Editing Eridu (section)

===Mythology===
In some, but not all, versions of the [[Sumerian King List]], Eridu is the first of five cities where kingship was received before a flood came over the land. The list mentions two rulers of Eridu from the Early Dynastic period, [[Alulim]] and [[Alalngar]].<ref>G. Marchesi, "The Sumerian King List and the Early History of Mesopotamia", in:ana turri gimilli, studi dedicati alPadre Werner R. Mayer, S.J. da amici e allievi, Vicino Oriente Quader-no5, Rome: Università di Roma, pp. 231–248, 2010</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.2.1.1&charenc=gcirc# | title=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature }}</ref>
{{Verse translation
|''[nam]-[[lugal]] [[Anu|an]]-[[Ta (cuneiform)|ta]] èd-dè-a-ba''
''[eri]du<sup>[[Ki (cuneiform)|ki]]</sup> [[:wikt:𒈗#Akkadian|nam-lugal-la]]''
''eridug<sup>ki</sup> a₂-lu-lim lugal''
''mu 28800 i₃-ak''
''a₂-lal₃-ĝar mu 36000 i₃-ak''
|When kingship from heaven was lowered,
the kingship was in Eridu
In Eridug, Alulim became king;
he ruled
for 28800 years.
Alaljar ruled for 36000 years<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Sumerian king list: translation|url=https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm|access-date=2021-07-04|website=etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk}}</ref>}}

[[File:Jar MET ME49 133 13.jpg|thumb|right|Jar; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 15.24 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
In Sumerian mythology, Eridu was the home of the [[Abzu]] temple of the god [[Enki]], the Sumerian counterpart of the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]]ian god Ea, god of deep waters, wisdom and magic. Like all the Sumerian and Babylonian gods, Enki/Ea began as a local god who, according to the later cosmology, came to share the rule of the cosmos with [[Anu]] and [[Enlil]]. His kingdom was the sweet waters that lay below earth (Sumerian ''ab''=water; ''zu''=far).<ref>Jacobsen, Thorkild, "The Eridu Genesis", Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 100, no. 4, pp. 513–29, 1981</ref>
The bright star Canopus was known to the ancient Mesopotamians and represented the city of Eridu in the ''Three Stars Each'' [[Babylonian star catalogues]] and later around 1100 BC on the [[MUL.APIN]] tablets.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Rogers | first = John H. | date = 1998 | title = Origins of the Ancient Constellations: I. The Mesopotamian Traditions | journal = Journal of the British Astronomical Association | volume = 108 | issue = 1 | pages = 9–28 | bibcode = 1998JBAA..108....9R}}</ref> Canopus was called MUL.NUN<sup>KI</sup> by the Babylonians, which translates as "star of the city of Eridu". From most southern city of Mesopotamia, Eridu, there is a good view to the south, so that about 6000 years ago due to the [[Axial precession|precession of the Earth's axis]] the first rising of the star Canopus in Mesopotamia could be observed only from there at the southern meridian at midnight. In the city of [[Ur]] this was the case only 60 years later.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bautsch |first1=Markus  |author2-link=Friedhelm Pedde |last2=Pedde |first2=Friedhelm |title=Canopus, der "Stern der Stadt Eridu" |url=https://wfs.berlin/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/BROplanet-juni2023ff_www.pdf |journal=Dem Himmel Nahe |issue=17 |pages=8–9 |issn=2940-9330|language=de}}</ref>

In the flood myth tablet<ref>UET 6, 61 + UET 6, 503 + UET 6, 691 (+) UET 6, 701 or [https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/346146 CDLI Literary 000357, ex. 003 (P346146)]</ref> found in Ur, how Eridu and Alulim were chosen by gods as first city and first priest-king is described in more detail.<ref>Ansky, S., "The Eridu Genesis", The Harps that Once..., edited by David G. Roskies, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 145-150, 1992</ref> The following is the English translation of the tablet:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Jeremiah |title=The Divine Appointment of the First Antediluvian King: Newly Recovered Content from the Ur Version of the Sumerian Flood Story |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |date=January 2018 |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=37–51 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37013183 |doi=10.5615/jcunestud.70.2018.0037}}</ref>
{{Verse translation
|(Obverse)
1 They (the chief deities) created humanity
2 After the [animals/vermin?] were proliferating below/from the earth in unison
3 They made livestock and quadrupeds as fitting things in the steppe(eden-na)
4 In the high steppe ... joyous plants broadly
5 At that time, the canal was not dug ...
6 The dike and ditch [were not dredged(?) ...]
7 The ox ... the plow/farmer/furrow(?) ...
8 The lands ... a single track ...
9 Humanity ... their eyes/faces ... [rain?]
10 Šakkan/Šumugan [did not go out(?)] in the desert ...
11 Weaving the cap/headcloth(?) ...
12 Humanity ...
13 At that time, the snake was not present, [the scorpion was not present ...]
14 The lion was not present, [the hyena was not present ...]
15 The dog and wolf were not present ...
16 Humanity [had no opponent ...]
17 Fear and [gooseflesh(?) were not present ...]
18 ... 
19 The king ...
20 ...

|(Reverse)
1 First ... were giving [Eridu or Ku’ara?] to Asalluhi,
2 Second ... were giving [Bad-tibira to the nugig midwife?],
3 Third ... were giving [Larak[ to Pabilsaĝ,
4 Fourth ... were giving [Sippar to Utu?]
5 Fifth ... were giving Š[uruppak?] to [Sud?].
6 Those cities .. their settlements ...
7 An, Enlil, [Enki?] and Ninhursaĝ
8 Among(?) those cities, Eridu .. they established at the front/as the leader(?)
9 They led(?) a man who was lying(?) among its vast and many people ...
10 An, Enlil, and Enki, the father(s) of the gods(?)
11 They chose Alulim/the "seed of the red deer" for the shepherdship of the entirety of the many people
12 They named him(!) Alulim/named the "seed of the red deer" ...
13 After they served according to the command to check thusly/forever after(?)
14 [So that?] humanity, whoever possessed a name, were grasping his feet (in submission)/following his path(?)
15 They put both (capital) offense and sin(?) in his hand
16 was giving ... to him
17 ...
18 ...
}}

[[File:Cup MET ME49 133 6.jpg|thumb|left|Cup; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 9.53 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
[[Adapa]], a man of Eridu, is depicted as an early culture hero. Although earlier tradition, Me-Turan/Tell-Haddad tablet, describes [[Adapa]] as postdiluvian ruler of Eridu,<ref>Cavigneaux, Antoine. “Une version Sumérienne de la légende d’Adapa (Textes de Tell Haddad X) : Zeitschrift Für Assyriologie104 (2014): 1–41.</ref> in late tradition, [[Adapa]] came to be viewed as Alulim’s vizier,{{sfn|Peterson|2018|p=40}} and he was considered to have brought civilization to the city as the sage of King [[Alulim]].<ref>Brandon, S. G. F., "The Origin of Death in Some Ancient Near Eastern Religions", Religious Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 217–28, 1966</ref><ref>Milstein, Sara J., "The “Magic” of Adapa", Texts and Contexts: The Circulation and Transmission of Cuneiform Texts in Social Space, edited by Paul Delnero and Jacob Lauinger, Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 191-213, 2015</ref>

[[File:Statue of a standing lion from Eridu, Iraq, c. mid-3rd millennium BCE. Iraq Museum.jpg|thumb|Statue of a standing lion from Eridu, Iraq, c. mid-3rd millennium BC]]
The stories of [[Inanna]], goddess of [[Uruk]], describe how she had to go to Eridu in order to receive the [[me (mythology)|gifts of civilization]]. At first Enki, the god of Eridu, attempted to retrieve these sources of his power but later willingly accepted that Uruk now was the centre of the land.<ref>Gertrud  Farber-Fliigge, "Der Mythos 'Inanna und Enki' unter  besonderer   Berücksichti-gung der Liste der me", Rome, St Pohl 10, 1973</ref><ref>Alster, Bendt, "On the Interpretation of the Sumerian Myth 'Inanna and Enki'", vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 20-34, 1974</ref>

====List of rulers====
The following list should not be considered complete:
{|class="wikitable"border="1"style="width:100%;text-align:center"
|-
!width="1%"|#
!width="16.5%"|Depiction
!width="16.5%"|Ruler
!width="16.5%"|Succession
!width="16.5%"|[[Akkadian royal titulary|Title]]
!width="16.5%"|{{abbr|Approx.|approximately}} dates
!width="16.5%"|Notes
|-
|colspan="7"align="center"style="background-color:palegoldenrod"|'''[[Early Dynastic I|Early Dynastic I period]] ({{circa|2900|2700 BC|lk=yes}})'''
|-
!colspan="7"|[[Pre-dynastic period of Sumer|Predynastic Sumer]] ({{circa|2900|2700 BC}})
|-
|colspan="7"align="left"|{{blockquote|''"After the [[Throne|kingship]] descended from [[Anu|heaven]], the kingship was in Eridu."''|''[[Sumerian King List]] (SKL)''}}
|-
|1
|[[File:Lista Reale Sumerica.jpg|128px]]
|[[Alulim]]<br>𒀉𒇻𒅆
|
|[[King of Sumer]]<hr>[[Lugal|King]] of Eridu
|{{fl.|{{c.|2874 BC}}}}<br><small>(28800–67200 years)</small>
|
*Is mentioned in the ''[[Weld-Blundell Prism]] (W-B 44)'' version of the ''SKL'' (this version of the ''SKL'' was most likely written ''[[tempore|temp.]]'' of [[Suen-magir]] {{circa|1800 BC}})
*Said on the ''SKL'' to have held the title of, ''"[[lugal|King]]"'' of not just Eridu; but, to have held the ''"[[Hegemony|Kingship]]"'' over ''all'' of Sumer
*The ''Uruk List of Kings and Sages (ULKS)'' version of the ''SKL'' pairs him up with an [[apkallu]] (an apkallu was a [[Sage (philosophy)|sage]] in [[Sumerian literature]] and [[Sumerian religion|religion]]—the first apkallu was named [[Adapa]] and he was paired up with Alulim; additionally, Adapa has been compared with the [[Biblical]] figure [[Adam]])
|-
|2
|[[File:Initial paragraph about rule of Alulim in Eridu for 28800 years (photograph, transcription and translation).jpg|128px]]
|[[Alalngar]]<br>𒀉𒋭𒃻
|Brother of Alulim (?)
|King of Sumer<hr>King of Eridu
|{{reign|single=c. 2866 BC|show=lword}}<br><small>(36000 years)</small>
|
*Historicity uncertain
*Is mentioned in the ''[[Dynastic Chronicle]]'' version of the ''SKL'' (this version of the ''SKL'' was most likely written ''temp.'' of [[Nabonassar]] {{circa|740 BC}})
*The ''ULKS'' (written {{circa|165 BC}}) pairs him up with an apkallu (Uanduga)
|-
|colspan="7"align="left"|{{blockquote|''"2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years. Then Eridu fell and the kingship was taken to [[Bad-tibira#List of rulers|Bad-tibira]]."''|''SKL''}}
|-
|3
|
|Amelon<br>𒁹𒄠𒈨𒇻𒀭𒈾
|
|King of Sumer<hr>King of Eridu
|{{reign|single=c. 2900|era=BC}}<br><small>(46800 years)</small>
|
*Historicity uncertain
*Is mentioned in [[Berossus]]’ version of the ''SKL'' (the ''[[Babyloniaca (Berossus)|Babyloniaca]]'' was written {{circa|290 BC}})
*The ''ULKS'' pairs him up with an apkallu (Enmeduga)
|}