A-Kur-Gal

A-kur-gal was the son of Ur-Nanshe, an influentual ruler in early Lagash who bore the secular title 'Lugal'. As we observe in the 'notes on Ur-Nanshe' section (following Bailkey), the power and influence of the priests of Ningirsu compelled Ur-Nanshe's successors to again assume the more traditional (in Lagash) title of ensi, and A-kur-gal was an example of this. W.W. Hallo gives a word about the interpretation of A-kur-gal's inscriptions, saying that originally he himself had mis-interpreted A-kur-gal's title, mistakenly reading it lugal, but Solleberger made improvments there: Hallo says: 'Akurgal. In my resconstruction of Lagash titulary, I argued that the title l u g a l Lagasha was replaced in the course of Eannatum's reign by
the title e n s i Lagasha. At the time, the title of Akurgal could still be read a 'l u g a l' on his only publised inscription (now Akg. 1)

(see line 3)


Hallo continues: 'while for two others (now Akg. 2-6) there were available only the photographs of Unger, which showed no inscriptions but, since Unger attributed them to Akurgal, seemed to carry one. Sollberger has collated all these monuments from the originals and has shown that...PA.[TE].SI is the more probable restoration since line 3 of Akg.1..'


A-kur-gal in History:


Unfortunately, not much seems to survive to inform us of A-kur-gal's reign or his successes or failures, however scholars seem to understand him as generally unsuccessful. Bailkey referred to him as Ur-Nanshe's 'weak and little-known son and successor', and it seems the troubles of his reign can be inferred from the state of Lagash as it was better documented in the reign of his son Eannatum: apprently it had suffered damage at the hands of Umma during the reign of Akurgal. As Kramer (1969) comments, Akurgal 'early in his reign apparently ran into difficulties with the Ummaites, and his rule was of short duration..' Akurgals son Eannatum therefore 'began his reign..with the building and rebuilding of those parts of the kingdom which must have been destroyed by the Ummaites in the days of Akurgal.'

Akurgal is pictured quite notably on the Ur-Nanshe Family plaque: http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/result.pt?id_text=P222360

Besides A-kur-gal's prestigious son Eannatum, there is inscriptional evidence as well of a lesser known son named Kulikiak.

Kulikiag, Son of Akurgal, Lugal of URUxKAR2
 
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