The Sumerian King List assigns Puzur-Suen, Hablum’s son, seven years of rule. He must be distinguished from the same-named ruler of Kish.

Brown clay Weld-Blundell prism covered in two columns of cuneiform on its visible face, standing on a clear museum support
The Weld-Blundell prism, Ashmolean Museum AN1923.444, around 1800 BCE. A later witness to the Sumerian King List, not a portrait or monument commissioned by Puzur-Suen. Photograph: Gts-tg, 15 March 2017, CC BY-SA 4.0. © Gts-tg · 15 March 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons.

What the list actually records

Oxford’s ETCSL places Puzur-Suen after Hablum, calls him Hablum’s son and assigns seven years. Yarlaganda follows with seven, an unnamed ruler with seven, and Tiriga with forty days. [1] These are succession notices, not campaign narratives.

Two rulers with the same name

The same composition lists Puzur-Suen of Kish: Kug-Bau’s son, assigned twenty-five years, and Ur-Zababa’s father. [1] Keep the parent, location and reign with the name to avoid confusing the entries.

Distinct entries in Oxford’s translation of the Sumerian King List
EntryParent named in the textReign assigned
Puzur-Suen of GutiumHablum7 years
Puzur-Suen of KishKug-Bau25 years

Seven years do not establish an accession date

Thorkild Jacobsen’s critical edition prints Puzur-Sin, son of Hablum, with seven years, alongside damaged readings and differing totals for the Gutian section. [2] Marc Van De Mieroop further argues that some Gutian rulers probably governed different cities at the same time. [5] Counting backwards through the list as though every reign were consecutive cannot establish an exact accession around 2110 BCE. The safer historical placement is the late third millennium BCE.

The physical prism and its political purpose

The Ashmolean dates the pictured prism to around 1800 BCE and associates it probably with Larsa. Its four faces each carry two columns in Sumerian. The museum explains that the composition combines myth, legend and historical information and presents kingship as passing between cities, one at a time. This helped Isin’s rulers claim succession from earlier kingdoms. [3] The object preserves a later written tradition; its survival does not turn every entry into a contemporary royal archive.

Suen, Sin and the moon god

Adam Stone’s Oracc study identifies Nanna as the Sumerian name of the moon god and Su’en or Sin as Akkadian names. It also explains the divine writing EN.ZU and the different readings found in personal names. Moon-god names occur across many periods and royal families. [4] This clarifies the name’s religious setting. It does not demonstrate a personal programme of cultural diplomacy, prove a mixed Gutian–Sumerian ethnicity or reveal which temples this particular king supported.

Gutium, the Zagros and Kurdish historical interest

Van De Mieroop stresses that Gutium’s geographical meaning changed with context and that the label did not consistently designate one people over the millennia. He also notes that the language is known mainly from personal names. [5] The Gutians therefore matter to the ancient history of the Zagros and regions later associated with Kurdistan, but the king list cannot prove Puzur-Suen spoke Kurdish or supply a continuous genealogy to modern Kurds. Similar-looking ethnic names alone do not establish that descent.

Sources and further reading

  1. University of Oxford, ETCSL 2.1.1, The Sumerian King List, lines 244–258 and 308–334; distinct namesakes and succession.
  2. Thorkild Jacobsen, The Sumerian King List, Assyriological Studies 11 (1939), pp. 120–121; text, readings and totals.
  3. Ashmolean Museum, Sumerian King List, AN1923.444; object, date and political framing.
  4. Adam Stone, Nanna/Suen/Sin (god), Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, Oracc (2019); names, spellings and royal naming.
  5. Marc Van De Mieroop, Gutians, Encyclopaedia Iranica XI/4 (2002, updated 2013), pp. 408–410; historical geography and evidence.
  6. Gts-tg, Sumerian King List, photograph of 15 March 2017, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0.