Kubaba (in the ''Weidner'' or ''
Esagila
The Ésagila or Esangil ( sux, , ''"temple whose top is lofty"'') was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki.
Description
In this temple was the statue of Marduk, surrounded by cu ...
Chronicle''), sux, , , is the
only queen on the ''
Sumerian King List'', which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500–2330 BC) of
Sumerian history. A connection between her and a goddess known from
Hurro-
Hittite and later
Luwian
The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
sources cannot be established on the account of spatial and temporal differences.
[J. D. Hawkins, ]
Kubaba A. Philologisch · Kubaba A. Philological
' n:'''' vol. 6, 1983, p. 257
History
Kubaba is one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Mesopotamian history. Most versions of the king list place her alone in her own dynasty, the 3rd 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, ...
, following the defeat of Sharrumiter of
Mari, but other versions combine her with the 4th dynasty, that followed the primacy of the king of
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' ...
. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was an
alewife.
The ''Weidner Chronicle'' is a propagandistic letter, attempting to date the shrine of
Marduk at
Babylon to an early period, and purporting to show that each of the kings who had neglected its proper rites had lost the primacy of Sumer. It contains a brief account of the rise of "the house of Kubaba" occurring in the reign of
Puzur-Nirah of Akshak:
"In the reign of Puzur-Nirah, king of Akšak, the freshwater fishermen of Esagila
The Ésagila or Esangil ( sux, , ''"temple whose top is lofty"'') was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki.
Description
In this temple was the statue of Marduk, surrounded by cu ...
were catching fish for the meal of the great lord Marduk; the officers of the king took away the fish. The fisherman was fishing when 7 (or 8) days had passed ..in the house of Kubaba, the tavern-keeper ..they brought to Esagila. At that time BROKEN anew for Esagila ..Kubaba gave bread to the fisherman and gave water, she made him offer the fish to Esagila. Marduk, the king, the prince of the Apsû, favored her and said: "Let it be so!" He entrusted to Kubaba, the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world."
Her son
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 ...
and grandson
Ur-Zababa
Ur-Zababa is listed on the '' Sumerian King List'' as the second king of the 4th Dynasty of Kish. This text also records that Ur-Zababa had appointed Sargon of Akkad as his cup-bearer. Sargon was later the ruler of the Akkadian Empire.
Family ...
followed her on the throne of Sumer as the fourth Kish dynasty on the king list, in some copies as her direct successors, in others with the Akshak dynasty intervening. Ur-Zababa is also known as the king said to be reigning in Sumer during the youth of
Sargon the Great
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 ...
of
Akkad, who militarily brought much of the Near East under his control shortly afterward.
Notes
References
"The Weidner 'Chronicle' mentioning Kubaba" From Grayson, A. K. (1975). ''Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles''.
{{Authority control
25th-century BC Sumerian kings
25th-century BC women rulers
Kings of Kish
Sumerian rulers
Ancient queens regnant
Ancient Mesopotamian women
Businesspeople in brewing
Ancient businesswomen