Larak was an ancient Iraqi city in

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

that appears in some versions of the ''

Sumerian King List The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient Composition (language), literary composition written in Sumerian language, Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims ...

(SKL)'' said to have been the third among the five cities to hold the kingship over

during the antediluvian era. Its patron deity was Pabilsag, a Ninurta-like warrior god additionally associated with judgment, medicine and the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

, usually portrayed as the husband of Ninisina. Gasan-aste ("Lady (of) the Throne"), a version of the healing goddess Ninisina was worshiped at Larak. There is no archaeological or textual support for the actual existence of the Early Dynastic city of Larak unlike the other four cities from "before the flood", it being only known from much later literary compositions. The Iron Age city of Larak, in the same general area, is supported by Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian texts. It is unclear if this was the Early Dynastic city being re-established or a completely different and unrelated city.

Location

Larak is believed to be in the vicinity of the ancient city of Isin. It has been suggested that Tell al-Hayyad, a 40 hectare site, is Larak. The site is #1306 in the Adams survey. The site is 1100 meters X 450 meters and split by later canals into three parts. The central summit of the southwestern part, the largest and highest, showed as a significant Jemdat Nasr occupation and otherwise numerous Uruk period shards and limited Early Dynastic remains based on a surface survey. It has not been excavated. The site was a large city in the Early, Middle, and Late Uruk period. The 3rd millennium BC site of Tell al-Wilayah has also been proposed.
J. N. Postgate, "Inscriptions from Tell al-Wilaya", Sumer, vol. 32, no. 1-2, pp. 77-100, 1976

Textual sources

Early dynastic city

According to the Babyloniaca (Berossus), Babyloniaca of Berossus, the ruler of

Shuruppak Shuruppak ( , SU.KUR.RUki, "the healing place"), modern Tell Fara, was an ancient Sumerian city situated about 55 kilometres (35 mi) south of Nippur and 30 kilometers north of ancient Uruk on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq's Al-Qādisiy ...

, Ubara-Tutu, mentioned in the Sumerian King List and the

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

, came from Larak. Larak is listed as one of the five antideluvian (before the flood) cities in the

. In some rescensions it is the 3rd while in others it is 4th. Only one ruler, is En-sipad-zid-ana, is mentioned in the SKL (ruling for 288.800 years) before rulership moved on to the next city. The city is also mentioned in the Lament for Ur which states "Ninašte has abandoned the house in Larak, her sheepfold—to the wind". In the later literary composition Inanna Lament it reads "From my brickwork of Larak, he called out after me!", referring to the destruction of her temples by some enemy. In the Eridu Genesis, a literary composition written around 1600 BC, Larak is listed as the 3rd city i.e. "the third, Larak, she gave to Pabilsag,". In The Destroyed House, a lament for the destruction of Isin it states " iashte, mistress of Larak, am I—". This lament is part of the basis for assuming Larak is near Isin. Ninashte means "mistress of Ashte" where Ashte is thought to be a location in Larak.

Iron Age city

A Larak is mentioned in writings of Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian times but it is not certain if this is the same city. The ruler Neo-Assyrian ruler

Sennacherib Sennacherib ( or , meaning "Sin (mythology), Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705BC until his assassination in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is one of the most famous A ...

(705–681 BC) listed a Larak (as a city of the Chaldean Bit-Amukkani tribe) among the cities he defeated in his first military campaign. To rebuild the Etemenanki temple of Marduk in Babylon, the neo-Babylonian ruler

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

(605-562 BC) taxed a number of towns including Larak: There are a number of records of Larak stemming from the conflict between the Neo-Babyloan ruler Marduk-apla-iddina II and the Neo-Assyrian ruler Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 BC). Various Chaldean and Aramean tribes at various times allied with and opposed these rulers and warred with each other. One raid by another Chaldean tribe was reports as carrying away 20, 000 sheep from Larak and its ruler Nadinu.Fales, Frederick M., "Moving around Babylon: On the Aramean and Chaldean Presence in Southern Mesopotamia", Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Margarete van Ess and Joachim Marzahn, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 91-112, 2011 The Neo-Assyrian ruler Sargon II (722–705 BC) received a report which included

List of rulers

The following list should not be considered complete:

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{refend Sumerian cities Archaeological sites in Iraq Former populated places in Iraq Former kingdoms Dhi Qar Governorate