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Shulgi (also formerly read as Dungi) of Ur
Ur

Ur is modern Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq, and was a city in ancient Sumer. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the then Euphrates river on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland....
im was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2047 BC–1999 BC short chronology (also tentatively dated to 2161 BC–2113 BC on the basis of a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is wholly or partially obscured. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth....
). Shulgi was the son of Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu

Ur-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian Empire and Gutian period rule....
 king of Ur; according to one later text (CM 48), by a daughter of the former king Utu-hengal
Utu-hengal

Utu-hengal was one of the first native kings of Sumer after centuries of Akkad and Guti rule.There are several theories regarding his background....
 of Uruk
Uruk

Uruk , from the Akkadian rendering of the Sumerian toponym 'unug', is modern Warka , Iraq. Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient Nil canal, some 30 km east of As-Samawah, Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq....
 and was a member of the Third dynasty of Ur
Third Dynasty of Ur

The Third Dynasty of Ur refers simultaneously to a 21st century BC to 20th century BC century BC Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state that some historians regard as a nascent empire....
.

Shulgi is best known for his extensive revision of the scribal school's curriculum.






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Shulgi (also formerly read as Dungi) of Ur
Ur

Ur is modern Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq, and was a city in ancient Sumer. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the then Euphrates river on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland....
im was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2047 BC–1999 BC short chronology (also tentatively dated to 2161 BC–2113 BC on the basis of a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is wholly or partially obscured. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth....
). Shulgi was the son of Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu

Ur-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian Empire and Gutian period rule....
 king of Ur; according to one later text (CM 48), by a daughter of the former king Utu-hengal
Utu-hengal

Utu-hengal was one of the first native kings of Sumer after centuries of Akkad and Guti rule.There are several theories regarding his background....
 of Uruk
Uruk

Uruk , from the Akkadian rendering of the Sumerian toponym 'unug', is modern Warka , Iraq. Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient Nil canal, some 30 km east of As-Samawah, Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq....
 and was a member of the Third dynasty of Ur
Third Dynasty of Ur

The Third Dynasty of Ur refers simultaneously to a 21st century BC to 20th century BC century BC Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state that some historians regard as a nascent empire....
.

Shulgi is best known for his extensive revision of the scribal school's curriculum. Although it is unclear how much he actually wrote, there are numerous praise poems written by and directed towards this ruler. He proclaimed himself a god after his 20th regnal year. Other early chronicles castigate him for his impiety: the Weidner Chronicle (ABC 19) states that "he did not perform his rites to the letter, he defiled his purification rituals"; CM 48 charges him with improper tampering with the rites, composing "untruthful stelae, insolent writings" on them; and the Chronicle of Early Kings (ABC 20) accuses him of "criminal tendencies, and the property of Esagila and Babylon he took away as booty."

Shulgi also boasted about his ability to maintain high speeds while running long distances. For example, he claimed he once ran from Nippur to Ur, a distance of not less than 100 miles. Samuel Noah Kramer
Samuel Noah Kramer

Samuel Noah Kramer was one of the world's leading Assyriology and a world renowned expert in Sumer and Sumerian language....
 speaks of him as "The first long distance runner champion".

Shortly after his father's death, Shulgi engaged in a series of punitive wars against the Gutians to avenge his father's death. He also developed a period of expansionism later in his career until, ultimately finding himself unable to conquer highlander raiders and some others, he as a consequence built a large wall in an attempt to keep them out.

Shulgi spent a great deal of time and resources in expanding, maintaining, and generally improving roads. He built rest-houses along roads, so that a traveler could find a place where he could rest and drink fresh water or spend a night. For this last feat, Kramer calls him the builder of the first inn.

Both the readings "Shulgi" and "Dungi" were known before the turn of the 20th century, but over the course of that century, the scholarly consensus gravitated away from "Dungi" and toward "Shulgi" as being the correct pronunciation.

See also

  • History of Sumer
    History of Sumer

    The history of Sumer, taken to include the prehistoric Ubaid period and Uruk period periods, spans the 5th to 3rd millennia BC, ending with the downfall of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BC, followed by a transition period of Amorite states before the rise of Babylonia in the 18th century BC....
  • Sumerian king list
    Sumerian king list

    The Sumerian King List is an ancient text in the Sumerian language that lists monarch of Sumer from Sumerian and foreign dynasties. It records the location of "official" kingship, along with the rulers and the lengths of their rule....