 km southeast of Uruk in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate, near the east bank of the Shatt-en-Nil canal at the site of the modern settlement Tell as-Senkereh or Sankarah.-History:According to...
and Eshnunna
Eshnunna
Eshnunna was an ancient Sumerian city and city-state in central Mesopotamia. Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu.The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak .- History :Occupied from the Jemdet...
and extended as far north as the Jazira
Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey which is known by the traditional Arabic name of Al-Jazira , variously transliterated into Roman script as Djazirah, Djezirah and Jazirah...
.
History
The Third Dynasty of Ur arose some time after the fall of the Akkad Dynasty. The period between the last powerful king of the Akkad Dynasty, Shar-kali-sharriShar-Kali-Sharri
Shar-Kali-Sharri was a king of the Akkadian Empire.According to the Sumerian king list, he was the son of Naram-sin and reigned for 25 years - around 2100 BC...
, and the first king of Ur III, Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule...
, is not well documented, but most Assyriologists posit that there was a brief "dark ages", followed by a power struggle among the most powerful city-states. On the king-lists, Shar-kali-shari is followed by two more kings of Akkad and six in Uruk, however there are no year-names surviving for any of these, nor even any artifacts confirming any of these reigns were historical — save one artifact for Dudu of Akkad (Shar-kali-sharri's immediate successor on the list). Akkad's primacy instead seems to have been usurped by Gutian
Gutian
Gutian may refer to:* Gutian County, county in Ningde Municipality, Fujian, China** Gutian Massacre, massacre of Christians in Gutian County* Gutian , town in Shanghang County, Longyan Municipality, Fujian, China...
invaders from the Zagros, whose kings ruled in Mesopotamia for an indeterminate period (124 years according to some copies of the kinglist, only 25 according to others.) An illiterate and nomadic people, their rule was not conducive to agriculture, nor record-keeping, and by the time they were expelled, the region was crippled by severe famine and skyrocketing grain prices. Their last king, Tirigan, was driven out by Utu-hengal
Utu-hengal
Utu-hengal was one of the first native kings of Sumer after centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule....
of Uruk
Uruk
Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Uruk gave its name to the Uruk...
, beginning the "Sumerian Renaissance".
Following Utu-Hengal's reign, Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule...
(originally a general) founded the dynasty of Ur-III, but the precise events surrounding his rise are unclear. The Sumerian king list
Sumerian king list
The Sumerian King List is an ancient manuscript originally recorded in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer from Sumerian and neighboring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths, and the locations of "official" kingship...
tells us that Utu-hengal had reigned for seven years (or 426, or 26 in other copies), although only one year-name for him is known from records, that of his accession, suggesting a shorter reign.
It is possible that Ur-Nammu was originally his governor. There are two stelae discovered in Ur
Ur
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
that include this detail in an inscription about Ur-Nammu's life. Some scholars theorize that Ur-Nammu led a revolt against Utu-hengal, deposed him, and seized control of the region through force.
Another hypothesis is that Ur-Nammu was a close relative to Utu-hengal, and the latter had asked the former to rule over the city of Ur in his name. After four years of ruling in Ur, Ur-Nammu rose to prominence as a warrior-king when he crushed the ruler of Lagash
Lagash
Lagash is located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East...
in battle, killing the king himself. After this battle, Ur-Nammu seems to have earned the title 'king of Sumer and Agade.'
The details of how the kingdom switched hands are unclear, but some scholars oppose the idea that Ur-Nammu staged a hostile takeover. For one thing, Ur and Uruk continued to foster, seemingly uninterrupted, a close relationship. Also, Mesopotamian kings tended to disparage publicly any rulers they were able to defeat, but no such evidence exists to show that Ur-Nammu fought against Utu-hengal.
Ur's dominance over the Neo-Sumerian Empire was consolidated with the famous Code of Ur-Nammu
Code of Ur-Nammu
The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today. It was written in the Sumerian language circa 2100 BC-2050 BC...
, probably the first such law-code for Mesopotamia since that of Urukagina
Urukagina
Urukagina , alternately rendered as Uruinimgina or Irikagina, was a ruler of the city-state Lagash in Mesopotamia...
of Lagash
Lagash
Lagash is located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East...
centuries earlier.
Many significant changes occurred in the empire under Shulgi
Shulgi
Shulgi of Urim was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2029 BCE–1982 BCE...
's reign. He took steps to centralize and standardize the procedures of the empire. He is credited with standardizing administrative processes, archival documentation, the tax system, and the national calendar. He established a standing army of Ur. Shulgi was deified during his lifetime, an honor usually reserved for dead kings.
With the fall of the Ur III Dynasty after an Elam
Elam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
ite invasion in 1940 BC, Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
fell under foreign (Amorite
Amorite
Amorite refers to an ancient Semitic people who occupied large parts of Mesopotamia from the 21st Century BC...
) influence.
Timeline of rulers
Assyriologists employ many complicated methods for establishing the most precise dates possible for this period, but controversy still exists. Generally, scholars use either the conventional or the low chronologies. They are as follows:Short chronology
- Utu-hengal: 2055-2048
- Ur-Nammu: 2047-2030
- Shulgi: 2029-1982
- Amar-Sin: 1981-1973
- Shu-Sin: 1972-1964
- Ibbi-Sin: 1963-1940
Alternative Middle chronology
- Utu-hengalUtu-hengalUtu-hengal was one of the first native kings of Sumer after centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule....
: 2119-2113 - Ur-NammuUr-NammuUr-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule...
: 2112-c. 2095 - ShulgiShulgiShulgi of Urim was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2029 BCE–1982 BCE...
: 2094-2047 - Amar-SinAmar-SinAmar-Sin was the third ruler of the Ur III Dynasty. He succeeded his father Shulgi .Year-names are known for all 9 years of his reign...
: 2046-2038 - Shu-SinShu-SinShu-sin was king of Sumer and Akkad, and was the penultimate king of the Ur III dynasty. He succeeded his brother Amar-Sin, and reigned circa 1972-1964 BC....
: 2037-2029 - Ibbi-SinIbbi-SinIbbi-Sin, son of Shu-Sin, was king of Sumer and Akkad and last king of the Ur III dynasty, and reigned circa 1963 BC-1940 BC . During his reign, the Sumerian empire was attacked repeatedly by Amorites...
: 2028-2004
An early code of law
One salient feature of Ur III is its establishment of one of the earliest known law-codes, the Code of Ur-NammuCode of Ur-Nammu
The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today. It was written in the Sumerian language circa 2100 BC-2050 BC...
. It is quite similar to the famous codex of Hammurabi
Code of Hammurabi
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating to ca. 1780 BC . It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay...
, resembling its prologue and bodily structure. Extant copies, written in Old Babylonian
Old Babylonian
Old Babylonian may refer to:*the period of the First Babylonian Dynasty *the historical stage of the Akkadian language of that time...
, exist from Nippur
Nippur
Nippur was one of the most ancient of all the Sumerian cities. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind," ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone...
, Sippar
Sippar
Sippar was an ancient Near Eastern city on the east bank of the Euphrates river, located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah in Iraq's Babil Governorate, some 60 km north of Babylon and 30 km southeast of Baghdad....
, and also Ur
Ur
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
itself. Although the prologue credits Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule...
, the author is still somewhat under dispute; some scholars attribute it to his son, Shulgi
Shulgi
Shulgi of Urim was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2029 BCE–1982 BCE...
.
The prologue to the law-code, written in the first person, established the king as the beacon of justice for his land, a role that previous kings normally did not play. He claims to want justice for all, including traditionally unfortunate groups in the kingdom like the widower or the orphan.
More legal disputes were dealt with locally by government officials called mayors, although their decision could be appealed and eventually overthrown by the provincial governor. Sometimes legal disputes were publicly aired with witnesses present at a place like the town square or in front of the temple. However, the image of the king as the supreme judge of the land took hold, and this image appears in many literary works and poems. Citizens sometimes wrote letters of prayer to the king, either present or past.
Culture
Even though this period is referred to as the Sumerian Renaissance, this does not imply that the Ur III kings ignored their Akkadian predecessors in favor of Sumerian culture. Rather, this period witnessed a revival of Sumerian language and literature even while the Ur III kings emphasized their ties to the Akkad Dynasty as well. Sumerian dominated the cultural sphere and was the language of legal, administrative, and economic documents, while signs of the spread of Akkadian could be seen elsewhere. New towns that arose in this period were virtually all given Akkadian names.Industry and commerce
The Ur III kings oversaw many substantial state-run projects, including intricate irrigationIrrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
systems and centralization of agriculture. An enormous labor force was amassed to work in agriculture, particularly in irrigation, harvesting, and sowing.
Textiles were a particularly important industry in Ur during this time. The textile industry was run by the state. Men, women, and children alike were employed to produce wool and linen clothing. The detailed documents from the administration of this period exhibit a startling amount of centralization; some scholars have gone so far as to say no other period in Mesopotamian history reached the same level.
Trading was another huge industry. The state employed independent merchants to run such commercial activities through a barter system. A standard system of weights was established to aid this process. Coins made of copper, bronze, gold, or silver were produced in certain, pre-set weights so merchants could easily discern values.
Political organization
The land ruled by the Ur III kings was divided up into provinces that were each run by a governor (called an ensiENSI
ENSI is a Sumerian title designating the ruler or prince of a city state...
). In certain tumultuous regions, military commanders assumed more power in governing.
Each province contained a redistribution center where provincial taxes would all go to be shipped to the capital. Taxes could be payable in various forms, from crops to livestock to land. The government would then apportion out goods as needed, including giving food rations to the needy and funding temples.
Social system
This is an area where scholars have many different views. It had long been posited that the common laborer was nothing more than a serf, but new analysis and documents reveal a possible different picture. Gangs of laborers can be divided into various groups.Certain groups indeed seem to work under compulsion. Others work in order to keep property or get rations from the state. Still other laborers were free men and women for whom social mobility was a possibility. Many families travelled together in search of labor. Such laborers could amass private property and even be promoted to higher positions. This is quite a different picture of a laborer's life than the previous belief that they were afforded no way to move out of the social group they were born into.
Slaves also made up a crucial group of labor for the state. One scholar estimates [citation missing] that 2/5 of chattel slaves mentioned in documents were not born slaves but became slaves due to accumulating debt, being sold by family members, or other reasons. However, one surprising feature of this period is that slaves seem to have been able to accumulate some assets and even property during their lifetimes such that they could buy their freedom. Extant documents give details about specific deals for slaves' freedoms negotiated with slaveowners.
Literature
Sumerian texts were mass produced in the Ur III period; however, the word 'revival' to describe this period is misleading because archaeological evidence does not offer evidence of a previous period of decline. Instead, Sumerian began to take on a different form. As the Semitic Akkadian language became the common spoken language, Sumerian continued to dominate literature and also administrative documents. Government officials learned to write at special schools that used only Sumerian literature.Some scholars believe that the Uruk epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk, modern day Iraq , placing his reign ca. 2500 BC. According to the Sumerian king list he reigned for 126 years. In the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of...
was written down during this period into its classic Sumerian
Sumerian language
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
form. The Ur III Dynasty attempted to establish ties to the early kings of Uruk by claiming to be their familial relations.
For example, the Ur III kings often claimed Gilgamesh's divine parents, Ninsun
Ninsun
In Sumerian mythology, Ninsun or Ninsuna is a goddess, best known as the mother of the legendary hero Gilgamesh, and as the tutelary goddess of Gudea of Lagash. Her parents are the deities Anu and Uras.-Myths:...
and Lugalbanda
Lugalbanda
Lugalbanda is a character found in Sumerian mythology and literature. His name is composed of two Sumerian words meaning "young king" . Lugalbanda is listed in the postdiluvian period of the Sumerian king list as the second king of Uruk, saying he ruled for 1,200 years, and providing him with the...
, as their own, probably to evoke a comparison to the epic hero.
Another text from this period, known as "The Death of Urnammu," contains an underworld scene in which Ur-Nammu showers "his brother Gilgamesh" with gifts.