The Sumerian King List

The Sumerian King List is a historical document that records the kings of Sumer from the earliest times to the end of the first dynasty of Isin. It presents kingship as a single, continuous institution that moved from city to city. The list includes legendary kings who ruled for thousands of years before a great Flood, and then lists dynasties that ruled after the Flood, such as those of Kish, Uruk, and Ur.12

The document is a literary composition from the Old Babylonian period and is valuable for chronology, though its regnal years before the dynasty of Akkad are often exaggerated, with some rulers listed as reigning for hundreds of years. It does not mention all important dynasties, such as the first dynasty of Lagash, and appears to have no memory of the early flourishing of Uruk. The Sumerian King List is a key source for understanding early Mesopotamian history and the development of kingship.21