Urukagina

Urukagina
Fragment of an inscription of Urukagina; it reads as follows: "He [Uruinimgina] dug (…) the canal to the town-of-NINA. At its beginning, he built the Eninnu; at its ending, he built the Esiraran." Musée du Louvre[1]
Ensí of Lagash, Lugal
Reign24th century BC
PredecessorLugalanda
SuccessorLugal-zage-si
Dynasty1st Dynasty of Lagash
ReligionSumerian religion
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Urukagina was king of Lagash, circa 2400 BC.
Title "Urakagina king of Girsu" (𒌷𒅗𒄀𒈾 𒈗 𒄈𒋢𒆠), Urukagina lugal Girsu-ki), in the "Lamentation for the destruction of Umma".[2]

Uru-ka-gina, Uru-inim-gina, or Iri-ka-gina (Sumerian: 𒌷𒅗𒄀𒈾 URU-KA-gi.na; c. 24th century BC, middle chronology) was King of the city-states of Lagash and Girsu in Mesopotamia, and the last ruler of the 1st Dynasty of Lagash.[3] He assumed the title of king, claiming to have been divinely appointed, upon the downfall of his corrupt predecessor, Lugalanda.

He is best known for his reforms to combat corruption, which are sometimes cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history. Although the actual text has not been discovered, much of its content may be surmised from other references to it that have been found. In it, he exempted widows and orphans from taxes; compelled the city to pay funeral expenses (including the ritual food and drink libations for the journey of the dead into the lower world); and decreed that the rich must use silver when purchasing from the poor, and if the poor does not wish to sell, the powerful man (the rich man or the priest) cannot force him to do so.[4]

He also participated in several conflicts, notably a losing border conflict with Uruk. In the seventh year of his reign, Uruk fell under the leadership of Lugal-Zage-Si, énsi of Umma, who ultimately annexed most of the territory of Lagash and established the first reliably documented kingdom to encompass all of Sumer. The destruction of Lagash was described in a lament (possibly the earliest recorded example of what would become a prolific Sumerian literary genre), which stressed that "the men of Umma ... committed a sin against Ningirsu. ... Offence there was none in Urukagina, king of Girsu, but as for Lugal-Zage-Si, governor of Umma, may his goddess Nisaba make him carry his sin upon his neck".[5] Lugal-Zage-Si himself was soon defeated and his kingdom was annexed by Sargon of Akkad.

  1. ^ "Site officiel du musée du Louvre". cartelfr.louvre.fr.
  2. ^ THUREAU-DANGIN, F. (1904). "La Ruine de Shirpourla (Lagash): Sous le Règne d'Ouroukagina". Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale. 6 (1): 26–32. ISSN 0373-6032. JSTOR 23275695.
  3. ^ Finegan, Jack (2019). Archaeological History Of The Ancient Middle East. Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-429-72638-5.
  4. ^ "The Reforms of Urukagina". History-world.org. Archived from the original on 2018-11-17. Retrieved 2019-12-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ "Site officiel du musée du Louvre". cartelfr.louvre.fr.