Editing History of Sumer (section)

====First Dynasty of Uruk====
[[File:Rolzegel.JPG|thumb|Cylinder seal impression from Uruk, showing a "king-priest" in brimmed hat and long coat feeding the herd of goddess [[Inanna]], symbolized by two rams, framed by reed bundles as on the [[Uruk Vase]]. Late Uruk period, 3300–3000 BC. [[Pergamon Museum]]/ [[Vorderasiatisches Museum]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus |date=2003 |publisher= Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn= 978-1-58839043-1 |page= [https://archive.org/details/artoffirstcities0000unse/page/481 481] |url= https://archive.org/details/artoffirstcities0000unse |url-access= registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin |url= http://repository.edition-topoi.org/collection/VMRS/single/1769/2 |website= Repository |publisher= Edition Topoi |access-date= 2020-03-02 |archive-date= 2019-04-02 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190402122509/http://repository.edition-topoi.org/collection/VMRS/single/1769/2 |url-status= live }}</ref>]]
{{see|Uruk}}
[[Mesh-ki-ang-gasher]] is listed as the first King of Uruk. He was followed by [[Enmerkar]].<ref>Identified by [[David Rohl]] with [[Nimrod (king)|Nimrod]] the Hunter, mentioned in the Bible as founding Erech</ref> The epic ''[[Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.2.3|title=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature|website=ETCSL|publisher=Oxford|place=UK|access-date=23 April 2018|archive-date=26 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926233654/http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.2.3|url-status=live}}</ref> tells of his voyage by river to [[Aratta]], a mountainous, mineral-rich country up-river from Sumer. He was followed by [[Lugalbanda]], also known from fragmentary legends, and then by [[Dumuzid, the Fisherman]]. The most famous monarch of this dynasty was Dumuzid's successor Gilgamesh, hero of the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', where he is called Lugalbanda's son. Ancient, fragmentary copies of this text have been discovered in locations as far apart as [[Hattusas]] in Anatolia, [[Tel Megiddo|Megiddo]] in Israel, and [[Tell el Amarna]] in Egypt.