Editing Sumerian King List (section)

=== Lines 40–265: first dynasty of Kish to Lugal-zage-si ===
"After the flood had swept over, and the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish." After this well-known line, the section goes on to list 23 kings of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], who ruled between 1500 and 300 years for a total of 24,510 years. The exact number of years varies between copies. Apart from the lengths of their reigns and whether they were the son of their predecessor (for example, "[[Mashda]], the son of [[Atab]], ruled for 840 years"), no other details are usually given on the exploits of these kings. Exceptions are [[Etana]], "who ascended to heaven and consolidated all the foreign countries" and [[Enmebaragesi]], "who made the land of [[Elam]] submit". Enmebaragesi is also the first king in the ''Sumerian King List'' whose name is attested from contemporaneous ([[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic I]]) inscriptions. His successor [[Aga of Kish]], the final king mentioned before Kish fell and kingship was taken to [[Eanna|E-ana]], also appears in the poem [[Gilgamesh and Aga]].

The next lines, up until [[Sargon of Akkad]], show a steady succession of cities and kings, usually without much detail beyond the lengths of the individual reigns. Every entry is structured exactly the same: the city where kingship is located is named, followed by one or more kings and how long they reigned, followed by a summary and a final line indicating where kingship went next. Lines 134–147 may serve as an example:<blockquote>In Ur, [[Mesannepada]] became king; he ruled for 80 years. [[Meskiagnun]], the son of Mesannepada, became king; he ruled for 36 years. [[Elulu]] ruled for 25 years. [[Balulu]] ruled for 36 years. 4 kings; they ruled for 171 years. Then Ur was defeated and the kingship was taken to Awan.<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>Individual reigns vary in length, from 1200 years for [[Lugalbanda]] of Uruk, to six years for another king of Uruk and several kings of Akshak. On average, the number of regnal years decreases down the list. Some city names, such as Uruk, Ur and Kish, appear more than once in the ''Sumerian King List''. The earlier part of this section mentions several kings who are also known from other literary sources. These kings include [[Dumuzid the Fisherman]] and [[Gilgamesh]], although virtually no king from the earlier part of this section appears in inscriptions dating from the actual period in which they were supposed to live. Lines 211–223 describe a dynasty from [[Mari, Syria|Mari]], which is a city outside Sumer proper but which played an important role in Mesopotamian history during the late third and early second millennia BC. The following third dynasty of Kish consists of a single ruler [[Kubaba|Kug-Bau]] ("the woman tavern keeper"), thought to be the only queen listed in the ''Sumerian King List''. The final two dynasties of this section, the fourth of Kish and the third of Uruk, provide a link to the next section. [[Sargon of Akkad]] is mentioned in the ''Sumerian King List'' as cup-bearer to [[Ur-Zababa|Ur-zababa]] of Kish, and he defeated [[Lugal-zage-si]] of Uruk before founding his own dynasty.