Out of the many incredible artefacts that have been recovered from sites in
Iraq where flourishing Sumerian cities once stood, few have been more
intriguing that the Sumerian King List, an ancient manuscript originally
recorded in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer (ancient southern
Iraq) from Sumerian and neighbouring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths,
and the locations of "official" kingship. What makes this artefact so
unique is the fact that the list blends apparently mythical pre-dynastic rulers
with historical rulers who are known to have existed.
The first fragment of this rare and unique text, a 4,000-year-old cuneiform
tablet, was found in the early 1900s by German-American scholar Hermann
Hilprecht at the site of ancient Nippur and published in 1906. Since
Hilprecht’s discovery, at least 18 other exemplars of the king’s list have been
found, most of them dating from the second half of the Isin dynasty (c.
2017-1794 BCE.). No two of these documents are identical. However, there
is enough common material in all versions of the list to make it clear that
they are derived from a single, "ideal" account of Sumerian history.
Among all the
examples of the Sumerian King List, the Weld-Blundell prism in the Ashmolean
Museum cuneiform collection in Oxford represents the most extensive version as
well as the most complete copy of the King List. The 8-inch-high prism contains
four sides with two columns on each side. It is believed that it originally had
a wooden spindle going through its centre so that it could be rotated and read
on all four sides. It lists rulers from the antediluvian (“before the flood”)
dynasties to the fourteenth ruler of the Isin dynasty (ca. 1763–1753 BC).
The list is of immense value because it reflects very old traditions while
at the same time providing an important chronological framework relating to the
different periods of kingship in Sumeria, and even demonstrates remarkable
parallels to accounts in Genesis.
The ancient civilisation of Sumer
Sumer (sometimes called Sumeria), is the site of the earliest known
civilization, located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia between the
Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, in the area that later became Babylonia and is
now southern Iraq from around Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.
By the 3rd millennium BC, Sumer was the site of at least twelve
separate city states: Kish, Erech, Ur,Sippar, Akshak, Larak, Nippur, Adab, Umma, Lagash, Bad-tibira, and Larsa.
Each of these states comprised a walled city and its surrounding villages and
land, and each worshiped its own deity, whose temple was the central structure
of the city. Political power originally belonged to the citizens, but, as
rivalry between the various city-states increased, each adopted the institution
of kingship.
The Sumerian King List, records that eight
kings reigned before a great flood. After the Flood, various city-states and
their dynasties of kings temporarily gained power over the others.
Sumer’s mythical past
The Sumerian King List begins with the very origin of kingship, which is
seen as a divine institution: “the kingship had descended from heaven”.
The rulers in the earliest dynasties are represented as reigning fantastically
long periods:
After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship
was in Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28800 years. Alaljar
ruled for 36000 years. 2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years.
Some of the rulers mentioned in the early list, such as Etana, Lugal-banda
and Gilgamesh, are mythical or legendary figures whose heroic feats are
subjects of a series of Sumerian and Babylonian narrative compositions.
The early list names eight kings with a total of 241,200 years from the
time when kingship “descended from heaven” to the time when "the
Flood" swept over the land and once more "the kingship was lowered
from heaven" after the Flood.
Interpretation of long reigns
The amazingly long tenure of the early kings has provoked many attempts at
interpretation. At one extreme is the complete dismissal of the astronomically
large figures as “completely artificial” and the view that they are unworthy of
serious consideration. At the other extreme, is the belief that the
numbers have a basis in reality and that the early kings were indeed gods who
were capable of living much longer than humans.
In between the two extremes is the hypothesis that the figures represent
relative power, triumph or importance. For example, in ancient Egypt, the
phrase “he died aged 110” referred to someone who lived life to the full and
who offered an important contribution to society. In the same way, the
extremely long periods of reign of the early kings may represent how incredibly
important they were perceived as being in the eyes of the people. This doesn’t
explain, however, why the periods of tenure later switched to realistic time
periods.
Related to this perspective is the belief that although the early kings are
historically unattested, this does not preclude their possible correspondence
with historical rulers who were later mythicised.
Finally, some scholars have sought to explain the figures through a
mathematical investigation and interpretation (e.g. Harrison, 1993).
Relation to Genesis
Some scholars (e.g. Wood, 2003) have drawn attention to the fact that there
are remarkable similarities between the Sumerian King List and accounts in
Genesis. For example, Genesis tells the story of ‘the great flood’ and
Noah’s efforts to save all the species of animals on Earth from
destruction. Likewise, in the Sumerian King List, there is discussion of
a great deluge: “the flood swept over the earth.”
The Sumerian King List provides a list of eight kings (some versions have
10) who reigned for long periods of time before the flood, ranging from 18,600
to 43,200 years. This is similar to Genesis 5, where the generations from
Creation to the Flood are recorded. Interestingly, between Adam and Noah there
are eight generations, just as there are eight kings between the beginning of
kingship and the flood in the Sumerian King List.
After the flood, the King List records kings who ruled for much shorter
periods of time. Thus, the Sumerian King List not only documents a great flood
early in man’s history, but it also reflects the same pattern of decreasing
longevity as found in the Bible - men had extremely long life spans before the
flood and much shorter life spans following the flood (Wood, 2003).
The Sumerian King List truly is a perplexing mystery. Why would the
Sumerians combine mythical rulers with actual historical rulers in one
document? Why are there so many similarities with Genesis? Why were ancient
kings described as ruling for thousands of years? These are just some of the
questions that still remain unanswered after more than a century of research.
References
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