Ur-Nammu

Ur-Nammu
King of Ur
Stela of Ur-Nammu
Successor	Shulgi
Consort	Daughter of Utu-hengal
Religious beliefs	Sumerian religion

Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, ca. 2047-2030 BC short chronology) founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule. His main achievement was state-building, and Ur-Nammu is chiefly remembered today for his legal code, the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known surviving example in the world.

Reign

Year-names are known for 17 of Ur-Nammu's 18 years, but their order is uncertain. One year-name of his reign records the devastation of Gutium, while two years seem to commemorate his legal reforms: "Year in which Ur-Nammu the king put in order the ways (of the people in the country) from below to above", and "Year Ur-Nammu made justice in the land".^[1]

Among his military exploits were the conquest of Lagash and the defeat of his former masters at Uruk. He was eventually recognized as a significant regional ruler (of Ur, Eridu, and Uruk) at a coronation in Nippur, and is believed to have constructed buildings at Nippur, Larsa, Kish, Adab, and Umma. He was known for restoring the roads and general order after the Gutian period.^[2]

Ur Nammu was also responsible for ordering the construction of a number of stepped temples, called ziggurats, including the Great Ziggurat of Ur.^[3]

He was succeeded by his son Shulgi, after an eighteen-year reign. His death on the battle-field against the Gutians (after he had been abandoned by his army) was commemorated in a long Sumerian poetic composition.^[2]

See also

• Sumerian king list

Notes

1. ↑ Year-names for Ur-Nammu
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hamblin, William J. Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. New York: Routledge, 2006.
3. ↑

External links

• Site drawings of the temple built by Ur-Nammu at Ur to the moon god Nanna.
• Nabonidus dedication to the Ziggurat
• The Code of Ur-Nammu at Britannica
• Foundation Figurine of King Ur-Nammu at the Oriental Institute of Chicago