The Sumerian King List (abbreviated SKL) or Chronicle of the One Monarchy is an ancient literary composition written in Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims to power of various city-states and kingdoms in southern Mesopotamia during the late third and early second millennium BC. It should also be noted that what is commonly referred to as the Sumerian King List, is in reality not a single text. Rather, it is a literary composition of which different versions existed through time in which sections were missing, arranged in a different order, and names, reigns and details on kings were different or absent.
There is only one manuscript that contains a relatively undamaged version of the composition. This is the Weld-Blundell Prism which includes the antediluvian part of the composition and ends with the Isin dynasty. Other manuscripts are incomplete because they are damaged or fragmentary. The Scheil dynastic tablet, from Susa, for example, only contains parts of the composition running from Uruk II to Ur III.
The majority of the sources are dated to the Old Babylonian period (early second millennium BC), and more specifically the early part of that era. In many cases, a more precise dating is not possible, but in one case, the Weld-Blundell prism, it could be dated to year 11 of the reign of king Sin-Magir of Isin, the last ruler to be mentioned in the Sumerian King List. The so-called Ur III Sumerian King List (USKL), on a clay tablet possibly found in Adab, is the only known version of the SKL that predates the Old Babylonian period. The colophon of this text mentions that it was copied during the reign of Shulgi (2084–2037 BC), the second king of the Ur III dynasty. The USKL is especially interesting because its pre-Sargonic part is completely different from that of the SKL. Whereas the SKL records many different dynasties from several cities, the USKL starts with a single long list of rulers from Kish (including rulers who, in the SKL were part of different Kish dynasties), followed by a few other dynasties, followed again by the kings of Akkad.
Contents
The sources differ in their exact contents. This is not only the result of many sources being fragmentary, it is also the result of scribal errors made during copying of the composition, and of the fact that changes were made to the composition through time. For example, the section on rulers before the flood is not present in every copy of the text, including every text from Nippur, where the majority of versions of the SKL were found. Also, the order of some of the dynasties or kings may be changed between copies, some dynasties that were separately mentioned in one version are taken together in another, details on the lengths of individual reigns vary, and individual kings may be left out entirely.
Lines 1–39: Before the flood
This section, which is not present in every copy of the text, opens with the line "After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu." Two kings of Eridu are mentioned, before the city "fell" and the "kingship was taken to Bad-tibira". This pattern of cities receiving kingship and then falling or being defeated, only to be succeeded by the next, is present throughout the entire text, often in the exact same words. This first section lists eight kings who ruled over five cities (apart from Eridu and Bad-tibira, these also included Larag, Zimbir and Shuruppak). The duration of each reign is also given. In this first section, the reigns vary between 43,200 and 28,800 years for a total of 241,200 years. The section ends with the line "Then the flood swept over". Among the kings mentioned in this section is the ancient Mesopotamian god Dumuzid (the later Tammuz).
Lines 40–265: First dynasty of Kish to Lugal-zage-si
"After the flood had swept over, and the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish." After this well-known line, the section goes on to list 23 kings of Kish, who ruled between 1500 and 300 years for a total of 24,510 years. The exact number of years varies between copies. Apart from the lengths of their reigns and whether they were the son of their predecessor (for example, "Mashda, the son of Atab, ruled for 840 years"), no other details are usually given on the exploits of these kings. Exceptions are Etana, "who ascended to heaven and consolidated all the foreign countries" and Enmebaragesi, "who made the land of Elam submit". Enmebaragesi is also the first king in the Sumerian King List whose name is attested from contemporaneous (Early Dynastic I) inscriptions. His successor Aga of Kish, the final king mentioned before Kish fell and kingship was taken to E-ana, also appears in the poem Gilgamesh and Aga.
The next lines, up until Sargon of Akkad, show a steady succession of cities and kings, usually without much detail beyond the lengths of the individual reigns. Every entry is structured exactly the same: the city where kingship is located is named, followed by one or more kings and how long they reigned, followed by a summary and a final line indicating where kingship went next. Lines 134–147 may serve as an example:<blockquote>In Ur, Mesannepada became king; he ruled for 80 years. Meskiagnun, the son of Mesannepada, became king; he ruled for 36 years. Elulu ruled for 25 years. Balulu ruled for 36 years. 4 kings; they ruled for 171 years. Then Ur was defeated and the kingship was taken to Awan. Four kings are mentioned to have ruled for a total of only three years. Of the Akkadian kings mentioned after Shar-kali-sharri, only the names of Dudu and Shu-turul have been attested in inscriptions dating from the Akkadian period. The Akkadian dynasty is succeeded by the fourth dynasty of Uruk, two kings of which, Ur-nigin and his son Ur-gigir, appear in other contemporary inscriptions. Kingship was then taken to the "land" or "army" of Gutium, of which it was said that at first they had no kings and that they ruled themselves for a few years. After this short episode, 21 Gutian kings are listed before the fall of Gutium and kingship was taken to Uruk. Only one ruler is listed during this period of kingship (Utu-hegal), before it moved on to Ur. The so-called Third Dynasty of Ur consisted of 5 kings who ruled between 9 and 46 years. No other details of their exploits are given. The Sumerian King List remarks that, after the rule of Ur was abolished, "The very foundation of Sumer was torn out", after which kingship was taken to Isin. The kings of Isin are the final dynasty that is included in the list. The dynasty consisted of 14 kings who ruled between 3 and 33 years. As with the Ur III dynasty, no details are given on the reigns of individual kings.
Lines 378–431: Conclusion
Some versions of the Sumerian King List conclude with a summary of the dynasties after the flood. In this summary, the number of kings and their accumulated regnal years are mentioned for each city, as well as the number of times that city had received kingship: "A total of 12 kings ruled for 396 years, 3 times in Urim." The final line again tallies the numbers for all these dynasties: "There are 11 cities, cities in which the kingship was exercised. A total of 134 kings, who altogether ruled for 28876 + X years."
Discussion
Assyriologist Piotr Steinkeller has observed that, with the exception of the Epic of Gilgamesh, there might not be a single cuneiform text with as much "name recognition" as the Sumerian King List. The SKL might also be among the compositions that have fuelled the most intense debate and controversy among academia. These debates generally focused on when, where and why it was created, and if and how the text can be used in the reconstruction of the political history of Mesopotamia during the third and second millennia BC. One version, the Ur III Sumerian King List (USKL) dates to the reign of Shulgi (2084–2037 BC). By carefully comparing the different versions, especially the USKL with the much later Old Babylonian versions of the SKL, it has been shown that the composition that is now known as the SKL was probably first created in the Sargonic period in a form very similar to the USKL. It has even been suggested that this precursor of the SKL was not written in Sumerian, but in Akkadian. The original contents of the USKL, especially the pre-Sargonic part, were probably significantly altered only after the Ur III period, as a reaction to the societal upheaval that resulted from the disintegration of the Ur III state at the end of the third millennium BC. This altering of the composition meant that the original long, uninterrupted list of kings of Kish was cut up in smaller dynasties (e.g. Kish I, Kish II, and so forth), and that other dynasties were inserted. The result was the SKL as it is known from Old Babylonian manuscripts such as the Weld-Blundell prism. The cyclical change of kingship from one city to the next became a so-called Leitmotif, or recurring theme, in the Sumerian King List. Instead, it has been suggested that the SKL, in its various redactions, was used by contemporary rulers to legitimize their claims to power over Babylonia. Jacobsen has been criticised for putting too much faith in the reliability of the king list, for making wishful reconstructions and readings of incomplete parts of the list, for ignoring inconsistencies between the SKL and other textual evidence, and for ignoring the fact that only very few of the pre-Sargonic rulers have been attested in contemporaneous (i.e. Early Dynastic) inscriptions.
Others have attempted to reconcile the reigns in the Sumerian King List by arguing that many time spans were actually consciously invented, mathematically derived numbers. Rowton, for example, observed that a majority of the reigns in the Gutian dynasty were 5, 6, or 7 years in length. In the sexagesimal system used at that time, "about 6 years" would be the same as "about 10 years" in a decimal system (i.e. a general round number). This was sufficient evidence for him to conclude that at least these figures were completely artificial. The longer time spans from the first part of the list could also be argued to be artificial: various reigns were multiples of 60 (e.g. Jushur reigned for 600 years, Puannum ruled for 840 years) while others were squares (e.g. Ilku reigned for 900 years (square of 30) while Meshkiangasher ruled for 324 years (square of 18)).
During the last few decades, scholars have taken a more careful approach. For example, many recent handbooks on the archaeology and history of ancient Mesopotamia all acknowledge the problematic nature of the SKL and warn that the list's use as a historical document for that period is severely limited up to the point that it should not be used at all.
Thus, in the absence of independent sources from the Early Dynastic period itself, the pre-Sargonic part of the SKL must be considered fictional. Many of the rulers in the pre-Sargonic part (i.e. prior to Sargon of Akkad) of the list must therefore be considered as purely fictional or mythological characters to which reigns of hundreds of years were assigned. However, there is a small group of pre-Sargonic rulers in the SKL whose names have been attested in Early Dynastic inscriptions. This group consists of seven rulers: Enmebaragesi, Gilgamesh, Mesannepada, Meskiagnun, Elulu, Enshakushanna and Lugal-zage-si. Not only are most of the kings attested in other contemporaneous documents, but the reigns attributed to them in the SKL are more or less in line with what can be established from those other sources. This is probably due to the fact that the compilers of the SKL could rely on lists of year names, which came in regular use during the Akkadian period. Other sources may have included votive and victory inscriptions.
Rulers in the Sumerian King List
Early dates are approximate, and are based on available archaeological data. For most of the pre-Akkadian rulers listed, the king list is itself the source of information. Beginning with Lugal-zage-si and the Third Dynasty of Uruk (which was defeated by Sargon of Akkad), a better understanding of how subsequent rulers fit into the chronology of the ancient Near East can be deduced. The short chronology is used here.
Antediluvian rulers
None of the following predynastic antediluvian rulers have been verified as historical by archaeological excavations, epigraphical inscriptions or otherwise. While there is no evidence they ever reigned as such, the Sumerians purported them to have lived in the mythical era before the great deluge.
The "antediluvian" reigns were measured in Sumerian numerical units known as sars (units of 3,600), ners (units of 600), and sosses (units of 60). Attempts have been made to map these numbers into more reasonable regnal lengths.
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|-bgcolor="#F6E6AE"
! Ruler !! !! Epithet !! Length of reign !! dates !! Comments
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridug."
|-
| Alulim || || || 8 sars (28,800 years)
|
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;"|center|400px<br>Weld-Blundell Prism: initial paragraph about rule of Alulim and Alalngar in Eridu for 64,800 years. A variant of the document gives a different set of rulers with completely different regnal dates.
|-
| Alalngar || || || 10 sars (36,000 years) ||
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Then Eridug fell and the kingship was taken to Bad-tibira."
|-
| En-men-lu-ana || || || 12 sars (43,200 years) || ||
|-
| En-men-gal-ana || || || 8 sars (28,800 years) || ||
|-
| Dumuzid|| 40px || "the shepherd" || 10 sars (36,000 years) || ||Dumuzid was deified and was the object of later devotional depictions, as the husband of goddess Inanna.
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Then Bad-tibira fell and the kingship was taken to Larag."
|-
| En-sipad-zid-ana || || || 8 sars (28,800 years) || ||
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Then Larag fell and the kingship was taken to Zimbir."
|-
| En-men-dur-ana || || || 5 sars and 5 ners (21,000 years) || ||Emmeduranki was taught arts of divination, such as how to inspect oil on water and how to discern messages in the liver of animals and several other divine secrets.
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Then Zimbir fell and the kingship was taken to Shuruppag."
|-
| Ubara-Tutu || || || 5 sars and 1 ner (18,600 years) || ||Father of Utnapishtim in Epic of Gilgamesh
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Then the flood swept over."
|}
First dynasty of Kish
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|-bgcolor="#F6E6AE"
! Ruler !! !!Epithet !! Length of reign !! Approx. dates !! Comments
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish."
|-
| Jushur || || || 1,200 years || historicity uncertain || Names before Etana are archaeologically unverified.
|-
| Kullassina-bel || || || 960 years || || Name is Akkadian for "Lord of all women" or possibly "All of them were lord".
|-
| Nangishlishma || || || 670 years || ||
|-
| En-tarah-ana || || || 420 years, 3 months, and 3 and a half days || || Why the reign length is so specific is unknown.
|-
| Babum || || || 300 years || || Name is Akkadian for "gate".
|-
| Puannum || || || 840 years || ||
|-
| Kalibum || || || 960 years || || Name is Akkadian for "dog", also symbolic for humility.
|-
| Kalumum || || || 840 years || || Name is Akkadian for "lamb".
|-
| Zuqaqip || || || 900 years || || Name is Akkadian for "scorpion".
|-
| Atab (or A-ba) || || || 600 years || ||
|-
| Mashda || || "the son of Atab" || 840 years || || Name is Akkadian for "gazelle".
|-
| Arwium || || "the son of Mashda" || 720 years || || Name is Akkadian for "male gazelle".
|-
| Etana ||50px|The Myth of Etana. Seal impression of the [[Akkadian Empire period.]] || "the shepherd, who ascended to heaven<br />and consolidated all the foreign countries"|| 1,500 years || ||Myth of Etana exists
|-
| Balih || || "the son of Etana" || 400 years || ||
|-
| En-me-nuna || || || 660 years || ||
|-
| Melem-Kish || || "the son of En-me-nuna" || 900 years || ||
|-
| Barsal-nuna || || ("the son of En-me-nuna")* || 1,200 years || || Name is Sumerian that might mean "Sheep of the Prince".
|-
| Zamug || || "the son of Barsal-nuna" || 140 years || ||
|-
| Tizqar || || "the son of Zamug" || 305 years || ||
|-
| Ilku || || || 900 years || ||
|-
| Iltasadum || || || 1,200 years || ||
|-
| Enmebaragesi|| 50px||"who made the land of Elam submit" || 900 years || EDI|| Earliest ruler on the list to be attested directly from archeology.
|-
| Aga of Kish ||50px || "the son of En-me-barage-si" || 625 years || EDI|| According to Gilgamesh and Aga he fought Gilgamesh.
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Mesh-ki-ang-gasher entered the sea and disappeared."
|-
| Enmerkar || || "the son of Mesh-ki-ang-gasher, the king of Unug, who built Unug (Uruk)" || 420 years || Late Uruk Period||
|-
| Lugalbanda || 30px|center || "the shepherd" || 1,200 years || Late Uruk Period||Historicity is uncertain among scholars.
|-
| Dumuzid the Fisherman|| || "the fisherman whose city was Kuara."<br />"He was taken captive by the single hand of Enmebaragesi"|| 100 years || Jemdet Nasr period|| Historicity doubted, thought to be an addition by the Ur III period.
|-
| Gilgamesh || 50px || "whose father was a phantom (?), the lord of Kulaba" || 126 years || EDI|| Contemporary with Aga of Kish, according to Gilgamesh and Aga
|-
| Ur-Nungal || || "the son of Gilgamesh" || 30 years || ||
|-
| Udul-kalama || || "the son of Ur-Nungal" || 15 years || ||
|-
| La-ba'shum || || || 9 years || ||
|-
| En-nun-tarah-ana || || || 8 years || ||
|-
| Mesh-he || || "the smith" || 36 years || ||
|-
| Melem-ana || || || 6 years || ||
|-
| Lugal-kitun || || || 36 years || ||
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Then Unug was defeated and the kingship was taken to Urim (Ur)."
|-
| colspan="6" |
:"Then Adab was defeated and the kingship was taken to Mari."
|-
| Sharrum-iter || || 9 years || ||
|-
| colspan="5" |
:"Then Mari was defeated and the kingship was taken to Kish."
|-
| colspan="5" |
:"Then Kish was defeated and the kingship was taken to Akshak."
|-
| Ishu-Il || || 24 years || ||
|-
| Shu-Suen of Akshak || "the son of Ishu-Il" || 7 years || ||
|-
| colspan="5" |
:"Then Akshak was defeated and the kingship was taken to Kish."
|-
| Ur-gigir || "the son of Ur-ningin" || 6 years || ||Known from inscriptions.