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Kish (Sumer) |
| Ancient Mesopotamia |
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| Euphrates · Tigris |
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Empires / Cities
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| Sumer |
| Eridu · Kish · Uruk · Ur Lagash · Nippur · Ngirsu |
| Elam |
| Susa |
| Akkadian Empire |
| Akkad · Mari |
| Amorites |
| Isin · Larsa |
| Babylonia |
| Babylon · Chaldea |
| Assyria |
| Assur · Nimrud Dur-Sharrukin · Nineveh |
| Mesopotamia |
| Sumer (king list) |
| Kings of Assyria Kings of Babylon |
| Enûma Elish · Gilgamesh |
| Assyro-Babylonian religion |
| Sumerian · Elamite |
| Akkadian · Aramaic |
| Hurrian · Hittite |
Kish (KIŠKI' cuneiform:?; Sumerian:kiš; Akkadian:?) is modern Tell al-Uhaymir, Babil Governorate, Iraq), and was an ancient city of Sumer. Kish is located some 12 km east of Babylon, and 80 km south of Baghdad.
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Kish was occupied beginning in the Jemdet Nasr period, through the Ubaid, gaining prominence as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region during the early dynastic period.
Little specific is known about the history of Kish before Sargon of Akkad, who came from the area. The Sumerian king list states that it was the first city to have kings following the deluge. It also names 40 kings of Kish spread over four dynasties. Of those, none earlier than Enmebaragesi has been attested by archaeological finds. Another attested ruler of Kish from the early period, Mesilim, is not mentioned in the king list. Kish had a Semitic population from earliest times, discernible from some early dynastic king names from the list that are considered to be Semitic1.
Afterwards, though its military and economic power was diminished, it retained a strong political and symbolic significance. Just as with Nippur in the south, control of Kish was a prime element in legitimizing dominance over the north.citation needed Because of the city's symbolic value, strong rulers later took the traditional title King of Kish, even if they were from Akkad, Ur, or Babylon.citation needed A few governors of Kish for other powers are known, however.
Kish continued to be occupied through the old Babylonian period, the Neo-Assyrian period, and into classical times, before being abandoned.
The city's patron deity was Zababa (or Zamama) in Akkadian times, along with his wife, the goddess Inanna.
The Kish archaeological site is actually an oval area roughly 5 miles by 2 miles encompassing around 40 mounds, the largest being Uhaimir and Ingharra. The most notable mounds are
means "the red" after the red bricks of the ziggurat there.
After illegally excavated tablets began appearing at the beginning of the last century, François Thureau-Dangin identified the site as being Kish. Those tablets ended up in a variety of museums.
A French archaeological team under Henri de Genouillac excavated at Kish between 1912 and 1914, finding 1400 Old Babylonian tablets which were distributed to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum and the Louvre. 2 Later a joint Field Museum and Oxford University team under Stephen Langdon excavated from 1923 to 1933, with the recovered materials split between Chicago and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. 3 4 5 6 7
More recently, a Japanese team from the Kokushikan University excavated at Kish in 1988, 2000, and 2001. The last season lasted only one week. 8
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