𒈗

( Sumerian: ) is the Sumerian term for "king, ruler". Literally, the term means "big man." In Sumerian, ''lú'' " 𒇽" is "man" and ''gal'' " 𒃲" is "great", or "big."

It was one of several Sumerian titles that a ruler of a city-state could bear (alongside '' en'' and '' ensi'', the exact difference being a subject of debate). The sign eventually became the predominant logograph for "King" in general. In the Sumerian language, is used to mean an owner (e.g. of a boat or a field) or a head (of a unit such as a family).

As a cuneiform logograph (Sumerogram) LUGAL (Unicode: 𒈗, rendered in Neo Assyrian).

Cuneiform

The cuneiform sign LUGAL 𒈗 (Borger nr. 151, Unicode U+12217) serves as a determinative in cuneiform texts ( Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite), indicating that the following word is the name of a king. In Akkadian orthography, it may also be a syllabogram ''šàr'', acrophonically based on the Akkadian for "king", ''šarrum''.

Unicode also includes the cuneiform characters , and .

''Lugal'', ''ensi'' and ''en''

There are different theories regarding the meaning of the title in 3rd-millennium Sumer. Some scholars believe that a ruler of an individual city-state was usually called ''ensi'', and a ruler who headed a confederacy or larger dominion composed of several cities, perhaps even the whole of Sumer, was a . The functions of such a would include certain ceremonial and cultic activities, arbitration in border disputes, military defence against external enemies, and once the has died, the eldest son must take over. The ''ensis'' of Lagash would sometimes refer to the city's patron deity, Ningirsu, as their ("master"). All of the above is connected to the possibly priestly or sacral character of the titles ''ensi''Glassner, Jean-Jacques, 2000: Les petits etats Mésopotamiens à la fin du 4e et au cours du 3e millénaire. In: Hansen, Mogens Herman (ed.) A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen., P.48 and especially ''en'' (the latter term continuing to designate priests in subsequent times).

Other scholars consider ''ensi'', ''en'' and to have been merely three local designations for the sovereign, accepted respectively in the city-states of Lagash, Uruk and Ur (as well as most of the rest of Sumer), although the various terms may have expressed different aspects of the Mesopotamian concept of kingship. A at that time is assumed to have been "normally a young man of outstanding qualities from a rich landowning family." Thorkild Jacobsen theorized that he was originally an (elected) war leader, as opposed to the (likewise elected) ''en'', who dealt with internal issues.

Among the earliest rulers whose inscriptions describe them as are Enmebaragesi and Mesilim at Kish, and Meskalamdug, Mesannepada and several of their successors at Ur.Glassner, Jean-Jacques, 2000: Les petits etats Mésopotamiens à la fin du 4e et au cours du 3e millénaire. In: Hansen, Mogens Herman (ed.) A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen., P.47 At least from the Third Dynasty of Ur onwards, only was used to designate a contemporary sovereign in Sumerian.

''Lugal'' in the Amarna letters

The term ''Lugal'' is used extensively in the Amarna letters, for addressing kings or pharaohs, and elsewhere in speaking about various kings. One common address, in the introduction of many letters, from the vassals writing to the pharaoh was to use: ''Šàr-ri'', (''šarri'' "my king": ''šar'' the construct state of ''šarrum'' + the first person suffix ''-i''); they used Lugal + ''ri'' = ''Šàr-ri'', with LUGAL written Sumerographically while ''ri'' being the Akkadian phonetic supplement.

See also

*Lugalbanda

Notes

{{Reflist

Cuneiform determinatives
Sumerian titles
Royal titles

ca:Sumer#Títols polítics sumeris