Enshakushanna ( sux, , ), or Enshagsagana, En-shag-kush-ana, Enukduanna, En-Shakansha-Ana, En-šakušuana was a king of

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 ...

around the mid-3rd millennium BC who is named on the '' Sumerian King List'', which states his reign to have been 60 years. He conquered

Hamazi Hamazi or Khamazi (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , ''ha-ma-zi''ki, or ''Ḫa-ma-zi2''ki) was an ancient kingdom or city-state of some importance that reached its peak c. 2500–2400 BC. Its exact location is unknown, but is thought to have be ...

, Akkad,

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, ...

, and Nippur, claiming hegemony over all of Sumer.

Titulature

He adopted the Sumerian title ''en ki-en-gi lugal kalam'' . (), which may be translated as "lord of Sumer and king of all the land" (which possibly implies "'' en'' of the region of Uruk and ''

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 ...

'' of the region of Ur"), and could correspond to the later title ''lugal ki-en-gi ki-uri'' "

King of Sumer and Akkad King of Sumer and Akkad ( Sumerian: ''lugal-ki-en-gi-ki-uri'', Akkadian: ''šar māt Šumeri u Akkadi'') was a royal title in Ancient Mesopotamia combining the titles of "King of Akkad", the ruling title held by the monarchs of the Akkadian E ...

" that eventually came to signify kingship over

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 ...

as a whole.

Reign

Enshakushanna's reign is largely characterized by his military campaigns, the most prominent of which was against Kish and

Akshak Akshak ( Sumerian: , akšak) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated on the northern boundary of Akkad, sometimes identified with Babylonian Upi (Greek Opis). History Akshak first appears in records of ca. 2500 BC. In the Sumerian text ''Dumuzid' ...

. His attack on these two cities is attested from a stone bowl at Nippur and reads as follows:

For Enlil, king of all lands, Enshakushanna, lord of the land of Sumer and king of the nation when the gods commanded him, he sacked Kish (and) captured Enbi-Ishtar, the king of Kish. The leader of Kish and the leader of Akshak, (when) both their cities were destroyed ... (Lacuna) in (?) .he returned to them, but ededicated their statues, their precious metals and lapis lazuli, their timber and treasure, to the god Enlil at ppur.

Many scholars have attributed the EDIIIb destruction layers at the Palace A and Plano-Convex Building in Kish to Enshakushanna. Federico Zaina notes the archaeological evidence at Kish attests to a "pervasive violent destruction of the city of Kish at the end of the ED IIIb". Apart from his attacks to the North, Enshakushanna is also known to have attacked Akkad. A year name of En-šakušuana, king of Uruk was "Year in which En-šakušuana defeated Akkad". This would have been shortly before the rise of the Akkadian Empire.

Succession

He was succeeded in Uruk by

Lugal-kinishe-dudu Lugal-kinishe-dudu (, ''lugal-ki-ni-še₃-du₇-du₇'') also Lugal-kiginne-dudu (, ''lugal-ki-gin-ne2-du₇-du₇''), was a King and ( ensi) of Uruk and Ur who lived towards the end of the 25th century BCE. The Sumerian King List mentions ...

, but the hegemony seems to have passed to

Eannatum Eannatum ( sux, ) was a Sumerian '' Ensi'' (ruler or king) of Lagash circa 2500–2400 BCE. He established one of the first verifiable empires in history: he subdued Elam and destroyed the city of Susa as well as several other Iranian cities, ...

Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...

for a time. Lugal-kinishe-dudu was later allied with

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 ...

, a successor of Eannatum, against Lagash's principal rival,

Umma Umma ( sux, ; in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, formerly also called Gishban) was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site. Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell J ...

Inscriptions

Several inscriptions of Enshakushanna are known. A dedication tablet in his name is known, now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation: The inscription states his father was "Elilina", possibly King

Elulu Elulu ( sux, , ) is listed as the third king of the First Dynasty of Ur on the ''Sumerian king list'', which states he reigned for 25 years. One early inscription for an "Elulu (or Elili), king of Ur" was found at nearby Eridu, stating that t ...

of Ur.

References

Sumerian rulers 24th-century BC Sumerian kings Kings of Uruk {{AncientNearEast-bio-stub