The most likely explanation is that we are treating the list too literally. This list is at least 4000 years old and we do not have the cultural context to understand what it's intent was
Yes this is a more concise and less informative version of what I said. I thought my perspective would be interesting since I held 4000 year old tablets in my hands and studied with Assyriologists at the top of the field but what do I know?
So funny thing, I just learned about the king list yesterday. The king list was compiled during the Akkadian restoration of Sumer. It is believed that the king list was compiled in order to provide a through line from ancient Sumerian rulers to the (at the time) contemporary Akkadian-origin king.
The oldest 'sumerian king list' tablets found date from the Sumerian 'restoration' after Akkad, not 'Akkadian restoration'
From what we gather, around 2300/2200 BCE the very first territorial empire known, the Akkadian empire rose and then fell. There's a great book about it called "The Age of Agade". Enheduanna, thought to be a daughter of one of the Akkadian rulers, is one of the oldest authors known! She is thought to have authored some poetry we've found from back then. After the Akkadian territorial polity fell, southern Mesopotamia fragmented into city states and that is when these 'king list' tablets are thought to date from.
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The most likely explanation is that we are treating the list too literally. This list is at least 4000 years old and we do not have the cultural context to understand what it's intent was
Yes this is a more concise and less informative version of what I said. I thought my perspective would be interesting since I held 4000 year old tablets in my hands and studied with Assyriologists at the top of the field but what do I know?
So funny thing, I just learned about the king list yesterday. The king list was compiled during the Akkadian restoration of Sumer. It is believed that the king list was compiled in order to provide a through line from ancient Sumerian rulers to the (at the time) contemporary Akkadian-origin king.
The oldest 'sumerian king list' tablets found date from the Sumerian 'restoration' after Akkad, not 'Akkadian restoration'
From what we gather, around 2300/2200 BCE the very first territorial empire known, the Akkadian empire rose and then fell. There's a great book about it called "The Age of Agade". Enheduanna, thought to be a daughter of one of the Akkadian rulers, is one of the oldest authors known! She is thought to have authored some poetry we've found from back then. After the Akkadian territorial polity fell, southern Mesopotamia fragmented into city states and that is when these 'king list' tablets are thought to date from.