Sumerian Chronicles

Decoding the Sumerian Chronicles

Now that we have used the world empire of Sargon and the realization that many an ancient chronology was padded using multiplication by small whole numbers, we might as well tackle the problem of the Sumerian chronicles in an analogous fashion. I must admit this took me a bit longer than the hour or two that it took me to decode Manetho ... but not too much longer.

First let me say that when the Chronicler tells us that kingship at City Y followed kingship at City X in the land of Sumer, he was not just making it up. The notion that the dynasties of Sumer were coeval and one was rising as the other was fading, as suggested by Jean-Jacques Glassner, and that the succession of these kingdoms can be represented by a kind of spiral pattern is—how shall I say it without offending someone?—logically indefensible. When one cuts the lengths of reign during the various periods of Sumerian history down to size, none of these scholarly gymnastics are required. The relevant units for the postdiluvian period are as follows:

1. Sargon and after: one unit per year.

2. Dumuzi the Fisherman of the Dynasty of Eanna until the advent of the Dynasty of Akkad in 2334: one month per unit, or twelve units to a year.

3. From the 1st Dynasty of Kish until the year 2723: 4 days per unit, or 90 units per year. It took me a while to realize they were not using a unit of 6 days, or 60 units per year, as one might expect from a civilization using a sexagesimal or base-60 numbering system. 2723 was an important year. It marked the rise of Dumuzi II to the throne of Eanna, followed at his death by Gilgamesh of the widely read epic thereof. This year was marked by catastrophe, though obviously not the one associated with Noah/Menes. In short, there were two major catastrophes in Sumerian history, both marked by a change of scale of the related historical records, one at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty of Kish and the second at the beginning of the reign of Dumuzi II. The rise of the latter king was also exactly 400 years before the conquest of Egypt by Sargon, so that one might wonder whether Sargon was making some kind of chronological statement when he chose that year to invade.

4. As for the predynastic period, whatever the unit used to generate the reign lengths found in the various versions of this part of the Sumerian king-list, it was obviously not years. No one lives long enough to rule for 43,200 years, despite the followers of Zecharia Sitchin and their nonsensical planet Nibiru, who seem to be suffering from the same cognitive problem as biblical scholars who seriously believe that Methuselah lived to be 900+ years old. It took a while to figure out what the unit, called a saros, actually represented in this particular application, but it most likely referred to 3600 of something. The most obvious unit would be one tenth of a minute, which would suggest that the proper divisor for generating realistic reign lengths is 1440, the number of six-hour-periods or quarter days in a Sumerian 360-day year. Thus, Enmenlu-Anna would have ruled, not 43,200 years, but 30 years. The repetition of some of these reign lengths—25 years twice and 20 years three times—and the general presence of what look like rounded off numbers suggest that these periods are either approximate and that only the last two of them, those of Enmendur-Anna (14 years, 7 months) and Ubar-tutu (12 years, 11 months), are terribly accurate; or that these figures represent multiples of a set term of 5 years. It would appear that these predynastic kings began to rule sometime shortly after the flood of Ogyges and that they represent what might be called the Interdiluvian Period.

The Sumerian Kings of the Interdiluvian Period

Sumerian King	Reign Length (Berossos) yrs;months	Reign Length(Sumerian King-List) yrs;mths	Correct? yrs;months
Alulium	25	20	25	20
Alalgar	7;6	25	7;6	25
Amelon	32;6	—	32;6	20
Enmenlu-Anna	30	30	30
Enmengal-Anna	45	20	20
Dumuzi	25	25	25
Ensipazi-Anna	45	20	20
Enmendur-Anna	25	14;7	14;7
Ubar-Tutu	20	12;11	12;11
Xisouthros	45	—	45
Average Reign:	30	20.9	23.3

The following table is based upon information found in Glassner's Mesopotamian Chronicles that has been modified using the four chronological factors elaborated above:

The Chronicle of the Single Monarchy from the 1st Dynasty of Kish
through the Dynasty of Akkad—Adjusted and Aligned

Sumerian Dynasties	Year BC	Units Ruledunits(;x/12;x/360)	Years Ruledyrs;months(;days)
Begin 1440 Units/Year (1 "saros" = 360 minutes = 6 hours = ¼ day)
Predynastic	3181?–2949	352,800?	232;6?
Alulium	3181?–3156?	28800	25
Alalgar	3156?–3149?	36000	7;6?
Amelon (foreign ruler?* [Myrina?])	3149?–3116?	46800?	32;6?
Enmenlu-Anna	3116?–3086?	43200	30
Enmengal-Anna (Herakles?)	3086?–3066?	28800	20
Dumuzi	3066?–3041?	36000	25
Ensipazi-Anna (Apollo?)	3041?–3021?	28800	20
Enmendur-Anna (Ammon?)	3021?–3006?	21000	14;7
Ubar-tutu	3006?–2994?	18600	12;11
Xisouthros (foreign ruler?* [Zeus])	2994?–2949	64800?	45?
Begin 90 Units/Year (1 unit = 4 days)
1st Dynasty of Kish	2949–2745	18,390;3;3.5	204;7;3.5
•Gishar	2949	1200	13;41
Kullassina-bel	2936	900	10;0
Nan-GI(SH)-lishma	2926	1200	13;4
En-dara-ana	2913	420;3;3.5	4;11;3.5
Babum	2908	300	3;4
Pu'an	2905	840	9;4
Kalibum	2895	900	10;0
Kalumum	2885	840	9;4
Zuqaqip	2876	900	10;0
Atab	2866	600	6;8
Mashda	2859	840	9;4
Arwi'um	2850	720	8;0
•Etana	2842	1500	16;8
Balih	2825	400	4;5;10
Enme-nuna	2821	660	7;4
Melam-Kish	2813	900	10;0
Barsal-nuna	2803	1200	13;4
Samug	2790	140	1;6;20
Tizkar	2789	305	3;4;20
Ilku'u	2785	900	10;0
Ilta-sadum	2775	1200	13;4
Enme(n)-baragesi	2762	900	10;0
Aka	2752	625	6;11;10
Dynasty of Eanna	2745–2693	1944 + 365	21;7;6 + 30;3
Mes-ki'ag-gasher	2745	324	3;7;6
Enmekar	2741	420	4;8
Lugal-banda	2736	1200	13;4
Begin 12 Units/Year (1 unit = 1 Sumerian month = 30 days)
•Dumuzi II	2723	100	8;4
Gilgamesh	2715	126	10;6
Ur-Nungal	2704	30	2;6
Udul-kalama	2702	15	1;3
La-baser	2701	9	0;7
Ennun-dara-ana	2700	7	0;7
Meshe	2700	36	3;0
Melam-ana	2697	6	0;6
Lugal-ki-GIN	2696	36	3;0
1st Dynasty of Ur	2693–2679	177	14;9
Mes-ane-pada	2693	80	6;8
Mes-ki'ag-nuna	2686	36	3;0
Elulu	2683	25	2;1
Ralulu	2681	36	3;0
Dynasty of Awan	2678–2649	356	29;8
?	2678	?	?
Lu	?	?	?
Kul...	2652	36	3;0
2nd Dynasty of Kish	2649–2466	2195(?)2	182;11
Su-suda	2649	200	16;8
Dadase	2632	370(?)3	30;10
•Mamagal	2601	240	20;0
Kalbum	2581	195	16;3
TUG	2565	360	30;0
Men-nuna	2535	180	15;0
Enbi-Ishtar	2520	290	24;2
•Lugalgu	2496	360	30;0
Dynasty of Hamazi	2466–2436	360	30;0
Hatanis	2466	360	30;0
1st Dynasty of Uruk	2436–2420	187	15;7
En-shakush-ana	2436	60	5;0
Lugal-ure	2431	120	10;0
Argandea	2421	7	0;7
2nd Dynasty of Ur	2420–2411	104	8;8
Nanne	2420	54	4;6
Mes-ki'ag-Nanna	2416	48	4;0
?	2412	2	0;2
Dynasty of Adab	2411–2404	90	7;6
Lugal-ane-mundu	2411	90	7;6
Dynasty of Mari	2404–2393	136	11;4
Anubu	2404	30	2;6
Anba	2401	17	1;5
Bazi	2400	30	2;6
Zizi	2397	20	1;8
Lim-er	2396	30	2;6
Sarrum-iter	2393	9	0;9
3rd Dynasty of Kish	2393–2384	100	8;4
Ku-Baba	2393	100	8;4
Dynasty of Akshak	2384–2377	93	7;9
Unzi	2384	30	2;6
Undalulu	2382	6	0;6
Urur	2381	6	0;6
Puzur-Nirah	2381	20	1;8
Ishu-Il	2379	24	2;0
Shu-Sin	2377	7	0;7
4th Dynasty of Kish	2377–2336	491	40;11
Puzur-Sin	2377	25	2;1
•Ur-Zababa4	2374	400	33;4
Simudara	2341	30	2;6
Usi-water	2339	7	0;7
Ishtar-muti	2338	11	0;11
Ishme-Shamash	2337	11	0;11
Nanniya	2336	7	0;7
2nd Dynasty of Uruk	2336–2334	25	2;1
Lugal-zagesi	2336	25	2;1
End Expanded Timescale (1 unit = 1 Sumerian year = 360 days)
Dynasty of Akkad	2334–2153		181
Sargon [Ninus]	2334		56
Rimush [Semiramis/Nitokris]	2278		9
Manishtusu	2269		15
•Naram-Sin [Nimrod]	2254		37
Shar-kali-sharri	2217		25
Irgigi	2192		3
Nanuni	?
Imi	?
Elulu	?
Dudu	2189		21
Shu-Durul	2168		15
Uruk	2153-2123		30
Gutians	2123-ca 2028		91/97
Uruk	ca 2028-ca 2002		7/26
3rd Dynasty of Ur	ca 2002-ca 1895		106/108
Isin
•Cometary rulers.  *Missing from the Chronicle of the Single Monarchy. 1Months have been summed into years beginning with Uruk II and working backward rather than beginning with Kish I and working forward. 2The Chronicle of the Single Monarchy has 3195 years here, which makes no sense. 3This figure is hypothetical, and has been added to bring the total for the dynasty to 2195 years. 4Sargon was cupbearer to Ur-Zababa, most likely toward the end of his reign, since Sargon would not have been much older than 13 at the death of the king. Even then, Sargon would have lived to be about 76. It is certainly possible that he was born a bit earlier than the appearance of the comet in 2354, though, like many another cometary ruler, he clearly saw himself as an incarnation of the sun god.

In conclusion, and according to the present reconstruction, the 1st Dynasty of Egypt at Thinis began in 2950 with King Menes. The 1st Dynasty of Sumer at Kish began very early in the year 2949 with King Gishar. The Indian solar succession is very nearly synchronous, beginning with the death of Menes in 2920. For all practical purposes, the three dynasties began at the same time. Their beginning marked the most important geophysical event of the past five millennia—whose effects included the Deluge in Egypt, the Flood in Mesopotamia, and the desiccation of the Sahara—all caused by a close encounter of the earth with the comet Typhon. These encounters with Typhon would mark significant transitions in the history of the peoples of earth for at least another 3000 years, leading ultimately to the establishment of a group of religions in the Near East whose influence would finally spread to the four corners of the world. It is to this later period in the development of cometary religion that we will turn in Chapter Twelve, before returning again to the subject of the Egyptian timeline in Chapter Thirteen.