Editing Sumerian King List (section)

== Naming conventions ==
The text is best known under its modern name ''Sumerian King List'', which is often abbreviated to ''SKL'' in scholarly literature. A less-used name is the ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'', reflecting the notion that, according to this text, there could ever be only one city exercising kingship over Mesopotamia.<ref name=":9" /> In contemporary sources, the ''SKL'' was called after its first word: "nam-[[lugal]]", or "kingship".<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Marchesi|first=Gianni|date=2010|title=The Sumerian King List and the Early History of Mesopotamia|url=https://www.academia.edu/10052536|journal=M. G. Biga - M. Liverani (Eds.), ana turri gimilli: Studi dedicati al Padre Werner R. Mayer, S. J., da amici e allievi (Vicino Oriente - Quaderno 5; Roma)|pages=231–248}}</ref> It should also be noted that what is commonly referred to as the ''Sumerian King List'', is in reality not a single text. Rather, it is a [[Composition (language)|literary composition]] of which different versions existed through time in which sections were missing, arranged in a different order, and names, reigns and details on kings were different or absent.<ref name=":12" />

Modern scholarship has used numbered dynasties to refer to the uninterrupted rule of a single city; hence the Ur III dynasty denotes the third time that the city of Ur assumed hegemony over Mesopotamia according to the ''SKL''. This numbering (e.g. Kish I, Uruk IV, Ur III) is not present in the original text. It should also be noted that the modern usage of the term [[dynasty]], i.e. a sequence of rulers from a single family, does not necessarily apply to ancient Mesopotamia. Even though the ''SKL'' points out that some rulers were family, it was the city, rather than individual rulers, to which kingship was given.<ref name=":9" />