The death of Ur-Namma is a rare instance of a composition that honours a king in relation to what happens after his death rather than for great deeds performed in his life. Consequently it is more a lament than a hymn of praise to the founder of the Third Dynasty of Urim. It can be divided into four sections. The first is an account of Ur-Namma’s death and burial (1—75). In the second section, subsequent events in the Underworld are described, climaxing in the king’s lament for the life he has left behind (76-197). In the third section, the king’s fate continues to be discussed by the deities (198—233). The brief, concluding section is a summation of what has come before (234—42). This composition is known in a version from Nibru, presented here, as well as a shorter, more fragmentary version from Susa.
While the second and third sections have a linear narrative development, the first is less sequential, expressing grief more through its unfocused narrative than the direct speech used later in the composition. It begins with a brief account of the cataclysmic events surrounding the death of the king, before describing in greater detail the impact of his dying on the withdrawn deities, his weeping divine mother, his mourning people, and his devastated land. Much of this imagery of desolation is also used to describe destroyed cities in such compositions as the Lament for Sumer and Urim (Group D). The dying king is brought to his palace in Urim where his offerings to the deities are insufficient to obtain his recovery and he dies. On the divine plane his death thus represents a decision made by the deities. The agency they use to enact their will on the human plane is less clear: references to, for example, the king being uprooted in his palace may be metaphors for enemy action, but equally for the general upheaval concomitant with his dying. Following his death, he is buried in grandeur and makes his way to the Underworld, referred to as Arali.
On arriving at the Underworld’s gates manned by their seven porters, he is given a tumultuous welcome and a banquet is held. Observing the correct behaviour that is required of him as a great ruler, he provides individual offerings to various Underworld deities, receiving in return his own dwelling place and appointment as Underworld judge alongside Gilgames. However, his regret for what he has lost remains unstaunched and is expressed in a long lament in which he bewails both his fate and the fate of those dependent upon him.
One deity in particular, the goddess Inana, his divine partner, was absent when his fate was decided. She now approaches the senior deity Enlil and is informed of the earlier—and unalterable—decision. She expresses her anger at this, and her grief that her lover has been banished from her. The text is somewhat fragmentary at this point but, possibly as a result of Inana’s reaction, another deity, perhaps Ningiszida, pronounces a blessing for the king, guaranteeing him posthumous fame in the land that he has left behind.
The brief, final section represents a summary of what has come before, ending with two lines referring to tears and laments which reinforce the tenor of the composition.
World History
