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| Among all the extant exemplars of the Sumerian King List, the Weld-Blundell prism in the Ashmolean Museum cuneiform collection represents the most extensive version as well as the most complete copy of the King List. It lists rulers from the antediluvian dynasties to Suen-magir, the fourteenth ruler of the Isin dynasty (ca. 1763–1753 B.C.). The prism contains four sides with two columns on each side. Perforated, the prism must originally have a wooden spindle going through its centre so that it might be rotated and read on all four sides. | Among all the extant exemplars of the Sumerian King List, the Weld-Blundell prism in the Ashmolean Museum cuneiform collection represents the most extensive version as well as the most complete copy of the King List. It lists rulers from the antediluvian dynasties to Suen-magir, the fourteenth ruler of the Isin dynasty (ca. 1763–1753 B.C.). The prism contains four sides with two columns on each side. Perforated, the prism must originally have a wooden spindle going through its centre so that it might be rotated and read on all four sides. |
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| The Sumerian King List is an important chronographic document from ancient Mesopotamia. It lists a long succession of cities in Sumer and its neighbouring regions where kingship was invested, the rulers who reigned in those cities and the length of their reigns. The list is based on mythical, legendary and historical sources. The mythical sources deal with the origin of kingship (“When the kingship had descended from heaven”), the primeval flood catastrophe and the whole antediluvian period during which mythical figures such as Dumuzi are represented as reigning fantastically long periods, the ascension of Etana, etc. These events or figures are believed to have taken place or existed in the most remote periods. Closer to, or juxtaposed with, the earliest historical periods in ancient Mesopotamia are reigns of legendary rulers such as Lugal-banda and Gilgamesh from Uruk whose heroic feats are subjects of a series of Sumerian and Babylonian narrative compositions. As the King List reaches historical rulers whose reigns are attested by their royal inscriptions, the length of each reign becomes more realistic. The King List ends with the reign of a Mesopotamian ruler presumably contemporaneous with the author or redactor of the List. | |
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| The Sumerian King List has different versions or recensions represented by a number of cuneiform sources (most of these are fragmentary) that are dated to the Ur III period (ca. 2119–2004 B.C.) and Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000–1600 B.C.). These sources were discovered at different quarters of ancient Mesopotamia and its periphery, including Nippur, Isin, Kish, Larsa, and Susa. Despite the commonalities these versions or recensions share, they can diverge from one and another in both content and style. Variations due to different local traditions may account for some of these divergences. Changes during transmission history may also have contributed to these differences. Based on historical evidence and analyses, it is suggested that the King List has gone through different stages of development in different locations, a process which may have started as early as the Sargonic period (ca. 2334–2154 B.C.), continued through the Ur III period, and culminated in the Old Babylonian period. During the course of transmission, the chronographic information and stylistic formulae of the List seem to have grown. Additional rulers, introductory and summary formulae for each dynasty and anecdotal information for certain individual rulers were inserted. Most noteworthy is that after the Ur III period the primeval flood catastrophe emerged as a watershed on the chronological timeline, dividing world history into the antediluvian era and the postdiluvian era. The Flood motif and the antediluvian section, not attested as part of the Ur III version of the Sumerian King List, only began to emerge in some versions or recentions of the King List since the Old Babylonian period. | The Sumerian King List has different versions or recensions represented by a number of cuneiform sources (most of these are fragmentary) that are dated to the Ur III period (ca. 2119–2004 B.C.) and Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000–1600 B.C.). These sources were discovered at different quarters of ancient Mesopotamia and its periphery, including Nippur, Isin, Kish, Larsa, and Susa. Despite the commonalities these versions or recensions share, they can diverge from one and another in both content and style. Variations due to different local traditions may account for some of these divergences. Changes during transmission history may also have contributed to these differences. Based on historical evidence and analyses, it is suggested that the King List has gone through different stages of development in different locations, a process which may have started as early as the Sargonic period (ca. 2334–2154 B.C.), continued through the Ur III period, and culminated in the Old Babylonian period. During the course of transmission, the chronographic information and stylistic formulae of the List seem to have grown. Additional rulers, introductory and summary formulae for each dynasty and anecdotal information for certain individual rulers were inserted. Most noteworthy is that after the Ur III period the primeval flood catastrophe emerged as a watershed on the chronological timeline, dividing world history into the antediluvian era and the postdiluvian era. The Flood motif and the antediluvian section, not attested as part of the Ur III version of the Sumerian King List, only began to emerge in some versions or recentions of the King List since the Old Babylonian period. |
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| Galter, Hannes D. 2005. "Ša lām abūbi: Die Zeit vor der großen Flut in der mesopotamischen Überlieferung." In Von Sumer bis Homer: Festschrift für Manfred Schretter zum 60. Geburtstag am 25. Februar 2004, ed. Robert Rollinger, 269–301. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. | Galter, Hannes D. 2005. "Ša lām abūbi: Die Zeit vor der großen Flut in der mesopotamischen Überlieferung." In Von Sumer bis Homer: Festschrift für Manfred Schretter zum 60. Geburtstag am 25. Februar 2004, ed. Robert Rollinger, 269–301. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. |
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| | George, Andrew. 2011. "Sumero-Babylonian King Lists and Date List." In //Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection//, ed. A. R. George et alii, 199-205. CUSAS 17. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press. |
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| Glassner, Jean-Jacques. 2004. Mesopotamian Chronicles. Atlanta, Ga.: SBL. | Glassner, Jean-Jacques. 2004. Mesopotamian Chronicles. Atlanta, Ga.: SBL. |
