User:SomeGuyWhoRandomlyEdits/Bad-tibira

Bad-tibira identified as modern Tell al-Madineh, between Ash Shatrah and Tell as-Senkereh (ancient Larsa) in southern Iraq, was an ancient Sumerian city, which appears among antediluvian cities in the Sumerian King List (SKL).

Etymology
Bad-tibira (Sumerian:, bad3-tibiraki), "Wall of the Copper Worker(s)". Its Akkadian name was Dûr-gurgurri. It was also called Παντιβίβλος (Pantibiblos) by Greek authors such as Berossus, transmitted by Abydenus and Apollodorus. This may reflect another version of the city's name, Patibira, "Canal of the Smiths".

Early Dynastic I period
According to the SKL, Bad-tibira was the second city to "exercise kingship" in Sumer before the flood, following Eridu. These kings were said to be En-men-lu-ana, En-men-gal-ana and Dumuzid the Shepherd. "After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu. In Eridu, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28,800 years. Alalngar ruled for 36,000 years. 2 kings; they ruled for 64,800 years. Then Eridu fell and the kingship was taken to Bad-tibira. In Bad-tibira, En-men-lu-ana ruled for 43,200 years. En-men-gal-ana ruled for 28,800 years. Dumuzid, the Shepherd, ruled for 36,000 years. 3 kings; they ruled for 108,000 years. Then Bad-tibira fell and the kingship was taken to Larak. In Larak, En-sipad-zid-ana ruled for 28,800 years. 1 king; he ruled for 28,800 years. Then Larak fell and the kingship was taken to Sippar. In Sippar, En-men-dur-ana became king; he ruled for 21,000 years. 1 king; he ruled for 21,000 years. Then Sippar fell and the kingship was taken to Shuruppak. In Shuruppak, Ubara-Tutu became king; he ruled for 18,600 years. 1 king; he ruled for 18,600 years. In 5 cities 8 kings; they ruled for 241,209 years. Then the flood swept over."

- Sumerian King List

As these kings were said on the SKL to have reigned implausibly lengthy reigns (8 kings ruled for up to 241,209 years), their reigns can be reduced (down to 67 years). Assuming that they were not purely fictional kings, they may have ruled throughout the 30th and/or 29th centuries BCE. Eridu, Bad-tibira, Larak, Sippar, and Shuruppak may have each had anywhere from 10,000—20,000 citizens by the EDI.

The Uruk List of Kings and Sages (ULKS) pairs seven antediluvian kings each with his own apkallu. An apkallu was a sage in Sumerian literature and/or religion. The ULKS lists another eight (postdivulian) kings also paired up with apkallu.

Dumuzid is listed on the SKL twice as an antediluvian king of both Bad-tibira and Uruk. He may have been posthumously deified and has been identified with the god Ama-ušumgal-ana (who was originally the tutelary deity worshipped in the city Lagash). The E-mush temple of Bad-tibira) was originally dedicated to Dumuzid when it was built before being re-dedicated to Lulal when the goddess Inanna appointed Lulal god of the city. He was the protagonist in the Dream of Dumuzid and Dumuzid and Geshtinanna. He was also mentioned in Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Inanna Prefers the Farmer, and Inanna and Bilulu.

The early Sumerian text Inanna's descent to the netherworld mentions the city's temple, E-mush-kalamma. In this tale, Inanna dissuades demons from the netherworld from taking Lulal, patron of Bad-tibira, who was living in squalor. They eventually take Dumuzid, who lived in palatial opulence at Uruk. This Dumuzid is called "the Shepherd", who on the King List resides at Bad-Tibira in contrast to the post-diluvian Dumuzid, the Fisherman, who reigns in Uruk.

The name of En-men-dur-ana means "chief of the powers of Dur-an-ki", while Dur-an-ki, in turn, means: "the meeting-place of heaven and earth" (literally: "bond of above and below"). The ULKS pairs him up with the apkallu Utuabzu. He has been compared with the Biblical patriarch Enoch. A myth written in a Semitic language tells of En-men-dur-ana being taken to heaven by the gods Shamash and Adad, and taught the secrets of heaven and of earth.

Early Dynastic IIIb period
The "brotherhood text" in cuneiform inscriptions on cones plundered from the site in the 1930s records the friendship pact of Entemena, governor of Lagash, and Lugal-kinishedudu, governor of Uruk. It identifies Entemena as the builder of the temple E-mush to Inanna and Dumuzid, under his local epithet Lugal-E-mush.

Ur III period
Some badly effaced half-bricks on the surface of the mound bore the inscription of Amar-Sin, of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Pieces of vitrified brick scattered over the surface of the large mound bore witness to the city's destruction by fire.

Isin-Larsa period
Possession of the city passed between Larsa, whose king Sin-Iddinam claims to have built the great wall of Bad-tibira, and Isin, whose king Lipit-Ishtar, "the shepherd of Nippur", claimed to have built the "House of Righteousness" there.