Ur III
Ur-Nammu established his control over southern Mesopotamia around 2100 BC. Ur-Nammu and his descendants ruled until approximately 2000 BC when the kingdom collapsed owing to invasion and rebellion.
Description:
The Ur III Period, or Third Dynsaty of Ur arose after the Guti Dynasty of Sumer, and the following power struggle among the city-states. Ur-Nammu expanded the empire to the modern day border with Turkey. This period is also known as the Neo-Sumerian Empire, because of the resurgence of Sumerian art, language, and literature. Shulgi centralized and standardized procedures of the empire, the administrative processes, and tax systems. The dynasty fell to the Elamites, and then to the Amorites.
Ultra Low Chronology: 2018-1911 BCE
Short/Low Chronology: 2048-1940 BCE
Middle Chronology: 2112-2004 BCE
Long/High Chronology: 2161-2054 BCE
Objects: Ur III Export: JSON - XML - CSV
| Object | U Number | Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) | Museum Number (BM Registration Number) | Museum Number (UPM B-number) | Description (Catalog Card) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1190 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Portion of a large black diorite duck-weight, originally of 30 minas. Much broken, both on the head and across the middle. On one side of the neck, a crescent moon in low relief, on other side, part of an inscription dedicating the object for the life of a king of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur: the name is now missing. R.1. No. 84. |
| 1192 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Portion of a shaft of a clay cone, with second column (13 lines) of an inscription of Lipit-Ishtar, king of Isin. Duplicate of U.4, and SAKI, p.204. 3 and clay, Miscellaneous Inscription no. 27. P. |
| 1199 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Small baked clay tablet, inscription of of obverse only with 5 lines of accounts, mostly illegible. Period of 3rd Dynasty of Ur. |
| 1200A | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-B] 2 Portions of large baked clay cone of Warad-Sin, king of Larsa, commemorating his building E-temen-ni-gur. (A) Consistent of the base, complete, and part of the shaft. (B) Is small piece from one side of top of shaft. Inscription duplicate of U.19 and U.700. R1 No 131 |
| 1300A | 52-30-167 | (none) | (none) | Clay wheel shaped rattle. Drab clay. (Broken in two.) Like U.1121. |
| 1357 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Gate socket of Ur-Nammu, with inscription duplicate of the bricks from the Ziggurat. SAKI p.186a. |
| 1454 | (none) | (none) | B15619, B15619 | Portion of the base of large clay cone, with inscription in 2 columns. Mostly illegible and authorship uncertain: possibly contains a dedication to Nergal. P. | |
| 1515 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Large clay cone. Nearly complete, but surface damaged. Inscription of Warad-Sin, king of Larsa, duplicate of U.1200, etc. |
| 1516 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cone. Ur-Nammu, commemorating his construction of the canal of Ur. |
| 1517 | (none) | (none) | B15613 | Clay cone of Ur-Nammu. Inscription duplicate of U.1515. P. | |
| 1519 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Small account tablet tablet. Apparently undated, but of 3rd Dynasty of Ur. |
| 1585 | (none) | (none) | B15611 | Lower part of broken stone foundation tablet of one of the kings of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur. (P. two boats) [drawing 1:1] [CARD MISSING] |
| 1595 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Base of cone of Ur-Nammu, with remains of inscription fuplicate of U.872. |
| 1633 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Part of base and stem of baked clay cone of Rim-Sin, king of Larsa, recording his building of a temple to the Moon-god. Duplicate, with small variants, of U.781. |
| 1727 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Black stone, of irregular shape, broken, probably part of a gate socket. On a smoothed surface is a 8 line inscription of Bur-Sin, king of Ur, recording his building of a ge-par for the goddess Nin-gal. |
| 2548 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Inscribed. Dated on Libit-Ishtar the Vth king of ISIN about BC 2090. "Year when L. the king put to order in Sumer and Accad [Akkad]... Month HEN-HEN-E. Text: "60+40... maneh 2 shekels 20 grains silver 7 shekels 1/4 grain silver, from the E Dul-LA-UR-SHAR-BU-DIM; E-DUB-BA NAM-SHAG-TU GA-NUN-MAH sheep of the regular sacrifice (sattukku) of dNANNAR, of d.NINGAL, have been paid. Copy. Tablet (small abstract) of the priest of NANNAR. Ink drawing. |
| 2565 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Arad-Sin clay nail. Fragment. Ends of lines of Column I. Column II: e-a-ni du(-u-de) to: e-emen (-ni-il) mu (-na-du) and the last three lines. Cp. [Cf?] U.2528 (H.C.) |
| 2578 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Inscribed black clay tablet of circular form? Fragment of school exercise or litany has 2 on obverse. 3 lines on the reverse. The name; dNannar ( ) About BC 2100? |
| 2583 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. With seal impress. of "Libit-Ishtar (Isin Dynasty about BC 2095) powerful king, king of the land, and of Idin-Dagan the --- his servant." Oil, a present, portion of Ningal (to the priest of Ninni-ishtar - from Lugulezen the diviner seal of receipt of Idin-Dagan. Obv. 7 lines. Rev. 2 " H.C. |
| 2584 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Dated: month Bar-zag-gar ( = Nisan) year when the trench of the bank of the canal Anni-pad-da was ?(e gu-id?) Probably Larsa dynasty about BC 2100. Text: 1 gur 60 qa ( =145 / 44) of oil from the great depot (GA-NUN-MAH) For the bolts of the shrines of Enlil, Ninlil, Nannar, Nin-ezen. lal(?), Ninni and ( ), the day..., Li-tar-Nannar, royal messenger. Obverse 7 lines. Reverse 6 lines. H.C. |
| 2596 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Fragment. Text: Receipt for goods from probably GA-NUN-MAH - the great depot. Date: Month of Du-azag. Year "when Libit-Ishtar (Isin dyn "about BC 2090), was elected by signs "priest of: nin-sun-zid, high priest of "dNin-ezen, in Ur." H.C. |
| 2611 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cone of Kudur-mabug about BC 2000. Nailshape. Fragment. Text: ?Col. 2: to nannar my king, with fervent prayers, I rebuilt GA-NUN-MAH the house of silver and gold, the mighty festival ward, of Sin, that in ancient days was built and had decayed, for my life and the life of Arad-Sin (my son) king of La(rsa)... 2 columns cp. [cf.?] 2614 |
| 2622 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cone of Arad-Sin. Nearly complete. Cf. U.2528, U.2565, U.2612, U.2613, U.2617 |
| 2624A | (none) | (none) | B15327 | Brick of Ur-Engur. 2 columns. Text: To Nannar his king, Ur-engur king of Ur, has built his temple, has built the wall [transcribed inscription] of Ur. [drawing] | |
| 2625 | (none) | (none) | B16530 | Clay tablet. Date: Year when king Libit-Ishtar made a golden throne for Nin-in-si-na, and Nin-in-si-na with heart rejoicing was placed in the e-gal-mah Month: second Addar. Text: 36 qa sesame oil; 74 qa sour milk; regular offering to Ningal - From Lugal-nannar. Basha x has received. H.C. |
| Location | Context Title | Context Description | Description (Modern) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DP | The excavation area abbreviation DP probably stands for Dungi's Palace; Woolley believed the building with bricks marked e-hur-sag (thought to refer to Shulgi's palace) was too small to be what should be a grandiose building. Thus, he explored the area southeast of the giparu extensively looking for it. Most of his abbreviations for excavations in this area refer to the potential palace. When he found cylinders inscribed with the name of Shulgi beneath a partly ruined floor (excavation area abbreviation DT in the northwestern portion of area EH), he thought he might have found it or at least indications of it. This building turned out to be a temple dedicated to Dimtabba (now read Nimintabba) and its very partial remains extended beyond the line of the Neo-Babylonian temenos wall to the west. Woolley continued to dig into this western area under a new excavation abbreviation, DP. This area did not reveal a palace or additional ruins of the Nimintabba temple, but instead it showed denuded domestic space related to Hall's Area A excavations. Area DP became the northern portion of area EM, but only partial houses are shown here along what Woolley termed Quality Lane. The houses here were never published in great detail, but many of the DP graves appear on the area EM map as falling along Quality Lane. | (none) | |
| Nimintabba Temple | DT | The abbreviation DT stands for Dungi's Temple or Dimtabba Temple and this abbreviation is found within the larger EH excavation area; Woolley discovered cylinders inscribed with the name of Shulgi beneath a partly ruined floor in area EH and assigned the building it was associated with an excavation abbreviation of its own. The building's walls were almost completely destroyed, however, and thus were difficult to follow. They lay in the northwestern portion of area EH and originally defined a temple dedicated to the god Nimintabba (Woolley initially read the name as Dim-Tab-Ba). The ephemeral remains of the temple stretched underneath and beyond the Neo-Babylonian temenos wall and Woolley expanded excavation in search of the rest, but little more of the temple was found. The westward expansion of the excavation beyond the temenos wall became excavation area abbreviation DP. | (none) | |
| Mausoleum Site | BC | Woolley called the east corner of the Neo-Babylonian temenos the Bur-Sin Corner (area BC) because he found bricks of Bur-Sin (now read Amar-Sin or Amar-Suen) there in early season explorations. Area BC is particularly complex because it consists of substantial building in many periods. The largest building was of the Ur III period, and it is this building to which the abbreviation BC typically refers in field notes. It sits at the northeastern edge of the Royal Cemetery. The main Ur III building was 35 x 27m and its southwest wall was preserved two meters in height, while its northeast wall was largely destroyed. Its walls were built with inscribed bricks of Shulgi. The overall layout of the building is much like a courtyard house but on a large scale and with more ritual furnishings. Attached to this building were two annexes, one northwest and the other southeast, built with bricks of Shulgi's son, Amar-Sin (see context AD). Beneath the entire building were three very large vaults. All of them had been plundered in antiquity and only scattered fragments of artifacts and bones were discovered inside. Nonetheless, Woolley believed that these vaults originally held the remains of the Ur III kings. For this reason, area BC is sometimes referred to as the Mausoleum Site. The building was destroyed by Elamites, according to Woolley, and sometime thereafter houses of the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian period were constructed in the area (see House 30). Finally, the Neo-Babylonian Temenos wall was constructed over and through parts of the remains. | (none) | |
| Mausolea of Amar-Sin | AD | Amar-Sin annex to Shugli Mausoleum, The excavation area abbreviation AD was apparently duplicated by accident and thus refers to two different areas of the site. Legrain reported the abbreviation as "Annex of Dungi's Tomb," but he was not on site the year that the context was excavated. He placed the abbreviation with this meaning on cards he created for inscribed material that came to him in the museum. Some tablets and cylinder seals were found in the filling of the tomb annex and some even have a note that they are from Seal Impression Strata against the tomb or its foundational fill. These artifacts are clearly from the BC area, that of the Mausoleum of the Ur III kings built by Shulgi and his son Amar-Sin (Amar-Suen). Amar-Sin built two annexes onto the Shulgi building (See area BC), one to the northwest and the other to the southeast. It is not clear which of the two annexes Legrain was referring to with the abbreviation AD, probably either or both. Essentially artifacts from this use of AD can only be located generally to the overall BC area at the eastern edge of the Royal Cemetery (PG). On the excavation site the abbreviation AD was being used for the so-called Palace of Bel-Shalti-Nannar. Artifacts from the two separate AD contexts have been divided in the digital data wherever possible. | (none) |
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Related Terms
Ubaid - Uruk - Jemdat Nasr - Early Dynastic / Sumerian - Akkadian Dynasty - Guti/Post Akkadian - Old Babylonian - Middle Assyrian - Kassite - Neo-Assyrian - Neo-Babylonian - Achaemenid Empire (Persian) - Seleucid - Parthian