Lugal-dalu

Lugal-dalu

Lugal-dalu

Ruler of Adab, Mesopotamia, c. 2500 BC

Lugal-dalu (Sumerian: ๐’ˆ—๐’•๐’‡ป) was a Sumerian ruler of the Mesopotamian city of Adab in the mid-3rd millennium BCE, probably c.โ€‰2500 BCE.[1]

Quick Facts Lugal-dalu ๐’ˆ—๐’•๐’‡ป, Reign ...
Lugal-dalu was ruler of Adab, c.โ€‰2500 BCE.

His name does not appear in the Sumerian King List, but he is known from one of a statue bearing his name. The statue is similar in style to those of other Sumerian kings such as Meannesi or Entemena, sons of En-anna-tum I.[2][3]

The statue, made of grey gypsum or limestone, was discovered by Abbas Balkis of Affej[4] during the excavations overseen by Edgar James Banks, who described it in an article published in 1904 as "The Oldest Statue in the World" (a claim shared by other statues such as the Urfa Man or the 'Ain Ghazal Statues).[5]

The inscription in archaic cuneiform on the statue reads ๐’‚๐’Šฌ ๐’ˆ—๐’•๐’‡ป ๐’ˆ—๐’Œ“๐’‰ฃ๐’†  รจ-sar lugal-dalu lugal adab-(ki) "In the temple Esar, Lugaldalu king of Adab", referring to the Esarra Temple in Adab.[6][7]

  • Detail of the inscription.
  • Lugaldalu inscription: ๐’‚๐’Šฌ ๐’ˆ—๐’•๐’‡ป ๐’ˆ—๐’Œ“๐’‰ฃ๐’†  รจ-sar lugal-dalu lugal adab-(ki) "In the temple Esar, Lugaldalu king of Adab"
  • The name "Lugal-dalu" (๐’ˆ—๐’•๐’‡ป) vertically in the inscription, with its rendering in standardized early Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform

References

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  1. [1]
    Bertman, Stephen (2005). Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. OUP USA. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-19-518364-1.
  2. [2]
    Spycket, Agnรจs (1981). Handbuch der Orientalistik (in French). BRILL. p. 85. ISBN 978-90-04-06248-1.
  3. [3]
    Statue of Meannesi in the Baghdad Museum: "Statue of Meannesi". cdli.ucla.edu.
  4. [4]
    Banks, Edgar James (1912). Bismya, or the Lost City of Adab. The Knickerbocker Press, New York. p. 188.
  5. [5]
    "When Edgar James Banks found the statue of the Early Dynastic ruler Lugaldalu of Adab during excavations at the site of Bismaya, he published it in a 1904 article entitled "The Oldest Statue in the World." in Evans, Jean M. (2012). The Lives of Sumerian Sculpture: An Archaeology of the Early Dynastic Temple. Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-139-78942-4.
  6. [6]
    "In the temple Esar, Lugaldalu king of Adab" in Archaeologia, Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity. The Society. 1920. p. 148.
  7. [7]
    "For the E-sar. Lugaldalu, king of Adab" in Meador, Betty De Shong (2009). Princess, priestess, poet: the Sumerian temple hymns of Enheduanna. University of Texas Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-292-71932-3.
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