Ancient Empires before Alexander | The Third Dynasty of Ur (Lecture 4)

Lecture 4: After the collapse of the Akkadian empire, the Third Dynasty of Ur rose to power.
Emerging at the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., it was the only imperial dynasty ever to arise in Sumeria. While the details of life in Ur III are abundantly documented, thanks to the recovery of hundreds of thousands of cuneiform texts, its historical narrative is less than clear.

Its founder appears to have been Ur-Nammu, who, together with his son and successor, Shulgi, created an empire that was more compact than the Akkadian empire had been, comprising central and lower Mesopotamia. But it was far more centralized, with most aspects of economic activity planned and run by the state and managed by an elaborate bureaucracy. Imperial administration was also centralized, with the empire divided into provinces run by royal governors. Intense centralization made the system fragile, though, and in the face of economic shocks, it collapsed after barely a century.

Suggested Reading:
Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East.
Roux, Ancient Iraq.
Van de Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East.

Lecture 5: https://www.bitchute.com/video/A9Z22vUBqBaO/