Umma ( = GIŠ.KUŠU2KI) in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site.Lambert, Wilfred George, "The names of Umma.", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 49.1, pp. 75-80, 1990 Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell Jokha. More recently it has been suggested that it was located at Umm al-Aqarib, less than to its northwest or was even the name of both cities. One or both were the leading city of the Early Dynastic kingdom of Gišša, with the most recent excavators putting forth that Umm al-Aqarib was prominent in EDIII but Jokha rose to preeminence later. The town of KI.AN was also nearby.Marek Stępień, "The Economic Status of Governors in Ur III Times: An Example of the Governor of Umma", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 64, pp. 17–30, 2012 KI.AN, which was destroyed by Rimush, a ruler of the Akkadian Empire. There are known to have been six gods of KI.AN including Gula KI.AN and Sara KI.AN.Peat, J. A., "An Offering - List from the Third Dynasty of Ur", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 19–22, 1975
The tutelary gods of Umma were Sara and Ninura. It is known that the ED ruler Ur-Lumma built a temple to the god Enki-gal and one to the god Nagar-pa'e at Umma.
In the early Sumerian literary composition Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Inanna dissuades demons from the netherworld from taking Shara, patron of Umma, who was living in squalor.
History The site was occupied at least as far back as the Uruk period. A number of proto-cuneiform came from there. While most early textual sources are from Early Dynastic III, a few tablets and a plaque from ED I/II came from there.Uruk period proto-cuneiform tablets from Umma
Early Dynastic period
Because the two sites were not excavated until modern times, earlier archaeologists, based on the many looted texts available to them, grouped together the ancient cities during the Early Dynastic (ED) period of Gišša and Umma into the single geographic name of Umma. Modern excavation at these sites has clarified that. Gišša ceased occupation after the ED and only one ruler is known, based on a lapis lazuli bead reading "To the goddess Inanna, Aka, king of Gišša (dedicated this bead)".Frayne, Douglas, "G͂iša and Umma", Pre-Sargonic Period: Early Periods Volume 1 (2700-2350 BC), University of Toronto Press, pp. 357-368, 2008
Best known for its long frontier conflict with Lagash, as reported by Entemena, Carrie Hritz, "The Umma-Lagash Border Conflict: A View from Above", The Umma-Lagash Border Conflict: A View from Above, From Sherds to Landscapes: Studies on the Ancient Near East in Honor of McGuire Gibson, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 71, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, pp. 109-130, 2021 the city reached its zenith , under the rule of Lugal-Zage-Si who also controlled Ur and Uruk.
Sargonic period
Under the Akkadian Empire Umma was a major power and economic center rivaled only by Adab and Uruk.Zarins, Juris, "The Sharkallisharri Army of Umma: Linguistic, Historical and Archaeological Considerations", Aux marges de l’archéologie: hommage à Serge Cleuziou, pp. 187-213, 2012Lambert, Maurice., "La vie économique a Umma a l'époque d'Agadé", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 61–72, 1965Lambert, Maurice, "La vie économique a Umma a l'époque d'Agadé (Suite): Textes Justificatifs", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 115–26, 1965 Eleven governors under Akkad are known as well as two who may have been under Gutium. One, Lu-Utu, reports building a temple for Ninhursag and another for Ereshkigal. Namahni, a governor from the time of Iarlagan of Gutium, records building the E-ula temple of Ninura.Foster., Benjamin R., "Archives and Record-keeping in Sargonic Mesopotamia", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 1-27, 1982 The Sargonic period ruler of Umma Lugalanatum built the temple E-gidru there.
A cuneiform text lays out the adjudication of a boundary dispute between Adab and Umma by Naram-Sin of Akkad (c. 2255–2218 BC). It lists the governor under Akkad of Umma as Šubur-Nagarpae and the governor of Adab as Lugal-ša. This is the first attestation of both. The decision was witnessed by the "city elders" of Adab, Tallani, Ibrat, and Pašime.Lafont, Bertrand, "Une plaque en argile portant une inscription de Naram-Sin d’Agadé", The Third Millennium. Brill, pp. 408-416, 2020Salgues, Emmanuelle, and Aage Westenholz, "A Boundary Dispute Between Adab and Umma", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 77.1, pp. 197-204, 2025
Ur III period
Under the Ur III dynasty, Umma became an important provincial center. The Ur III Umma province consisted of four districts, Da-Umma, Apisal, Gu’edena, and Mušbiana. Stephanie Rost, "Written Sources in the Empirical Investigation of Ancient Irrigation: The Operation of the I-sala Irrigation System in the Umma Province in Late Third-Millennium BCE Southern Mesopotamia", in Irrigation in Early States: New Directions, Oriental Institute Seminars 13, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, pp. 137–174, 2022 It is known from archive that the economy of Umma was about 1/3 the size of nearby Lagash province.van Driel, G., "The Size of Institutional Umma", Archiv Für Orientforschung, vol. 46/47, pp. 80–91, 1999 Several governors of Umma under Ur are known, Aa-kala, Dadaga, and Ur-Lisi, all sons of one Ur-Nigar, and Ninbilia, wife of Aa-kala.Frayne, Douglas, "Table III: List of Ur III Period Governors", Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. xli-xliv, 1997T. Maeda, "Father of Akala and Dadaga, governors of Umma", ASJ 12, pp. 71 - 78, 1990P. A. Parr, "Ninhilia: Wife of Ayakala, Governor of Umma", JCS 26, pp. 90 – 111, 1974 Most of the over 30,000 tablets recovered from the site are administrative and economic texts from that time. I. J. Gelb, "Sargonic Texts in the Louvre Museum", Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary 4, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970 They permit an excellent insight into affairs in Umma. A year name of Ur III ruler Shu-Sin was "Year Shu-Sin the king of Ur built the temple of Shara in Umma". The next ruler Ibbi-Sin also had a year name of "Year Ibbi-Sin the king of Ur built the temple of Shara in Umma". The Umma calendar of Shulgi () is the immediate predecessor of the later Babylonian calendar, and indirectly of the post-exilic Hebrew calendar.
In the following Isin-Larsa period, a ruler of Larsa, Sumuel ( 1894-1866 BC), lists as one of his later year names "Year Umma was destroyed".
Archaeology Tell Jokha
Also called Tell Djokha and Tell Yokha.de la Fuÿe, Allotte, "Un cadastre de Djokha", Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 12.1, pp. 47-54, 1915 Chiera, Edward, "Selected temple accounts from Telloh, Yokha and Drehem", University of Pennsylvania, 1921 The site of Tell Jokha was visited by William Loftus in 1854 and John Punnett Peters of the University of Pennsylvania in 1885. Peters found it to be half covered with sand dunes and found fragments of worked stone and copper fragments. In the early 1900s, many illegally excavated Umma tablets began to appear on the antiquities market.Georges Contenau, Contribution a l'Histoire Economique d'Umma, Librairie Champion, 1915 Many of these tablets used an unusual "mul-iti" dating system (year x, month y, day z) from the reigns of Akkadian Empire rulers Naram-Sin and Shar-kali-shari. B. R. Foster, "Umma in the Sargonic Period", Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 20, Hamden, 1982Foster, Benjamin R., "New Light on the “mu-iti” Texts", Orientalia 48.2, pp. 153-162, 1979Marchesi, Gianni, "Two Delivery Records from Umma and Related Subjects", Orientalia, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 104–13, 1999 From 1999 to 2002 Jokha, already heavily looted, was worked by an Iraqi team led by Nawala Ahmed Al-Mutawalli, recovering a number of tablets and bullae from the Early Dynastic, Sargonic, Ur III, and Old Babylonian periods as well as an Ur III period temple and Old Babylonian residences.Al-Mutawalli, N., "Excavation of Umma (modern Jokha), seasons 1 & 2.", Sumer 54, pp. 53-82, 2009Al-Harbi, H. Sh, N. A. Al-Mutawali, and K. M. Khaleel, "Jokha (Umma): The Excavation Results of the Third and Fourth Seasons (2001–2002)", Sumer 56, pp. 49-92, 2011Almamori, H. O., "Gišša (Umm Al-Aqarib), Umma (Jokha), and Lagaš in the Early Dynastic III Period", Al-Rafidan 35, pp. 1–37, 2014 The cuneiform tablets are in the process of being published.Al-Mutawalli, N.. "Administrative Cuneiform Texts from Umma in the Iraq Museum Excavation of Shara Temple (1999–2000)", Sumer 55, pp. 45–86, 2010Mutawallī, Nawālah Aḥmad Maḥmūd al, et al., "Bullae from the Shara Temple= Wuṣūlāt at-tasallum (bulla) min maʿbad aš-Šārā. Cuneiform texts from the Iraqi excavations at Umma (Jokha)", Harrassowitz Verlag, 2019 Al-Mutawalli, Nawala Ahmed, et al, "Bullae from the Main Tell: Documents of Umma’s Administration in the Early Old Babylonian Period. With a Contribution by Adelheid Otto", Harrassowitz Verlag, 2024
On the northern end of the main mound the Ešagepadda temple of Shara (Šara), primary deity of Umma, was found. Preparations for the temple construction began in the last year of Amar-Sin and the temple was finished in the 8th year of Shu-Sin. It is known that a "Ešagepada of Umma (ĜIŠ.KUŠU₂ki)" existed in the early Akkadian Empire period though no trace has been found. The large mudbrick temple was 90 meters by 130 meters with a 6 meter thick exterior wall. The exterior wall had buttresses, recesses, and two entrances. The main temple courtyard measured 42 meters by 30 meters. Artifacts found dated primarily to the Ur III and the Early Old Babylonian periods with a few from the Akkadian period. The temple was the findspot for all cuneiform tablets and bullae. A number of door sockets were found, some in situ. Al-Mutawalli, Nawala, and Walther Sallaberger, "A Door Socket from Šu-Suen's Shara Temple at Umma (Tell Jokha)", 2025
The site was visited around 1900 by archaeologist Walter Andrae who described the site as being 1000 meters long and 15 meters high with a small plateau to the north holding the remains of a 70 meter by 70 meter building,Andrae, W., "Aus einem Berichte W. Andrae's über seine Exkursion von Fara nach den südbabylonischen Ruinenstätten", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft 16, pp. 16–24, 1902–1903 The site was visited during a regional archaeological survey in 1967. The site was estimated to cover an area 150 meters in diameter. A surface survey showed "Late Early Dynastic and Old Babylonian are dominant in surface collections, but intervening Akkadian, Ur III, and Larsa periods also are well represented".