Sumer and Babylon · Sumerian King List
Kingship descended from heaven
EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.
What this means
Primary records exist: an original document, a published text, an official file or a dated report. We link to them. This level says the record exists and what it says, not that every claim in it is true.
'After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu. In Eridu, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28,800 years.' Eight kings rule 241,200 years in five cities. 'Then the flood swept over.' After the flood, kingship descends from heaven again, to Kish.
Summary by the editors. Translation: Close rendering from the standard editions
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Read it literally
Kingship is installed from the sky twice, before and after the Flood. Reign lengths shrink sharply after the Flood, just as lifespans shrink in Genesis.
What scholars say
A political list that mixes legend with real kings. The best copy is the Weld-Blundell prism.
