ca. 6000-3800 B.C.
But further, if the Semites at so early a time as 4500 B.C. (Urukagina) had possession of Babylonia and had adopted the old language of the country, which language they interspersed with their own idiom, they must have been for a long time resident in the land. This would bring the immigration of the Semites back to at least 5000 B.C. and earlier, when the Sumerian power began to decay. We must therefore push back the height of Sumerian influence to a yet more remote period.
Hence, whatever view we take in regard to the two peoples and their languages, we are led to the same general result: Civilisation and history must go back to at least 6000 B.C.
THE FIRST DYNASTY OF UR
Of Ur—the Biblical “Ur of the Chaldees”—we have already heard at the time of Eannatum. It was situated at the western side of the Euphrates, opposite the place where the Shatt-el-Khai flows into it. Up to the time of Lugalzaggisi it may not have been of very great importance. This latter ruler, however, “raised it like a steer to the top of the heaven,” hence at no long period subsequent to Lugalzaggisi we meet two kings, father and son, ruling at Ur. It is not impossible that this dynasty may itself have brought about the overthrow of Lugalzaggisi, as to whose successors we have no information. Probably, also, it took possession of the more northern part of Babylonia (Nippur), for we find that both these kings present vases to Enlil, the “lord of the lands.”
The names of these two monarchs forming the first dynasty of Ur are:
Lugalkigubnidudu, and his son (?); Lugalkisalsi.
Their dominion extended over Ur, Erech, and Nippur, probably also over Shirpurla, for the kings of the south could not have gained possession of Nippur without passing Shirpurla. This would explain why we know so very little about Shirpurla at this time. It is, however, remarkable that both these kings should call themselves first “kings of Erech,” and then “kings of Ur”; while on the other hand, Lugalkigubnidudu expressly says that Enlil added (tab) the lordship (nam-en) to the kingship (nam-lugal), which lordship so added was Erech. We would expect that, if he were originally king of Ur, the title, “king of Ur,” would come first. Here, then, we have an analogy to and a confirmation of the argument used in regard to Urzaguddu. The latter king had also two titles, viz. “king of Kish” and “king of …,” and it was argued that the latter title, “king of …,” was the original, i.e. Urzaguddu became later on “king of Kish.” So here “king of Ur” was the original title; Lugalkigubnidudu subsequently became “king of Erech.”
[ca. 4000-3800 B.C.]
How long this dynasty flourished, how many rulers were comprised in it, and when and by whom it was overthrown, we cannot tell. Probably, however, it was replaced by a mighty kingdom which arose in the north (that of Agade), destined to bear sway over “the four corners of the world.”