Ensi (Sumerian)

This article is about Sumerian cuneiform. For other uses, see Ensi (disambiguation).
Sumerian cylinder seal impression dating to c. 3200 BC, showing an ensi and his acolyte feeding a sacred herd.
PA.TE.SI (Ensi) on the tablet of Lugalanatum.

Ensi (cuneiform: 𒑐𒋼𒋛 pa.te.si Sumerian: ensik, "lord of the plowland"; Emesal dialect: umunsik; Akkadian: iššakkum)[1][2] was a Sumerian title designating the ruler or prince of a city-state. Originally it may have designated an independent ruler, but in later periods the title presupposed subordinance to a lugal.

  1. ^ John Allan Halloran: Sumerian Lexicon. Logogram Publishing, Los Angeles (Cal.) 2006.
  2. ^ "ePSD: ensik[ruler]". psd.museum.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-31.