Ur-Nammu
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Conquered Lagash, founded the Third Dynasty of Ur, and issued the earliest surviving law code.
Life
Rise amid chaos
Ur-Nammu came from the city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia. Before his rise, the Sumerian region had been through the collapse of the Akkadian Empire and the incursions of the Gutians, and for decades the city-states were divided and order was in chaos. He rose amid the turmoil, first as a vassal of powerful neighboring Uruk and then striking out on his own, setting about restoring the old urban civilization and temple order of Sumer.
Founds the Third Dynasty of Ur
c. 2112 BCE he destroyed the governor of Lagash and drove off the remnants of the Gutians, founding the Third Dynasty of Ur and briefly reunifying southern Mesopotamia. He launched great building projects, constructing the Great Ziggurat of Ur and dredging irrigation canals, and issued a law code covering property, marriage and compensation for bodily injury, about three hundred years earlier than the Code of Hammurabi.
Law code and death in battle
Much of the original text of this code is damaged, and the surviving content has been pieced together repeatedly by later scholars; its exact provisions and date of issue are still debated, and one view attributes it to his son Shulgi. Ur-Nammu himself was killed in battle, and Sumerian texts record the manner of his death as an ill omen of divine punishment, reflecting the contemporary understanding of the relationship between royal power and the will of heaven.
Legacy
Ur-Nammu ended the fragmentation that followed the Gutian invasion and inaugurated the Third Dynasty of Ur, known as the "Sumerian Renaissance." The law code attributed to him settles many injury cases with compensation in silver rather than corporal punishment and is often regarded as the oldest surviving written law code, though some ascribe its authorship to his son Shulgi. The Great Ziggurat of Ur that he built, restored repeatedly in later ages, remains one of the best-preserved ziggurat ruins in Mesopotamia.
Major works & achievements
- Founding of the Third Dynasty of Ur
- Code of Ur-Nammu (some attribute it to Shulgi)
- Begins the Great Ziggurat of Ur
- Dredges irrigation canals
Did you know? The lower structure of the Great Ziggurat of Ur survives to this day, and in the 1980s Iraq partially restored its outer walls and front staircase.
Key dates
- 2112 BCEConquered Lagash and founded the Third Dynasty of Ur
- 2109 BCEBegins the Great Ziggurat of Ur
- 2104 BCEPromulgated the Code of Ur-Nammu
- 2100 BCEUnified the Sumerian city-states
- 2097 BCEEstablished post roads and weights and measures
- 2095 BCEKilled in battle; Shulgi succeeded him