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Third Dynasty of Ur

The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians consider to have been a nascent empire.

Ur III dynasty
𒋀𒀕𒆠
URIM2KI

Ur

Sumerian, Akkadian

Sumerian religion

Monarchy

 

Ur-Nammu (first)

Ibbi-Sin (last)

Bronze Age

c. 2112 BC (MC)

c. 2004 BC (MC)

c. 2004 BC (MC)

The Third Dynasty of Ur is commonly abbreviated as Ur III by historians studying the period. It is numbered in reference to previous dynasties, such as the First Dynasty of Ur (26-25th century BC), but it seems the once supposed Second Dynasty of Ur was never recorded.[1]


The Third Dynasty of Ur was the last Sumerian dynasty which came to preeminent power in Mesopotamia. It began after several centuries of control, exerted first by the Akkadian Empire, and then, after its fall, by Gutian and independent Sumerian city-state kings. It controlled the cities of Isin, Larsa, and Eshnunna and extended as far north as Upper Mesopotamia.

Stele of Ur-Nammu, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.[34]

Stele of Ur-Nammu, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.[34]

Cuneiform tablet impressed with cylinder seal. Receipt of goats, c. 2040 BC, year 7 of Amar-Sin. Neo-Sumerian.[35]

Cuneiform tablet impressed with cylinder seal. Receipt of goats, c. 2040 BC, year 7 of Amar-Sin. Neo-Sumerian.[35]

Cuneiform tablet impressed with cylinder seal. Receipt of goats, c. 2040 BC. Neo-Sumerian (drawing).[35]

Cuneiform tablet impressed with cylinder seal. Receipt of goats, c. 2040 BC. Neo-Sumerian (drawing).[35]

Administrative Tablet, Third Dynasty of Ur, 2026 BC.

Administrative Tablet, Third Dynasty of Ur, 2026 BC.

List of Mesopotamian dynasties

Renaissance of Sumer

Jacob L. Dahl, "The ruling family of Ur III Umma. A Prosopographical Analysis of an Elite Family in Southern Iraq 4000 Years ago", Nederlands Instituut Voor Het Nabije Oosten, 2007

Frayne, Douglas (1997). . University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442623767 – via ProQuest Ebook Central.

Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC)

Robertson, John F. (1984). "The Internal Political and Economic Structure of Old Babylonian Nippur: The Guennakkum and His 'House'". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 36 (2): 145–190. :10.2307/1360054. JSTOR 1360054. S2CID 156528750.

doi

Sallaberger, Walther; Westenholz, Aage (1999). Mesopotamien. Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Vol. 160/3. GΓΆttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.  3-525-53325-X.

ISBN

(2007). A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000–323 BC. Second Edition. Blackwell History of the Ancient World. Malden: Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-4911-2.

Van de Mieroop, Marc

The State of Ur III Research