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After the Short Reign of Enannatum II, the Last Ruler of the Urnanse Dynasty, Enentarzi, Who Had Been Sanga

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After the Short Reign of Enannatum II, the Last Ruler of the Urnanse Dynasty, Enentarzi, Who Had Been Sanga THE KI-A-NAG OF ENENTARZI TOSHIKO KOBAYASHI* Introduction After the short reign of Enannatum II, the last ruler of the Urnanse dynasty, Enentarzi, who had been sanga (the highest administrator) of the temple of Ningirsu, became ensi. His son Lugalanda suceeded him, but was soon deprived of his political power by Uruinimgina. The economic-administrative archives of Lagas,(1) which are the most important historical materials for Sumerian society, were written during a period of about twenty years from Enentarzi to Uruinimgina, and a greater part of these belong to the organization called the e-mi (the house of the wife (of the ruler)). In this article I shall discuss the ki-a-nag (Akkadian: asar masqiti/mastiti),(2) the cultic place for the dead, which is recorded in the economic-administrative archives. The discussion will center on the ki-a-nag of Enentarzi. Besides these archives, we have many royal inscriptions of the Urnanse dynasty, of Enentarzi, of Lugalanda and of Uruinimgina. As these inscriptions chiefly describe the relations between a deity and a ruler, we can not find events in the life of a ruler such as ascending the throne, getting married and performing funeral rite.(3) A ruler was proud of the various benevolences granted by many deities and repeatedly recorded his performances in military affairs and the construction of buildings. While we very often find descriptions of building ramparts(4) and digging canals, which are explained as performances for a deity. In my research, I have found no ki-a-nag in these inscriptions. If ki-a-nag had been buildings for a deity, they would have been recorded. Accordingly the absence of ki-a-nag in the royal inscriptions seems to denote that they were buildings for the dead, not for a deity. * Curator, The Ancient Orient Museum. 10 ORIENT THE KI-A-NAG OF ENENTARZI I. Holding memorial services for the ancestors 1. Festivals for holding memorial services for the ancestors The memorial services for the ancestors were held during the festival of Baba (ezem-dba-ba6),(5) the festival of Lugalurub (ezem-dlugal-urubxki) and the festival of Lugalurubar (ezem-dlugal-uru-bar-ka). In the case of the festival of Baba, offerings such as food and drink are explained as i-ku-de(6) "(These are) to be eaten (for the ancestors)," so that the aim of the festival seems to have been to give food and drink to the ancestors. A ruler and his wife, however, did not directly make those offerings. On the other hand, the festival of Lugalurub and the festival of Lugalurubar are assumed to have been held in the two districts at the same month and the two festivals may be connected. The full names of these two festivals are ezem-dlugal-urubxki-ke4 a-e-sa-ga a-tu5-a(7) "the festival in which Lugalurub performs his ablutions with water of the e-sa (the chancel of the temple (?))" and ezem-dlugal-uru-bar-ke4 a-e- sa-ga a-tu5-a "the festival in which Lugalurubar performs his ablutions with water of the e-sa," that is, their temples seem to have been the central ritual places for both the festivals. On the occasion of these two festivals, the wife of a ruler herself made the sacrifices to the deities and the ancestors,(8) and the ruler also must have made offerings though we do not have any record of that.(9) This allows us to suppose that a ruler and his wife officially held a memorial service for the ancestors at the festivals of Lugalurub and Lugalurubar, while they privately held a memorial service for the ancestors at the festival of Baba. There are many individual ancestors and some groups of ancestors(10) in en-en-ne-ne texts, the account books of offerings made to them. en-en-ne-ne is the plural form of en, which generally means "ruler" or "high class priest."(11) Accordingly, this term seems to apply to the limited ancestors of the relatives of the rulers, though we can not exactly explain it at present. In this article we collectively call en-en-ne-ne, other groups of ancestors(12) and many indivi- dual ancestors who were referred to by name, "the ancestors." There exist about thirty ancestors whose names were recorded in en-en-ne-ne texts, but about twenty of them(13) are identified as follows: a-SU.ME.EREN(14) (wife of Enannatum I), Babaiggal(15) (cupbearer), Barnamtarra(16) (wife of Lugal -anda), Dada(17) (sanga of the e-gal (the palace)), Dimtur(18) (wife of Enentarzi), Dudu(19) (sanga of the temple of Ningirsu), Enentarzi(20) (ensi), Gemebaba(21) Vol. XXI 1985 11 (daughter of Enentarzi), Gisri(22) (mother of ensi (Urinimgina)), Gunidu(23) (father of Urnanse), Hebaba(24) (sister of ensi (Uruinimgina)), Lugalanda(25) (ensi), Misagga(26) (daughter of Dudu(?)), Mitur(27) (wife of the surveyor), Ninmezid(28) (wife of Dudu(?)), Ninhilisud(29) (wife of Entemena), Subur(30) (nubanda), Urtarsirsirra(31) (son of Enentarzi), Urutu(32) (father of ensi (Uru- inimgina)) and the wife of Agrizid,(33) sanga of the temple of Ninmar (the wife's name is not recorded). The names italicized are seen in the records of the period of Lugalanda and are also seen in those of the period of Uruinimgina (exception Subur). We have seen more ancestors in the records of Uruinimgina than those of Luga- landa: that is, they are the ancestors who had already appeared in the records of the period of Lugalanda; Lugalanda; Barnamtarra; and the dead relatives of Uruinimgina. Moreover, in VAT 4875, the record of sacrificial animals at the festivals of Lugalurub and Lugalurubar, we find a group of ancestors called zag-ta-ne-ne-kam;(34) though why they were grouped together we do not know. Both the festivals changed from the first year of the reign of Uruinimgina, lugal. Table (1) shows the ancestors who appear in the records of these two festivals. Table (1) MAH 15998(L3) dlugal-urubx; en-en-tar-zi;du-du sanga; gu-ni-gu. *Fo. 161 (L6) en-en-tar-zi;du-du sanga; gu-ni-du. DP 58(Ue 1) dlugal-「urubxki」; en-en-tar-zi; du-du sanga; gu-ni-du. Nik. I, 25 (Ul 1) dlugal-urubxki; en-en-tar-zi; lugal-an-da; du-du sanga; ur-tar-sir-sir-ra; gu-ni-du; ur-dutu, dam, dumu-ni-ta; (ur-dutu, gis-ri, lugal-ud-de, he- dba-ba6, he-giridki) 5-ne-ne-kam. VAT 4875 (Ul 3) en-en-tar-zi; lugal-an-da; bar-nam-tar-ta; du-du sanga, ur-tar-sir-sir-bi; 5-ne-ne-kam; zag-to-ne-ne-kam; u4-1-kam. dlugal-urubxki; da-da-na; 5-ne-ne-kam; u4-2-kam. en-en-tar-zi; lugal-an-da; bar-nam-tar-ta; du-du sanga, ur-ta-rsir-sir-bi; 5-ne-ne-kam; u4-1-kam. *{dlugal-uru-bar; 5-ne-ne-kam; u4-2-kam. ki-a-nag; 5-ne-ne-kam; zag-to-ne-ne-kam; u4-3-kam. dbil-aga-mes; 5-ne-ne-kam; u4-4-kam. (*: ezem-dlugal-uru-bar-ka no mark: ezem-dlugal-urubxki) VAT 4875 is the record of the use of sacrificial animals, which denotes sheep and goats in this article, while Nik. I, 25 is the record of offerings, including the animals and the food and drink. Until the first year of the reign of Uruinimgina, ensi, only deities and the more important ancestors such as Enentarzi, Dudu 12 ORIENT THE KI-A-NAG OF ENENTARZI (father of Enentarzi)(35) and Gunidu (father of Urnanse) were given offerings, while the relatives of Uruinimgina (such as Urutu, Gisri, Lugaludde, Hebaba and Hegirid) appeared as "5-ne-ne-kam" ("(they) are five") in the first year of the reign of Uruinimgina, lugal. Besides, both the festivals came to extend over several days in the third year of his reign, when the ancestors 'names appear earlier than the deities'; that is, the former must have been given the offerings earlier than the latter, and 5-ne-ne-kam must have been given offerings re- peatedly. The relatives of the ruler came to be more important in the festivals of officially holding a memorial service for the ancestors. More ancestors are named in the records of the festival of Baba than in the two festivals of Lugalurub and Lugalurubar, and there is mention of many feminine ancestors who received various kinds of garments, accessories and so on in the records of the former festival, chiefly in the reign of Uruinimgina.(36) Moreover, DP 224, a badly damaged tablet, is the only record I have found of offerings of food and drink at the festival of Baba in Uruinimgina's reign. Accordingly we do not know whether the details of the memorial services for the ancestors suffered any changes in his reign. As we said above, the ancestors sacrificed to were almost all relatives of Enentarzi and two other rulers, and Enentarzi is usually the first in the ranking of the ancestors throughout the reigns of Lugalanda and Uruinimgina. If Dudu had been regarded as the founder of the new dynasty, he would have been the first in their ranking. Dudu and Urutu (father of Uruinimgina), who are accompanied by their wives and children in the records of offerings, and Gunidu as well was more important than the other ancestors; but they were not regarded as the founders of the dynasty. The founders were Enentarzi, Uruinimgina and Urnanse, because they were the rulers who had first assumed the title of ensi or lugal in the new dynasty.
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