Ur-Zababa is listed on 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 second king of the 4th Dynasty of

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, ...

. This text also records that Ur-Zababa had appointed

Sargon of Akkad Sargon of Akkad (; akk, ''Šarrugi''), also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.The date of the reign of Sargon is highl ...

as his cup-bearer. Sargon was later the ruler of the

Akkadian Empire The Akkadian Empire () was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long-lived civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad (city), Akkad () and its surrounding region. The empire united Akkadian language, Akkadian and ...

Family

According to the ''King List'', Ur-Zababa was a son of King

Puzur-Suen Puzur-Suen (c. 24th – 23rd century BC) was a king of Sumer, son of Queen Kugbau, the 1st ruler of the 4th dynasty of Kish.''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: Kaffka'' by Bonnie G. Smith He ruled in Kish for 25 years, accordin ...

. His mother is unknown. His grandmother was the famous Queen Kubaba.

''Sargon legend''

The ''Sargon legend'' is a Sumerian text purporting to be Sargon's biography. In the text, Ur-Zababa is mentioned, who awakens after a dream. For unknown reasons, Ur-Zababa appoints Sargon as a cupbearer. Soon after this, Ur-Zababa invites Sargon to his chambers to discuss a dream of Sargon's, involving the favor of the goddess

Inanna Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, 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 ...

. Ur-Zababa was deeply frightened. In an attempt to kill him, Ur-Zababa sends an unwitting Sargon to deliver his bronze mirror to the E-sikil, where the chief smith, Belic-tikal, will receive it. Ur-Zababa instructed the smith to throw Sargon and the mirror into the statue molds upon arrival. However, on his way to the E-sikil the goddess Inanna instructs Sargon to not enter into the E-sikil, but only meet Belic-tikal at the gate of the E-sikil. This ruins Belic-tikal's chance to kill Sargon, and five to ten days later Sargon reappears in the courts of Ur-Zababa. When Sargon returns to Ur-Zababa, the king becomes frightened again, and decides to send Sargon to

Lugal-zage-si Lugal-Zage-Si ( ; frequently spelled ''Lugalzaggesi'', sometimes ''Lugalzagesi'' or "Lugal-Zaggisi") of Umma (reigned c. 2358 - 2334 BCE middle chronology) was the last Sumerian king before the conquest of Sumer by Sargon of Akkad and the rise o ...

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 ...

, with a message on a clay tablet asking him to slay Sargon.

Other sources

The ''Weidner Chronicle'' (ABC 19) agrees with both the ''King List'' and the ''Sargon Legend'' in making Sargon the cupbearer to Ur-Zababa, mentioning him in a single line as ruling in between Kubaba (Kugbau) and Sargon. : Ur-Zababa ordered Sargon, his cupbearer, to change the wine libations of Esagila. It goes on to say that Sargon failed to comply fully with this order, and though he became king, he was eventually punished by the Sumerian deities for his improper observances. Most copies of the ''King List'' give Ur-Zababa an unrealistic reign of 400 years, but one copy reading "six years" is held to be more plausible. It is known that Lugal-zaggesi of Uruk and Umma destroyed Kish toward the end of his reign, before himself being deposed by Sargon. It is often assumed that Sargon also played a role in Ur-Zababa's downfall, but the relevant texts are too fragmentary to be explicit. Ur-Zababa's successors in Kish as named on the king-list, beginning with Zimudar, seem to have been vassals of Sargon, and there is no evidence that they ever really exercised hegemony in Sumer.Kish at The History Files
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Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ur-Zababa Sumerian rulers 24th-century BC Sumerian kings Kings of Kish