Detail of the Sumerian statue of Lugaldalu

Lugal ( Sumerian: ) is the Sumerian term for "king, ruler". Literally, the term means "big man." In Sumerian, ''lu'' "𒇽" is "man" and ''gal'' " 𒃲" is "great," or "big." It was one of several

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of ...

ian titles that a ruler of a city-state could bear (alongside '' en'' and '' ensi'', the exact difference being a subject of debate). The sign eventually became the predominant logograph for "

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

" in general. In the

Sumerian language Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...

, ''lugal'' is used to mean an owner (e.g. of a boat or a field) or a head (of a unit such as a family). As a

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...

logograph In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced ''hanzi'' in Mandarin, '' kanji'' in Japanese, '' hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, ...

(

Sumerogram A Sumerogram is the use of a Sumerian cuneiform character or group of characters as an ideogram or logogram rather than a syllabogram in the graphic representation of a language other than Sumerian, such as Akkadian or Hittite. Sumerograms are n ...

) LUGAL (

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...

: 𒈗, rendered in Neo Assyrian).

Cuneiform

The

sign LUGAL 𒈗 (Borger nr. 151, Unicode U+12217) serves as a determinative in cuneiform texts ( Sumerian,

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...

and Hittite), indicating that the following word is the name of a king. In Akkadian orthography, it may also be a syllabogram ''šàr'', acrophonically based on the Akkadian for "king", ''šarrum''. Unicode also includes the cuneiform characters , and .

''Lugal'', ''ensi'' and ''en''

There are different theories regarding the meaning of the title ''lugal'' in 3rd-millennium Sumer. Some scholars believe that a ruler of an individual city-state was usually called ''ensi'', and a ruler who headed a confederacy or larger dominion composed of several cities, perhaps even the whole of Sumer, was a ''lugal''. The functions of such a ''lugal'' would include certain ceremonial and cultic activities, arbitration in border disputes, military defence against external enemies, and once the ''lugal'' has died, the eldest son must take over. The ''ensis'' of Lagash would sometimes refer to the city's patron deity,

Ningirsu , image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png , caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from E ...

, as their ''lugal'' ("master"). All of the above is connected to the possibly priestly or sacral character of the titles ''ensi''Glassner, Jean-Jacques, 2000: Les petits etats Mésopotamiens à la fin du 4e et au cours du 3e millénaire. In: Hansen, Mogens Herman (ed.) A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen., P.48 and especially ''en'' (the latter term continuing to designate priests in subsequent times). Other scholars consider ''ensi'', ''en'' and ''lugal'' to have been merely three local designations for the sovereign, accepted respectively in the city-states of

Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Muthanna Governorate, Al ...

and Ur (as well as most of the rest of Sumer), although the various terms may have expressed different aspects of the Mesopotamian concept of kingship. A ''lugal'' at that time is assumed to have been "normally a young man of outstanding qualities from a rich landowning family." Thorkild Jacobsen theorized that he was originally an (elected) war leader, as opposed to the (likewise elected) ''en'', who dealt with internal issues. Among the earliest rulers whose inscriptions describe them as are Enmebaragesi and Mesilim at Kish, and Meskalamdug,

Mesannepada Mesannepada ( sux, , ), Mesh-Ane-pada or Mes-Anne-pada ("Youngling chosen by An") was the first king listed for the First Dynasty of Ur (c. 26th century BC) on the Sumerian king list. He is listed to have ruled for 80 years, having overthrown ...

and several of their successors at Ur.Glassner, Jean-Jacques, 2000: Les petits etats Mésopotamiens à la fin du 4e et au cours du 3e millénaire. In: Hansen, Mogens Herman (ed.) A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen., P.47 At least from the

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 t ...

onwards, only ''lugal'' was used to designate a contemporary sovereign in Sumerian.

''Lugal'' in the Amarna letters

The term ''Lugal'' is used extensively in the

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between ...

, for addressing kings or pharaohs, and elsewhere in speaking about various kings. One common address, in the

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and ...

of many letters, from the

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

s writing to the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

was to use: ''Šàr-ri'', (for ''šarrum''); they used Lugal + ri = Šàr-ri, (i.e. Pharaoh, or King of, Ancient Egypt). ( Ri is one of the more commonly used hieroglyphs, in many cases for the use of the "r").

Notes

{{Reflist Cuneiform determinatives Sumerian titles Royal titles ca:Sumer#Títols polítics sumeris

Cuneiform

''Lugal'', ''ensi'' and ''en''

''Lugal'' in the Amarna letters

See also

Notes