Reform Edict of Urukagina

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

By abolishing former abusive customs and replacing them with new precepts through the Reform Edict, Urukagina evidently proclaimed a general amnesty in Lagash (written “Lagaš” in the text) concerning the old precepts. He furthermore established divine ownership over estates that had been administered by members of the royal family. He also claimed to have changed the taxes collected on special occasions, such as weddings, divorces, and funerals.

The text of the first and most complete version of the reforms appears to consist of four parts. The first section is the introduction and dedication to Urukagina's god, Ningirsu (written “Ningirsu”), with a brief note about building projects and dedications. Second, Urukagina outlines various abuses committed by previous monarchs (primarily concerning the appropriation of temple property). He next describes his own elevation to kingship and the new practices that were then introduced. He concludes with a contract between himself and Ningirsu. In the third version of the text, a key passage concerns the position of women.

Column i

The text begins with a prologue concerning the city god of the Lagash region, Ningirsu (apparently the Lagashite form of Ninurta, a major Sumerian deity), celebrating the building and dedication of various structures. This god was the son of Enlil, the active head of the Sumerian pantheon. Ningirsu combined both military and agricultural attributes. To begin, he was a mighty warrior god who destroyed the mountain enemies of Sumer as well as the Anzu, a mythical birdlike creature who had threatened the god's authority over humankind. Moreover, Ningirsu gave humans advice on farming, as evidenced in the Sumerian text “Farmer's Instructions.” In one myth, this god defeated the demon Asag and proceeded to organize the world by making the Tigris and Euphrates rivers usable for irrigation and agriculture.

Both Tirash (“Tiraš”) and Antasur, attested to as early as the Lagashite king Urnanshe, were either geographic regions or structures (either temples or palaces) dedicated to Ningirsu. Baba, the divine consort of Ningirsu, is also found in the earliest inscriptions from the vicinity of Lagash. It is not certain what type of structure Baba's “pantry” was. The literal meaning of the term is “stone bowl,” and some scholars have surmised that the building in question was a storehouse where stone bowls were kept to be used for temple provisions. Some Lagash archival texts mention a building with a similar description at Girsu (“Girsu”) that provided emmer, a breed of wheat, for the monthly provisions of the god Ningirsu. Thus, the Urukagina text may be referring to a like structure.

Column ii

One of the other major goddesses of the region, Nanshe (“Nanše”), had her seat of residence at Nina, the least known of the three major cities of the region of Lagash. In Sumerian mythology, she was the daughter of Enki, the god of wisdom, and Ninhursag. In the myth concerning Enki and the world order, Nanshe was given the Persian Gulf by her father as her dominion. By the time of Gudea, a king of Lagash (ca. 2130 BCE), Nanshe was considered the goddess of social justice, defending the rights of orphans, widows, debtors, and refugees. She was also described as the “Lady of the Storerooms.”

The “sheep-plucking shed,” mentioned in various texts from Girsu, stored emmer for the monthly provisions of the god Ningirsu, perhaps being similar to the “pantry” mentioned in column i. The “Nimin-DU canal” evidently went out of the area of Lagash to the south and east, heading toward the Persian Gulf. The “wall of Girsu” was presumably a portion of the city wall of Girsu, dedicated to Ningirsu himself. The second edition of the reforms includes mention of more deities to whom Urukagina dedicated canals and temples.

Column iii

After the dedicatory prologue, the main body of the text is first concerned with abuses of previous royal administrations, which had been perpetuated “since time immemorial.” Although Urukagina does not mention any monarch by name, it is implicitly understood that the previous Lagashite kings are held guilty of taking advantage of many in society. It is not clear what these officials (head boatmen, livestock officials, and so on) were doing improperly. Perhaps they had usurped the prerogatives of the temple administrators, a situation that Urukagina planned to reform.

The identity of the town of Ambar is uncertain, as is its location. It may have been either a town near the province of Lagash or a town near the northern city of Kish, the titular head of the Sumerian city-states. The lustration (purification) priests were evidently involved in farming land that was subject to a grain tax. It is not clear, however, why the demand of this tax at the city of Ambar was considered abusive. The fragmented third edition of the Reform Edict adds that the priests were required to build grain storehouses at Ambar. These priests were also mentioned in earlier administrative texts from Shuruppak, a Sumerian city to the northwest.

Column iv

Once again, it appears that the different administrators (surveyor, brewer, and others) were improperly collecting taxes. Historians do not know why the garlic and cucumber plots of the rulers are singled out in this section. However, it is clear that, according to Urukagina, they should have belonged to the divine estates. White sheep were brought to the palace by state administrators and were sheared to be used as offerings. The third edition of the Reform Edict elucidates that the shepherds had been required to pay a five-shekel silver tax in addition to the tax of wool, demands that must have been considered abusive by Urukagina

Column v

Evidently, the temple administrators were also guilty of abuse and took improper items as payments. The various lists of items in this column most certainly refer to funerary goods. Similar lists are found in a great variety of literary documents, including the version of the Epic of Gilgamesh recorded by the Akkadians (another people group living in southern Mesopotamia), which describes items used in the funeral for Enkidu. Enkidu is described in Sumerian and Akkadian literature as the semidivine friend of Gilgamesh, the fifth king of Uruk. Similar items are mentioned in a text describing the death of Ur-Nammu, a Sumerian king of Ur. Many of these items may have been of a ceremonial nature. The “Ear of the Mongoose” may have been a sort of earmuff dedicated to the deity Ninkilim (symbolized by the mongoose). The meaning of “ŠU.GABA.UR” is uncertain, but it appears to have something to do with a cloth that holds the hand to the chest. A similar item (a chest covering) is found among a list of funerary goods for the deity Bilala. Similarly, the “outer woolen garment” and “linen draping” of the reforms can also be compared to like items found in archival texts from Girsu dating to the reign of Urukagina. The term throw-stick/bow is derived from earlier Sumerian sources, but the precise nature of the item in question is uncertain; in mythological contexts it is referred to as a magic staff connected to the underworld. Archival texts from Girsu describe fishermen along with assorted birds, including, as here, “yellow ravens”; perhaps the inhabitants of the underworld were decked out in these birds' feathers.

Column vi

The temple administrators also abused the poor, as is seen in this column. The translation “undertaker” (that is, priest performing funeral rites) is not certain, but it fits the context here. The “reeds of Enki” perhaps signal a healing or burial ceremony. A Lagash incantation text from the time of Urnanshe connects the use of the reed in magic to Enki, who was the god of the subterranean freshwater ocean and was associated with the arts (especially magic). He was often depicted wearing a sorcerer's hat. His primary cult center was at the southern city of Eridu, recognized by the Sumerians as the first city. Although the meaning is uncertain, given the context, the shu-ila (“šuila”) rites must have also been funerary in nature. Bread is also connected to shu-ila rites mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Column vii

The “safe passage toll” perhaps refers to the passage of the dead to the netherworld, as similar to Greek mythology. The “great gate” is probably the gate through which individuals had to pass in order to reach their final resting places. A probable iconographic depiction of this gate comes from a seal impression from this period that features a boat approaching a winged gate, presumably the gate of the netherworld.

The lady and children described here appear to be the ruler's family. Once again, it is not clear what abuse is being referred to. The ruler's family and their property had either grown to a level that prohibited more expansion or were administered together. In any event, the reform concerning this issue describes a separation of the royal family properties that were assigned to different temple organizations.

The boundary of the god Ningirsu signified the area of the kingdom of Lagash, bordering Umma to the north and west and the marshland to the south and east (as far as the Persian Gulf). The “subordinate to the king” seems to have been a collective term for chain gangs, perhaps in relation to agricultural and even military work. The term blind workers probably refers to a lower class of unfree workers rather than to those who were legally blind. Alternatively, in some periods of Mesopotamian history (especially in the Neo-Assyrian period, ca. 900–612 BCE), prisoners of war were blinded to inhibit their mobility. The column concludes with a summary statement about all of the abuses outlined in the previous sections.

Column viii

As with most kings in the ancient Near East, Urukagina claimed that his authority to rule came from a divine source—in this case, from Ningirsu, the city god of Lagash. However, he did not claim authority also for hereditary reasons but instead only because the god chose him from among the “myriad people.” He thus proved his legitimacy by reversing the abuses of former times, stopping the royal administrators from continuing their improper tax collections, and restoring the social order to its proper state.

Column ix

In this section Urukagina outlines the installation of the temple administration over many of the estates that had been under the control of the crown. Shulshagana (“Šulšagana”) was the offspring of Ningirsu and Baba. It seems likely that the royal family's property was divided into three organizations, all technically under the ownership of the divine family of Ningirsu. Interestingly, Shulshagana is not mentioned in the later editions of the reforms.

Column x

The actual gender of the personnel described here is unclear; some commentators argue that “old men” are also listed, in addition to the “wailing women.” In any event, these individuals were probably connected with lamentation rites and thus were associated with the lamentation singers. Perhaps this section is describing a tax on a particular mourning ceremony, different from the “reed of Enki” tax in column vi and in the opening of this column. The “lu-ziga attendants” were probably lamentation singers connected to burials. The mud and sadug were liquid or dry measures, probably fabricated to a standard size.

Column xi

The different times of day mentioned here are likely referring to the hours when religious ceremonies were to be performed. The sagbur (“sagbur”) were perhaps associated with the lamentation singers, but their particular function is not clear. The sagbur were perhaps responsible for removing the clothes of the deceased before they were wrapped for burial.

Column xii

The practice of indenturing family members to secure loans is well known from other texts in this period. Moreover, many documents from the Ur III dynasty (ca. 2112–2006 BCE) describe whole families that were forced into servitude because of debt or other criminal activities. The earliest attestation of the cancellation of debts comes from a few generations before Urukagina, during the reign of the Lagash king Entemena, who claimed to have cancelled debts for Lagash. Interestingly, the Sumerian term for cancellation of debts, ama.ar.gi, literally means “return to the mother,” signifying a release from either public obligations (taxation and conscription) or private debts.

Version 3: Column iii

The words “exceeding her rank” (sometimes translated as “transgressing moral limits”) probably refer to a woman's attempting to transcend her social status, although it is unclear what that would have entailed. Sumerian contracts from this period occasionally contain a clause about a wooden stake driven into the mouth of the accused. Whether this is to be taken literally or figuratively is not known. Interestingly, section 22 of the legal Ur-Nammu Code reads, “If someone's slave woman, presuming her to be the equal of her mistress, has sworn at her, she shall scour out her mouth with one quart of salt” (Roth, p. 19) The references in Job 29:17 and Psalms 3:7 to the breaking of the teeth or jaws of the wicked occur in legal contexts and perhaps indicate a related custom.

Much has been said about this section and its meaning. Although the phrasing is clear—in former times, a man could marry two women—its cultural meaning is not. Instead of polyandry or polygamy, neither of which are confirmed anywhere in Sumerian sources, the phrase is probably referring to women who were married more than once. However, an alternative view is that men could “take” (perhaps not legally) two wives, with the second serving as a sort of insurance policy for debt release. In other words, if a man was released from his debts, he would no longer need to take a second wife.