Absolute Mesopotamian chronology from Gilgamesh (2447-2401) to Darius II (424-405)

Absolute Mesopotamian chronology from Gilgamesh (2447-2401) to Darius II (424-405)The Egyptian king lists were commissioned, as early as the first dynasty, by kings wishing to legitimise their royal descent from Narmer (2838 2808), the founder of the Egyptian empire. On the other hand, Sumerian king lists were commissioned by Shulgi (2002 1954), a powerful king of Ur III in the last Sumerian dynasty, who presented himself as the heir of the famous Gilgamesh (2447 2401), attributing to him the role of founder of the Sumerian empire,

The Egyptian king lists were commissioned, as early as the first dynasty, by kings wishing to legitimise their royal descent from Narmer (2838-2808), the founder of the Egyptian empire. On the other hand, Sumerian king lists were commissioned by Shulgi (2002-1954), a powerful king of Ur III in the last Sumerian dynasty, who presented himself as the heir of the famous Gilgamesh (2447-2401), attributing to him the role of founder of the Sumerian empire, even though Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, knew that his city had been founded by EN AMAR.UTU (c.3000-2950), called Bel Marduk by the Babylonians. What's more, he also knew from the Akkadian governor of Babel (a word meaning ÒGate of GodÓ in Hebrew, later translated into Sumerian as KA.DINGIR.RA) that Marduk had built a temple next to the gigantic four-storey ziggurat, called E.TEMEN.AN.KI (Òtemple of the foundation of the sky/heavens and the earthÓ) by the Sumerians, the famous Tower of Babel. The Sumerian king lists therefore completely obscured the role of Babylon's founder Marduk, a powerful hunter called Nimrod (Òwe will rebelÓ) in the Bible (Gn 10:9-10), in order to conceal the collapse of his empire, referred to by archaeologists as the ÒUruk expansionÓ (c.2950-2900). The Akkadian scribes of Shulgi, informed by some descendants of Noah (ZI.U4.SUD.RA Òlife of prolonged daysÓ in Sumerian) living in Ur (like Abraham's family), traced the beginning of the mythical unified Sumerian kingship back to the 10th and last antediluvian king of Shuruppak, the famous survivor of the universal flood, named Ziusudra, or Noah, who lived 350 years after the universal flood (Gn 9:28), in 3170 BCE (LXX), and died in 2820 BCE, the beginning of the first Sumerian dynasty (Kish I). Marduk's role did not reappear until Hammurabi (1657-1654), who chose to glorify his capital ÒBabylon the GreatÓ (Dn 4:30; Rv 17:18; 14:8), dedicating it to its founder: the Lord (Bel) Marduk (Jr 50:2), the powerful hunter whom the Sumerians had originally represented as the ÒMaster of the AnimalsÓ clasping two lions in his arms. So, history did indeed begin at Sumer, but only the biblical text explains the role of its founder (Marduk).