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Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian: ; died 2094 BC) founded the Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian Empire and Gutian period rule. Though he built many temples and canals his main achievement was building the core of the Ur III Empire via military conquest, and Ur-Nammu is chiefly remembered today for his legal code, the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known surviving example in the world. He held the titles of "King of Ur, and King of Sumer and Akkad". His personal goddess was Ninsuna.
[[dingir|D]]inanna.... "For [[Inanna]]-"According to the Sumerian King List, Ur-Nammu reigned for 18 years. Year-names are known for 17 of these 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 from below to above", "Year Ur-Nammu made justice in the land"). Year-names for Ur-Nammu
Nin-e-an-na.... "[[Ninanna]],"
NIN-a-ni.... "his Lady"
UR-NAMMU.... "Ur-Nammu"
NITAH KALAG ga.... "the mighty man"
LUGAL URIM KI ma.... "King of Ur"
LUGAL ki en gi ki URI ke.... "King of Sumer and Akkad"]]
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. In the interregnum after the fall of the Akkadian Empire, a number of cities became independent and an area in the northeast came under the control of Elam. Ur-Nammu in his Sumerian language inscriptions reports defeating a coalition of Kutik-Insusinak, Elamite ruler, and some other cities including Tutub and Eshnunna. It has been suggested that this was another name for the Elamite ruler Puzur-Inshushinak, about whom little is known. There is equal support for the idea that Puzur-Inshushinak was contemporary with Akkad ruler Naram-Sin a century earlier.Hallo, William W., "Royal Titles from the Mesopotamian Periphery", Anatolian Studies, vol. 30, pp. 189–95, 1980
Ur-Nammu was also responsible for ordering the construction of a number of , including the Great Ziggurat of Ur. It has been suggested, based on a much later literary composition, that he was killed in battle after he had been abandoned by his army.Hamblin, William J., Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC (New York: Routledge, 2006). He was succeeded by his son Shulgi. One known daughter, Ama-barag, married a local man. The other known daughter was consecrated as the en-priestess of Nanna in Ur, taking the clerical name En-nir-gal-an-na (En-nirgal-ana). Two inscriptions found in Ur read:
A later Sumerian literary composition known variously as "The Coronation of Ur-Nammu" and "Ur-Namma D" lists canals built by Ur-Nammu. "Ur-Namma the canal-digger (Ur-Namma D)" at ETSCL It is known in three Old Babylonian Period recensions, from Nippur, Ur, and of an unknown provenance. There are a number of known Sumerian literary compositions about Ur-Namma, labeled from A to H. The other important later Sumerian literary work is the "Death of Ur-Nammu" (Ur-Namma A), variously described as a "hymn', "lamentation" or "wisdom". "The death of Ur-Namma (Ur-Namma A)" at ETSCL It describes the death, funeral, and passge through the underworld of Ur-Nammu. It is known from about 9 damaged tablets and fragments, held in various museums, which together allow restoration of much of the text. The description of Ur-Nammu's death is damaged, vague, and metaphoric, which has not stopped later scholars from interpreting it to say Ur-Nammu died in battle at the hands of his own troops.Kramer, Samuel Noah, "The Death of Ur-Nammu and His Descent to the Netherworld", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 21, pp. 104–22, 1967Castellino, G., "Urnammu. Three Religious Texts", in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 52, pp. 1-57, 1957Kramer, Samuel Noah, "The Death of Ur-Nammu", in Near Eastern Studies. Dedicated to H.I.H. Prince Takahito Mikasa on the Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday.. Mori, Masao, Ogawa, Hideo, and Yoshikawa, Mamoru (ed). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, pp. 193-214, 1991
Whatever the current state of the deification debate, Ur-Nammu was clearly worshiped after his death. The palace at Tummal included funerary chapels for Ur-Nammu (e Tum-ma-al Ur-dNamma) and his wife. His wife is known to have been named SI . A.tum, read as Watartum. Building materials came from as far away as Babylon, Kutha, and Adab. The ki-a-nag, or funerary offerings for Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu were carried out at Tummal. As his grave was not found in Ur, this has sparked speculation he was buried in Tummal.
The first publisher of the stela called it the "Stela of the Flying Angels". Most fragments were found near the base. Some fragments had been moved and used for other purposes, including door sockets, and found on the Kassite dynasty (c. 1595-1155 BC) levels, over half a millennium later. One side was noticeably better preserved than the other. One large fragment was recovered in the 1932-1933 season. As a few fragments were found in the level from fall of the Ur III Empire the excavator indicated that the stela had been shattered at the end of the reign of the final Ur III ruler Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028–2004 BC) and the pieces later used as convenient construction material by the Kassites.
The limestone slab measures 3 meters high and 1.52 meters across, assuming it has been re-assembled properly. The stela fragments have been assembled several times, beginning in 1927, each time differently. The underlying basis for re-assembly is 1) one face is noticeably better preserved, 2) figures on the stela are larger the higher up they are, and 3) the edges of the stela are smooth. It is believed that there were originally five horizontal registers on each side. The identification and meaning of the surviving scenes has been much debated. When the stela was disassembled in 1989 for study mineralogical analysis showed that several fragments did not in fact belong to the stela. At the same time more fragments then in storage were identified as belonging to the stela of Ur-Nammu. This brought the fragment total to 106 including one fragment held at the British Museum (two others there are suspected as also belonging to the Ur-Nammu stela). This stela and the Utuhegal Stela were excavated at the same time and the finds divided between the sponsors. The issue of what fragments belong to this stela is still open. It is currently held at the Penn Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
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