A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

administrative, priestly, and professional offices and functions: ED

LÚ A, first found at Uruk (end of fourth and early third millennia)

and copied during the next millennium and a half in different cities

of the country.^17

2. C  AL

2.1 Organs of Government

The list ED LÚ A begins with the word nám-º“.“(nám-é“da),^18

meaning “king(ship)” according to second millennium sources.^19 It is

followed by nám-lagarx(¢), most probably “viziership.”^20 Both entries

occur in (published) administrative documents of the Uruk III period.^21

The offices of nám-sá, nám-umu“ “councilor” and “adviser” follow,

then nám-iri “city office.”

2.1.1 The King

2.1.1.1 The realm ruled by the nám-é“da cannot yet be determined

with certainty. It may have comprised several city-states in southern

and northern Babylonia, organized in a league under a central author-

ity (of limited power) or the provinces of a state.^22

2.1.1.2 The word lugal (= “arrum) with a clear political meaning

“king” is not attested before the inscriptions of the “Kings of Ki“,”

Me-bára-si (Me-baragesi) and Mesalim, at the end of the ED II period.

(^17) Englund and Nissen, Die Lexikalischen Listen.. ., 14–19, 69–86; MSL 12, 4–12;
Wilcke, “ED Lú A...”
(^18) Reading ti-i“-tá-for
ºg“.“at Ebla in the third millennium (MEE 3, 196:
Sillabario 1) and é“da in the canonical series Lú = “á(MSL 12, 93: 26 e“-da“.ºg“.
= “ar-ru). See MSL 12, p. 11f.; Wilcke, “ED Lú A.. .”
(^19) Englund, “Texts.. .,” 104f., with reservations.
(^20) Assuming that ›ÚB is an early writing for the word later written SAL.›ÚB
= lagarx, a synonym of sukkal “vizier” as shown by Wiggermann, “An Unrecognized
Synonym...”
(^21) Englund, Archaic.. ., 133, 144, esp. W 9656g i 1–2 on pl. 86.
(^22) The term “state” is used here for a sovereign body politic ruled by a “king”
(lugal) and of unknown internal structure which may comprise several city states.
By “city state” is meant a political entity named after a city which may be inde-
pendent, may with limited sovereignty form part of the state, and may in a cen-
tralized state become a province. It is generally ruled by a “steward” (énsi or
.).
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