Kish (Sumer)
Kish is an important archaeological site in Babil Governorate, located south of Baghdad and east of the ancient city of Babylon. The Ubaid period site of Ras al-Amiyah is 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 -hursag-kalama. By Old Babylonian times the patron deities had become Zababa, along with his consort, the goddess Bau and Istar. His temple Emeteursag was at Uhaimir.
History
Chalcolithic
Ubaid period
Kish was occupied from the Ubaid period, gaining prominence as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region during the Early Dynastic Period when it reached its maximum extent of 230 hectares.Early Bronze Age
The Sumerian King List 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.Uruk period
Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze I. Archaeological finds from the Uruk period 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.Jemdet Nasr period
Early Bronze IIA. During the Jemdet Nasr period, little is known.Early Dynastic period
Early Bronze IIB. In Early Dynasty I-II little is known.Early Bronze IIIA. 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 Dynatic II bronze sword found at Girsu which read "Lugal-namni-sum king of Kis" and a statue fragment found at Nippur which read "Enna-il, king of Kis".
File:Mesannepada, Lugal Kish-ki.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Mesannepada, Lugal Kish-ki, "Mesannepada, King of Kish", on a seal impression found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. The last column of characters, is thought to mean "his wife...".
Early Bronze IIIB. 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.
Akkadian period
Early Bronze IVA. The Akkadian Period began with Sargon of Akkad who founded the Akkadian Empire. He came from the area near Kish, called Azupiranu according to a much later Neo-Assyrian text purporting to be an autobiography of Sargon.File:Manishtushu Lugal Kish.jpg|thumb|left|Macehead inscription of Manishtushu, ruler of the Akkadian Empire: Manishtushu Lugal Kish, "Manishtushu King of Kish"
During the reign of Manishtushu, he used the title "Lugal Kish" in inscriptions.
By 2154 BCE, the Fall of the Akkadian Empire was due to major climate change causing drought. This led to a political turmoil known as the Gutian period with hords of highland Gutians raiding the urban cities on the plain.
Ur III period
Early Bronze IVB. During the Ur III Period, 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 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. 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. 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 BCE, 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 BCE - 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 Age
Isin-Larsa period
Middle Bronze IA. 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.Old Babylonian period
Middle Bronze IB. 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 being "Year in which made for Kish its city wall heaven". 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 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, 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. By the time of Babylon ruler Sin-Muballit, 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.