Before Baghdad:
Cities of Ancient
Mesopotamia
MW 10-11am, Peabody Museum 59D
14. The Ur III Period
Kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur
(ca. 2112-2004 BC)
Ur-Namma
Shulgi
Amar-Sin
Shu-Sin
Ibbi-Sin
Ur-Namma (1st king of the Ur III Dynasty)
Excavations at Ur
Stele of Ur-Namma
Stele, From Ur (Tell al Mugayyar)
Baked brick on Ur Namma’s ziqqurat facade
Bitumen
Baked brick on the
facade with cuneiform
Sumerian inscription
The Ziggurat at Ur (Nanna)
The Ziggurat at Ur (Nanna)
The Ziggurat in Ekur at Nippur (Enlil)
The Empire of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur
Tablets!!
Šu-Sin’s Year Names
4 mu {d}szu-{d}en.zu lugal ur2i{ki}-make4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq ti-id-ni-im
mu-du3
Year Šu-Sin the king of Ur built the
amurru wall (called) 'muriq-tidnim /
holding back the Tidanum'
5 mu us2-sa {d}szu-{d}en.zu lugal
ur2i{ki}-ma-ke4 bad3 mar-tu mu-ri-iq
ti-id-ni-im mu-du3
Year after the year Šu-Sin the king of
Ur built the amurru wall (called)
'muriq-tidnim / holding back the
Tidanum'
6 mu {d}szu-{d}en.zu lugal ur2i{ki}-make4 na-ru2-a mah {d}en-lil2 {d}ninlil2-ra mu-ne-du3
Year Šu-Sin the king of Ur erected a
magnificent stele for Enlil and Ninlil
7 mu {d}szu-{d}en.zu lugal ur2i{ki}-make4 lugal an ub-da 4-ba ma-da zaab-sza-li{ki} mu-hul
Year Šu-Sin, the king of Ur, king of
the four quarters, destroyed the land
of Zabšali
8 mu {d}szu-{d}en.zu lugal ur2i{ki}-make4 ma2-gur8 mah {d}en-lil2 {d}ninlil2-ra mu-ne-dim2
Year Šu-Sin the king of Ur made a
magnificent boat for Enlil and Ninlil
9 mu {d}szu-{d}en.zu lugal ur2i{ki}-make4 e2-{d}szara2 umma{ki}-ka mudu3
Year Šu-Sin the king of Ur built the
temple of Šara in Umma
Temple of Šu-Sin at Tell Asmar (Ešnunna)
Gudea, king of Lagash
ruled 11 years at Girsu,
sponsored many temple building projects
probably a contemporary of
Ur III king Ur-Namma
• construction of several temples
• sponsoring lengthy literary compositions
• making of his kingly image, many diorite
sculptures to be placed in temples
Girsu (Tello), palace of Adad-Nadin-Ahhe:
source of Gudea statues
Gudea’s Cylinder A
Lengthy royal hymnic compositions
inscribed on monumental clay
cylinders and commemorate Gudea’s
rebuilding of é-ninnu (temple)
dedicated to Ningirsu in Girsu.
Gudea’s Cylinder B
Otto Edzard, Gudea and his dynasty
Gudea with tablet on his lap featuring an architectural plan
Strong armed Gudea
King of Lagash
Gudea
and his inscribed bodies
The Lament over the Destruction of Ur
1-8He
has abandoned his cow-pen and has let the
breezes haunt his sheepfold. The wild bull has
abandoned his cow-pen and has let the breezes haunt
his sheepfold. The lord of all the lands has abandoned it
and has let the breezes haunt his sheepfold. Enlil has
abandoned the shrine Nibru and has let the breezes
haunt his sheepfold. His wife Ninlil has abandoned it and
has let the breezes haunt her sheepfold. Ninlil has
abandoned that house, the Ki-ur, and has let the
breezes haunt her sheepfold. The queen of Kiš has
abandoned it and has let the breezes haunt her
sheepfold. Ninmah has abandoned that house Kiš and
has let the breezes haunt her sheepfold.