Mesalim - On the Borders of History

Mesalim, Lugal of Kish

A sketch of Mesalim in History:

Van de Mieroop (1) on Early City States and Politics

The author on page 46 -48 of his excellent overview has given some discussion on the development of Kingship in Sumer, and the rise of the e2-gal (the palace). He explains that with the expansion of the zone of influence of early Sumerian city-states, competition for remaining lands led to intra-city wars over agricultural land. Van de Mieroop states however, that despite the rising competition, or perhaps because of it, there was at the same time a "process of centralization of power" resulting in what was in effect "Political alliances whose participants agreed to accept the authority of an outsider."

Mesalim wielding power as an "outsider" (a king of Kish)

As an example of this, Van de Mieroop gives an early text from Lagash. Lagash and Umma had consistent border disputes in Early Dynastic times, and from a document attributed to one King Entemena of Lagash, we get an accounting of this. Evidently, the Lagashities believed that Enlil had in the distant past drawn up the border between Lagash and Umma, and again the same account acknowledges that in historic times the border had been established by Mesalim in about 2600 BC - Mesalim who was a king of Kish.

Below is an extract from the account of Entemena:

Enlil, king of the lands, father of the gods, upon his firm command
drew the border between Ningirsu and Shara.[read "Lagash" and "Umma"]
Mesalim, king of Kish, at the command of (the god) Ishtaran,
measured the field and placed a stele.
Ush, ruler of Umma, acted arrogantly.
He ripped out the stele, and marched unto the plain of Lagash.

We know Lugal-sha-engur, who preceded Ur-Nanshe and the first Lagashite dynasty, demonstrated his allegiance to this foriegn ruler, to Mesalim, by dedicating a stone macehead to him - this has been recovered and is pictured below:

(AO 2349)

This macehead purportedly refers to Mesalim as the king of Kish and as builder of the temple of Ningirsu at Lagash - it gives him as the contemporary of Lugal-sha-engur. While Mesalims edict that Lagash and Umma should be separated according to his border and limits held in his own lifetime, already in the reign of Ur-Nanshe the Ummaites had trespassed into the fertile fields reserved for their rivals. Ur-Nanshe's unique and effective leadership did not include a military rebuff during his reign, and it was not until his son Enannatum was made ensi of Lagash that the Ummaites were engaged and driven out once more. Three of Enannatum's inscriptions tell that Mesalim had in earlier days erected a stele to mark the border and this had been ripped out by the Ummaites, but these inscriptions record also that Enannatum replaced it. When Enannatum's nephew Entemena ascended, he also had inscriptions made which tell of these events, most notably the one given above. For additional information of the historical aspect of Mesalim, please refer to the Lagash section of "Notes on Kings" here at enenuru - particularly Lugal-sha-engur, Ur-Nanshe, Enannatum and Entemena. Additionally, we must note several inscriptions from the city of Adab has been found which briefly record the activities of Mesalim in that city - evidently he commissioned building projects there as well.

On the identity of Mesalim:

A problem that may be noted above is that the information so far provided does not go very far in providing a sense of who Mesalim was, or where he came from. That he is called 'King of Kish" is apparent, however because this became a royal title used by predominent kings from diverse locations, this does not embolden us to say that Mesalim was necessarily from the city of Kish itself. He was a king who at an early point held sovereignty over a large porton of Sumer - at least Lagash, Umma and Adab.

An interesting suggestion has been made by Edmund Gorden 1953 (2). He remarks that for a king so powerful, it is strange that the name Mesalim is not found anywhere in the King List. His suggestion is this: Could this king be identified with a king known from king list? Could Mesalim be Mesannepada of Ur?
To support this suggestion he proceeds to consider Mesannepadda, who we know from several seals, a mention in a name list and from an Akkadian proverb; a seal bearing the name of his son Aannepadda has been found as well. Scholarly consensus is that Mesannepadda also lived approximately one generation before Ur-Nanshe and is therefore contemporary with Mesalim. Gordon is perhaps best known for his exhaustive work on Sumerian proverbs, and the author finds the central part of his argument in one of these, which reads as follows:

"The (temple) E-babbar which Mesilim had built, Annane, the man who seed (i.e. offspring) was cut off, tore down (?)"

Gorden notes here that the name "Annane" is a "hypocoristicon for Aannepadda of Ur" (that is to say, he believes the same person is indicated.) Next the author gives the text of the Akkadian proverb mentioned above, which he takes to be in direct correlation with the earlier Sumerian one:

"The temple which Mesannepadda had built, Nanna, (he) whose seed was picked off, tore down (?)"

He concludes: "There are two point on which these two texts differ. In the older Sumerian version, the temple is specified by name, while in the later Akkadian text, it is not. Far more significant, however, is the fact that where the former has Mesilim, the latter has Mesannepadda. Therefore, unless we are prepared to assume variant traditions, or an error of transmission, we are forced to conclude that Mesilim and Mesannepadda are identical.

Jacobsen differs on the significance of the above discrepency in the proverbs:

While Gordon has interpreted the changing of the names in the above given proverbs to suggest precisely that Mesalim and Mesannpadda were the one and the same, Jacobson (Tammuz p.389) has take the exact contract view. He believes that the later Akkadian scribe would not have had any record of the name of Mesalim (as it was not in the kinglist), and in copying the proverb inserted by chance a name that he did know, and that did make sense to him (as Mesannpadda was known from the kinglist.) Since the scribe would not have known of Meslim, but did know Mesannepadda is usually seen as father of Annepadda, Jacobsen states "It was therefore natural for a scribe to replace the name Mesalim, which conveyed nothing to him, with Mesannepada, that of [Annepadda's] father, known to him from the kinglist." Jacobsen argues against the identification, and adds "epigraphical considerations also favor keeping the two rulers apart."

1. "A History of the Ancient Near East" by Marc Van de Mieroop (2006)
2. Mesilim and Mesannepadda - Are They Identical? by Edmund I. Gordon (1953).