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Founding
Founding of Kish
ancient Sumerian city
- 3100 BCE
- Middle East
Founding
ancient Sumerian city
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Kish (Sumerian: Kiš; transliteration: Kiški; cuneiform: 𒆧𒆠; Akkadian: Kiššatu, near modern Tell al-Uhaymir) is an important archaeological site in Babil Governorate (Iraq), located 80 km (50 mi) south of Baghdad and 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the ancient city of Babylon. The Ubaid period site of Ras al-Amiyah is 8 km (5.0 mi) away. It was occupied from the Ubaid period to the Hellenistic period. In Early Dynastic times the city's patron deity was Ishtar with her consort Ea. Her temple, at Tell Ingharra, was (E)-hursag-kalama. By Old Babylonian times the patron deities had become Zababa, along with his consort, the goddess Bau and Istar. His temple Emeteursag (later Ekišiba) was at Uhaimir.
Kish was occupied from the Ubaid periods (c.5300–4300 BC), gaining prominence as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region during the Early Dynastic Periods all when it reached its maximum extent of 230 hectares.
The Sumerian King List (SKL) states that Kish was the first city to have kings following the deluge. The 1st dynasty of Kish begins with Ĝushur. Ĝushur's successor is called Kullassina-bel, but this is actually a sentence in Akkadian meaning "All of them were lord". Thus, some scholars have suggested that this may have been intended to signify the absence of a central authority in Kish for a time. The names of the next nine kings of Kish preceding Etana are Nanĝišlišma, En-tarah-ana, Babum, Puannum, Kalibum, Kalumum, Zuqaqip, Aba, Mašda, and Arwium.
Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze I. Archaeological finds from the Uruk period (c. 3900-3100 BC) indicate that the site was part of the Uruk Expansion and hence originally Sumerian language speaking. Ignace Gelb identified Kish as the center of the earliest East Semitic culture which he calls the Kish civilization, however the concept has been challenged by more recent scholarship.
Early Bronze IIA (c. 3050/3000-2900/2850 BC). During the Jemdet Nasr period, little is known.
Excavations conducted by the Oxford-Field Museum expedition (1923–1933) identified significant flood deposits from the Euphrates River that disrupted the city's occupation. At the Ingharra mound (East Kish), archaeologists discovered a thick layer of yellow-green sand and silt, completely devoid of artifacts, separating the Jemdet Nasr period from the Early Dynastic I (ED I) period.
Early Bronze IIB (c. 2900/2850-2750 BC). In Early Dynasty I-II little is known.
Early Bronze IIIA (c. 2750-2500 BC). Early Dynastic IIIA. Of the twenty-first king of Kish on the list, Enmebaragesi, who is said to have captured the weapons of Elam, is the first name confirmed by archaeological finds from his reign. He is also known through other literary references, in which he and his son Aga of Kish are portrayed as contemporary rivals of Dumuzid, the Fisherman, and Gilgamesh, early rulers of Uruk.
Some early kings of Kish are known through archaeology, but are not named on the SKL. It can be difficult to determine if these are actually rulers of Kish or had merely adopted the common appellation "King of Kish". This includes Mesilim, who built temples in Adab and Lagash, where he seems to have exercised some control. Two other examples were the sleeve of an Early Dynastic II bronze sword found at Girsu which read "Lugal-namni[r]-sum (is) king of Kis" and a statue fragment found at Nippur which read "Enna-il, king of Kis".
Early Bronze IIIB (c. 2500-2350 BC). In Early Dynastic IIIB, after its early supremacy, Kish declined economically and militarily, but retained a strong political and symbolic significance. Its influence reached as far west as the city of Ebla near the Mediterranean Sea, as shown by the Ebla tablets. According to the Ebla tablets, Kish was defeated in the time of Ebla ruler Ishar-Damu, probably by Uruk. Shortly afterward Kish joined Ebla in defeating Mari, followed by the marriage of the Eblan princess Keshdut to a king of Kish. Just as with Nippur to the south, control of Kish was a prime element in legitimizing dominance over the north of Mesopotamia. Because of the city's symbolic value, strong rulers later claimed the traditional title "King of Kish", even if they were from Akkad, Ur, Assyria, Isin, Larsa or Babylon. One of the earliest to adopt this title upon subjecting Kish to his empire was King Mesannepada of Ur.
Early Bronze IVA (c. 2350-2150 BC). The Akkadian Period began with Sargon of Akkad (r. 2334-2279 BC) who founded the Akkadian Empire (c. 2334-2154 BC). He came from the area near Kish, called Azupiranu according to a much later Neo-Assyrian text purporting to be an autobiography of Sargon.
During the reign of Manishtushu, he used the title "Lugal Kish" in inscriptions.
By 2154 BC, the Fall of the Akkadian Empire was due to major climate change causing drought (4.2 ka event). This led to a political turmoil known as the Gutian period with hords of highland Gutians raiding the urban cities on the plain.
Early Bronze IVB (c. 2150-2020/2000 BC). During the Ur III Period (c. 2112–2004 BC), also known as the Neo-Sumerian Empire, the city of Kish occupied a unique position. While it was no longer the seat of an independent hegemony as it had been in the Early Dynastic period, it remained a vital strategic and ideological center under the centralized administration of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Kish was governed by an ensi (governor) appointed by the kings of Ur. Records show these governors were heavily involved in the bala system—a complex tax and redistribution network. Kish served as a major provincial capital. Because of its location in northern Babylonia, it acted as a gateway between the Sumerian south and the Semitic-speaking regions to the north and west. It was a crucial node on the royal roads connecting the capital, Ur, to the northern frontier.
In terms of economy, tablets archive shows the management of "gangs" of laborers (guruš and geme). They were employed in large-scale agricultural projects and the maintenance of the irrigation canals, such as the Irim-Kiš canal. Kish was a primary producer of barley and emmer. Tablets shows precise caloric rationing for workers, reflecting a highly "math-heavy" and bureaucratic approach to state economy.
The religion was dominated by the Temple of Zababa with the city’s patron deity was Zababa (a warrior god). The Ur III kings, particularly Shulgi and Shu-Sin, invested heavily in the restoration of his temple, E-meteursag. Cultic offerings are shown from documents at the central livestock agency at Puzrish-Dagan record frequent shipments of cattle and sheep specifically destined for the altars in Kish, indicating its continued status as a "holy city."
Archaeological evidence from the Ur III layers at Tell al-Uhaymir is somewhat sparse compared to the Early Dynastic layers, largely because the Neo-Sumerian structures were often built over or recycled by later Babylonian builders. However, the presence of stamped bricks bearing the names of Ur III kings confirms their active construction programs in the city.
By 2036 BC, an abrupt climate change hit hard for about a decade, probably caused by a major volcanic eruption. Colder weather in the northern hemisphere and drought in Mesopotamia saw Ur III Empire struggle with grain prices rising and rebellions emerge. After that, the Ur III never recovered and declined until its fall in 2004 BC - marking the end of the Early Bronze Age. The governorate of Kish fell out of the central authority of Ur III becoming an independent regional power again.
Middle Bronze IA (c. 2020/2000-1900 BC). In the Isin-Larsa period, Kish became a "buffer state" and a frequent prize in the power struggle between the rival cities of Isin and Larsa. Following the Elamite destruction of Ur, the centralized bureaucracy vanished. Local dynasties seized the opportunity to declare sovereignty. Kish regained its status as an semi-independent kingdom for several decades, though it was often squeezed between larger regional powers. Its strategic location near the northern irrigation networks made Kish a target.
Middle Bronze IB (c. 1900-1820 BC). By the early part of the First Dynasty of Babylon Kish was under the control of Babylon with the tenth year name of ruler Sumu-abum (c. 1897–1883 BC) being "Year in which (Sumu-abum) made for Kish its city wall (reaching) heaven" (repeated in following year). Not long afterward, Kish was conquered by Sumuel of Larsa as reflected in his eleventh year name "Year the army of Kisz was smitten by weapons", repeated in the following three year names. In the 13th year of Sumu-la-El he reports destroying Kish (repeated in following four years) and then destroying the city wall of Kish in his 19th year and in his 30th year "Year the temple of Zababa, the Emeteursag / the house, ornament of the heros (Zababa), was built". At this point Kish came under the control of the city-state of Eshnunna under rulers DIpiq-Adad II and DNaram-Sin.
Middle Bronze II (c. 1820-1550 BC). By the time of Babylon ruler Sin-Muballit (c. 1813–1792 BC), father of Hammurabi, Kish was firmly under the control of Babylon and would stay that way until the waning days of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The rulers of Babylon at its peak of power, Hammurabi and Samsu-iluna, are known to have done extensive construction at Kish, including rebuilding the city wall. By this time, the eastern settlement at Hursagkalama had become viewed as a distinct city, and it was probably not included in the walled area.
At some period or periods within the Old Babylonian period, Kish was under the control of a series of rulers generally called the Manana Dynasty. Most of what is known comes from two illicitly excavated archive thought to be from the town of Damrum, near Kish. These rulers include Iawian, Halium, Abdi-Erah, Manana, and four others. Several year names of Iawium are known including "Year Sumu-ditana died". Samsu-Ditana was the last ruler of the First Dynasty of Babylon. One ruler, Ashduniarim is known from a long inscription on a clay foundation cone found at Kish.
"Ašdũni-iarīm, the mighty man, beloved of Ištar, favored by Zababa, king of Kiš, when the world quarters four became hostile to me, for eight years battle I waged, and in the eighth year my opponent to clay indeed turned. ... "
The succeeding Kassite dynasty moved the capital from Babylon to Dur-Kurigalzu and Kish was diminished. There is some evidence of Kassite activity in Kish.
Afterwards Kish appears to have significantly declined in importance, as it is only mentioned in a few documents from the later second millennium BC. During the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, Kish is mentioned more frequently in texts. However, by this time, Kish proper (Tell al-Uhaymir) had been almost completely abandoned, and the settlement which texts from this period call "Kish" was probably Hursagkalama (Tell Ingharra).
After the Achaemenid period, Kish completely disappears from the historical record; however, archaeological evidence indicates that the town remained in existence for a long time thereafter. Although the site at Tell al-Uhaymir was mostly abandoned, Tell Ingharra was revived during the Parthian period, growing into a sizeable town with a large mud-brick fortress. During the Sasanian period, the site of the old city was completely abandoned in favor of a string of connected settlements spread out along both sides of the Shatt en-Nil canal. This last incarnation of Kish prospered under Sasanian and then Islamic rule, before being finally abandoned during the later years of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258).
Kish is located 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the ancient city of Babylon and 80 km (50 mi) south of modern Baghdad. The Kish archaeological site is an oval area roughly 8 by 3 km (5 by 2 mi), transected into east and west sections by the dry former bed of the Euphrates River, encompassing around 40 mounds scattered over an area of about 24 square kilometers, the largest being Uhaimir and Ingharra.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Kish (Sumer)”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.