Lugal-dalu ( sux, ) was a
Sumerian ruler of the
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 ...
n city of
Adab in the mid-3rd millennium BCE, probably circa 2500 BCE.
His name does not appear in the
Sumerian King List, but he is known from one of a statue bearing his name. The statue is similar in style to those of other Sumerian kings such as Meannesi or
Entemena
Entemena, also called Enmetena ( sux, , ), lived circa 2400 BC, was a son of En-anna-tum I, and he reestablished Lagash as a power in Sumer. He defeated Il, king of Umma, in a territorial conflict, through an alliance with Lugal-kinishe-dudu of U ...
, sons of
En-anna-tum I.
The statue, made of grey gipsum or limestone, was discovered by Edgar James Banks, who described it in an article published in 1904 as "The Oldest Statue in the World" (a claim shared by other statues such as the
Urfa Man
The Urfa man, also known as the Balıklıgöl statue, is an ancient human shaped statue found during excavations in Balıklıgöl near Urfa, in the geographical area of Upper Mesopotamia, in the southeast of modern Turkey. It is dated to the per ...
or the
'Ain Ghazal Statues).
The inscription in archaic
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-sh ...
on the statue reads ''è-sar lugal-dalu lugal adab-(ki)'' "In the temple Esar, Lugaldalu king of
Adab", referring to the Esarra Temple in Adab.
["For the E-sar. Lugaldalu, king of Adab" in ]
File:Detail of the Sumerian statue of Lugaldalu.JPG, Detail of the inscription.
File:Lugaldalu inscription.jpg, Lugaldalu inscription: ''è-sar lugal-dalu lugal
Lugal ( Sumerian: ) is the Sumerian term for "king, ruler". Literally, the term means "big man." In Sumerian, ''lu'' "𒇽" is "man" and ''gal'' " 𒃲" is "great," or "big."
It was one of several Sumerian titles that a ruler of a city-state coul ...
adab-(ki)'' "In the temple Esar, Lugaldalu king of Adab"
File:Lugaldalu name archaic and early cuneiform.jpg, The name "Lugal-dalu" () vertically in the inscription, with its rendering in standardized early Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform
References
{{Istanbul Archaeology Museums
Sumerian rulers
26th-century BC rulers
Kings of Adab