The Reforms of UruKAgina
Artifact: Clay cone
Provenience: Girsu, modern Tello
Period: ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340)
Current location: Louvre Museum, Paris
Text genre, language: Royal inscription; Sumerian
CDLI page
Description: Preserved on two complete cones and one cone fragment, the text of the so-called Reforms of UruKAgina details the transgressions of former times and the new regulations of UruKAgina. The reforms are particularly concerned with the governance of the land of the gods and rules relating to burials. The text has been seen as a forerunner to the later law-codes but is probably better seen as a royal inscription with a particular focus on the role of the king as protector of the weak.
Lineart: Sollberger, E. Corpus des inscriptions "royales" pre- sargoniques de Lagas (Geneve 1956) (=CIRPL), Ukg 04 cone B.
Edition(s): Frayne, Douglas R. Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods. 2007. RIME 1.09.09.01, ex. 01.
