Meshkiangasher was a
mythological king only mentioned in the
Sumerian King List
The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient literary composition written in Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims to power of various city-states and king ...
as the priest of the
Eanna
E-anna ( sux, , ''house of heavens''), also referred to as the Temple of Inanna, was an ancient Sumerian temple in Uruk. Considered "the residence of Inanna" and Anu, it is mentioned several times in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epi ...
temple in
Uruk, whose journey led him to the enter the sea and ascend the mountains.
Mythology
The King list mentions Meshkiangasher as a descendant of the sun god
Utu, who became the high priest of
Inanna
Inanna, also sux, ð’€ð’Š©ð’Œ†ð’€ð’ˆ¾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
in the Eanna temple reigning for 324 years, and conceived his son and successor to the throne
Enmerkar. His epithet concludes with his descent to the
sea and ascent to the
mountains, a journey which has been compared to the trajectory of the
sun, believed by the Sumerians that made the exact travel and suitable for the "son of the sun-god".
Historical king
Unlike his successors, Meshkiangasher is not found in any poem or hymn besides the King list. His reign has long been suspected to be a fabrication during the
Ur III period due to the Sumerian-Akkadian hybrid structure of his name, the element ''MES'', which occurs in historical royal names of
Ur, and the tradition about his disappearance.
The fabrication of king Meshkiangasher could be an arrangement to separate the god Utu from being the biological father of Enmerkar, as mentioned in ''
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'', and giving him a royal descendant instead.
See also
*
List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
References
Notes
{{Rulers of Sumer
Inanna
Kings of Uruk
Longevity myths
Missing person cases in Asia
People lost at sea
Sumerian rulers