Correspondence of the Kings of Ur
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The ''Correspondence of the Kings of Ur'' (CKU), also known as the ''Royal Correspondence of Ur'', is a collection of 24 literary letters written in the
Sumerian language Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...
and attributed to kings of the
Ur III The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians consider to ...
period, 2048–1940 BCE (2112–2004
middle chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...
). They are known primarily from copies dating to the
Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Camb ...
period, ca. 1800–1600 BCE; their original date of composition and their historical accuracy are debated.


Copies of the letters

The CKU letters are known only through copies written on
clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...
s as school exercises by students learning to write
cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
. All but one of the known copies have been dated to the Old Babylonian period, and were found in cities of
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
or the broader
Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
, including
Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian language, Akkadian: '' ...
, Ur,
Isin Isin (, modern Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq. Excavations have shown that it was an important city-state in the past. History of archaeological research Ishan al-Bahriyat was visited b ...
,
Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...
,
Kish Kish may refer to: Geography * Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish * Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish * Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf * Kish, Iran, ...
,
Sippar Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, some ...
, and
Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
. A single tablet bearing copies of two of the letters and dating to the Middle Babylonian period was also found at Susa. About 115 cuneiform tablets bearing copies of one or more CKU letters are currently known.


Content and structure

The CKU letters are written in a literary style of Sumerian prose. They loosely conform to the following structure: * Address formula: "Speak to ECIPIENT saying (the words of) DDRESSOR" * Argument * Salutation * Closing formulas **In letters to the king: "Now my king is informed (about all this)" and/or "whatever my king orders me, I will do". **In letters from the king: "it is urgent". Most of the letters are presented as an exchange between a king of the Ur III dynasty and one of his officials (some of whom are known historical figures, e.g., the general Aradmu and later king of Isin Išbi-Erra), usually discussing matters of state or administration. Some of the topics include: difficulties in dealing with particular officials, the building and repair of fortifications, reports about securing the provinces and the completion of other assignments, and accusations of disloyalty or injustice directed towards other officials.


List of letters


Letters addressed to and from Šulgi

1. Aradmu to Šulgi 1
1a. Aradmu to Šulgi 1a
2. Šulgi to Aradmu 1
3. Aradmu to Šulgi 2
4. Abaindasa to Šulgi 1
5. Šulgi to Aradmu 2
6. Šulgi to Aradmu 3
7. Aradmu to Šulgi 3
8. Aradmu to Šulgi 4
9. Aradmu to Šulgi 5
10. Aradmu to Šulgi 6
11. Urdun to Šulgi 1
12. Aradmu(?) to Šulgi(?) 7
13. Puzur-Šulgi to Šulgi 1
14. Šulgi to Puzur-Šulgi I
15. Šulgi to Išbi-Erra 1


Letters between Šulgi and Amar-Sin

16. Amar-Sin to Šulgi 1
17. Šulgi to Amar-Sin


Letters addressed to and from Šu-Sin

18. Šarrum-bani to Šu-Sin
19. Šu-Sin to Šarrum-bani 1
20. Šu-Sin to Lu-Nanna and Šarrum-bani 1


Letters addressed to and from Ibbi-Sin

21. Išbi-Erra to Ibbi-Sin 1
22. Ibbi-Sin to Išbi-Erra 1
23. Puzur-Numušda to Ibbi-Sin 1
24. Ibbi-Sin to Puzur-Numušda 1


Controversy about historicity of the letters

The historical authenticity of the Correspondence of the Kings of Ur – the question of whether they originally date, as they purport, to the Ur III period, or whether they were composed during Old Babylonian compositions – is a highly contested and complicated issue. For many years, the letters were treated as one of the best sources of information for reconstructing political events of the Ur III period, especially the end of the kingdom. The modernistic account of the end of the Ur III dynasty, for example (catastrophic collapse due to factors such as Amorite invasions, environmental disasters and crop failures, and the rise of bloated bureaucracy), is largely based on CKU. However, the historicity of the letters has recently been called into question, sparking at times intense debate among scholars. In 2001, Fabienne Huber published an article entitled "La Correspondance Royale d’Ur, un corpus apocryphe", in which she argued that the corpus was entirely apocryphal. This argument was based primarily on the occurrence of post-Ur III linguistic features, of borrowings between the letters, and of post-Ur III personal names and place names. In response to Huber's article, W. W. Hallo wrote a defense of the CKU's authenticity, arguing that nearly all of the letters were copied from Ur III archival letters and can be used as historical sources. Piotr Michalowski, in his 2011 publication of the entire CKU, presented an argument against both viewpoints. Instead, he took the position that some elements of authentic Ur III letters were incorporated into the Old Babylonian curriculum, but that these were extensively redacted; in some cases it is possible to tell that a letter was fabricated, while in others, it is more likely that the core of the letter represents original Ur III content. In a review of Michalowski's book, Pascal Attinger defended Huber's position against Michalowski's critiques.Attinger, Pascal. 2012. “Une nouvelle edition de la corrsepondance royale d’Ur.” ''Orientalia'' 81: 355-385. pp. 357-385.


References


Further reading

*Michalowski, Piotr. 2011. ''The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom''. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns: A comprehensive publication of the Correspondence of the Kings of Ur, with translations and detailed discussions.


External links

{{Wikiquote
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
Transliterations and translations of most of the letters (Go to “Literary letters and letter-prayers," then “Royal correspondence,” then “Third Dynasty of Ur.”) 21st-century BC literature 20th-century BC literature Collections of letters First Babylonian Empire Forgery controversies Sumerian literature Ur