The Sumerian World (Routledge Worlds)

While the administrative texts from Fara had for a long time been thought of as
documents of a private administration, new research has shown that they were part of
a centralised administration with a ruler at the helm (Krebernik 1998 : 312 with further
literature).
When the texts from Tell Abu Salabikh were published for the first time (Biggs
1974 ), they created a sensation, because some of the tablets were shown to be the first
literary texts. Among them are the Kesh Temple Hymn and the ‘Instructions of
Shurrupak’, both of which were transmitted into the Old Babylonian period, some
seven hundred years later (Krebernik 1998 : 317 ). Unfortunately, much of this earliest
literature is difficult to understand because of the highly abbreviated nature of the early
writing system and because of some early experiments with different orthographies
(‘UD.GAL.NUN’).
There is some disagreement on where to put the dividing line between ED IIIa and
IIIb. Porada et al. ( 1992 : 108 ) place Ur-Nanshe of Lagash and his dynasty within the ED
IIIa period and contemporary to the Fara and Tell Abu Salabikh tablets, whereas Biggs
( 1974 : 26 ) and Bauer ( 1998 : 432 ) assume that there are one to two generations between
the Fara and Tell Abu Salabikh archives and the first ruler of Lagash, Ur-Nanshe (see
Table 6. 3 ). However, as Biggs ( 1974 ) already pointed out, palaeography is not a very
reliable chronological indicator.
The earliest ruler from the SKL, whose existence can be verified through contem-
porary sources, namely royal inscriptions (Frayne 2008 : 55 – 57 ), is Enmebaragesi

–– Nicole Brisch ––

Table 6. 3 Some kings of Early Dynastic III

Dates/ Ur I Lagash I Proposed ED IIIa/IIIb?

Period Synchronisms

ED IIIa • Meskalamdug • Ur-Nansˇe Ur-Nansˇe and ED IIIb begins
(c. 2600 – ‘king of Kisˇ’ Akurgal = either with
2500 BC) Meskalamdug Ur-Nansˇe of Lagasˇ
and Akalamdug
ED IIIb • Akalamdug • Akurgal Mesanepada of or with
(c. 2500 – ‘king of Ur’ Ur = Eannatum Mesanepada of
2350 BC) (Meskalamdug’s of Lagasˇ Ur and Eannatum
son?)

• Mesanepada • Eannatum
  ‘king of Ur’, son
  of Meskalamdug


• Meskiagnun • Enannatum I
  ‘king of Ur’


• Elili‘king of Ur’ • Enmetena
  
  
  • Enannatum II
  
  
  • Enentarzid
  
  
  • Lugalanda
  
  
  • UruKAgina/ IriKAgina
  
  
  
  

Note: Only the first dynasties of Ur and Lagash and the kings that are attested in royal inscriptions are

considered here. Royal names in bold script are kings mentioned in the Sumerian Kinglist.