Larak was an ancient Iraqi city in Sumer that appears in some versions of the Sumerian King List (SKL) said to have been the third among the five cities to hold the kingship over Sumer during the antediluvian era. Its patron deity was Pabilsag, a Ninurta-like warrior god additionally associated with judgment, medicine and the underworld, usually portrayed as the husband of Ninisina. Gasan-aste ("Lady (of) the Throne"), a version of the healing goddess Ninisina was worshiped at Larak.Richter, Thomas, "Untersuchung zuden lokalen Panthea Süd- und Mittelbaby-loniens", in altbabylonischer Zeit (2. ver-besserte und erweiterte Auflage), Münster,Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2004

There is no archaeological or textual support for the actual existence of the Early Dynastic city of Larak unlike the other four cities from "before the flood", it being only known from much later literary compositions. The Iron Age city of Larak, in the same general area, is supported by Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian texts. It is unclear if this was the Early Dynastic city being re-established or a completely different and unrelated city.

Location Larak is believed to be in the vicinity of the ancient city of Isin. It has been suggested that Tell al-Hayyad, a 40 hectare site, is Larak. The site is #1306 in the Adams survey. The site is 1100 meters X 450 meters and split by later canals into three parts. The central summit of the southwestern part, the largest and highest, showed as a significant Jemdat Nasr occupation and otherwise numerous Uruk period shards and limited Early Dynastic remains based on a surface survey. It has not been excavated.Algaze, Guillermo, "Epilogue. Early Sumerian Societies: A Research Agenda", Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 151-166, 2008 Adams, R. McC., "Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981 The site was a large city in the Early, Middle, and Late Uruk period.Algaze, Guillermo, "Surveyed Late Uruk Sites in the Mesopotamian Alluvium Organized by Size and Presumed Functional Category", Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 173-176, 2008Algaze, Guillermo, "Surveyed Early/Middle Uruk Sites in the Mesopotamian Alluvium Organized by Size and Presumed Functional Category", Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 167-172, 2008 The 3rd millennium BC site of Tell al-Wilayah has also been proposed. J. N. Postgate, "Inscriptions from Tell al-Wilaya", Sumer, vol. 32, no. 1-2, pp. 77-100, 1976

Textual sources Early dynastic city According to the Babyloniaca of Berossus, the ruler of Shuruppak, Ubara-Tutu, mentioned in the Sumerian King List and the Epic of Gilgamesh, came from Larak.Stanley M. Burstein, "The Babyloniaca of Berossus", Malibu: Undena, 1978

Larak is listed as one of the five antedeluvian (before the flood) cities in the Sumerian King List. In some rescensions it is the 3rd while in others it is 4th. Only one ruler, is En-sipad-zid-ana, is mentioned in the SKL (ruling for 28.800 years) before rulership moved on to the next city.

The city is also mentioned in the Lament for Ur which states "Ninašte has abandoned the house in Larak, her sheepfold—to the wind".Samet, Nili, "Transliteration and Translation", The Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2014, pp. 54-77, 2014

In the later literary composition Inanna Lament it reads "From my brickwork of Larak, he called out after me!", referring to the destruction of her temples by some enemy.Delnero, Paul, "Emotion and Sumerian Laments", How To Do Things With Tears: Ritual Lamenting in Ancient Mesopotamia, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 174-224, 2020

In the Eridu Genesis, a literary composition written around 1600 BC, Larak is listed as the 3rd city i.e. "the third, Larak, she gave to Pabilsag,".Ansky, S., "The Eridu Genesis", The Harps that Once..., edited by David G. Roskies, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 145-150, 1992

In The Destroyed House, a lament for the destruction of Isin it states "[Ni]nashte, mistress of Larak, am I—". This lament is part of the basis for assuming Larak is near Isin. Ninashte means "mistress of Ashte" where Ashte is thought to be a location in Larak.Ansky, S., "The Destroyed House", The Harps that Once..., edited by David G. Roskies, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 475-477, 1992

Iron Age city Larak is mentioned in writings of Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian times but it is not certain if this is the same city. The ruler Neo-Assyrian ruler Sennacherib (705–681 BC) listed Larak (as a city of the Chaldean Bit-Amukkani tribe) among the cities he defeated in his first military campaign.Matty, Nazek Khalid, "Sennacherib's Conquest of Lachish in the Reliefs and the Archaeological Evidence", Sennacherib's Campaign Against Judah and Jerusalem in 701 B.C.: A Historical Reconstruction, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 67-89, 2016

To rebuild the Etemenanki temple of Marduk in Babylon, the neo-Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) taxed a number of towns including Larak:

There are a number of records of Larak stemming from the conflict between the Neo-Babyloan ruler Marduk-apla-iddina II and the Neo-Assyrian ruler Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 BC). Various Chaldean and Aramean tribes at various times allied with and opposed these rulers and warred with each other. One raid by another Chaldean tribe was reports as carrying away 20, 000 sheep from Larak and its ruler Nadinu.Fales, Frederick M., "Moving around Babylon: On the Aramean and Chaldean Presence in Southern Mesopotamia", Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Margarete van Ess and Joachim Marzahn, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 91-112, 2011

The Neo-Assyrian ruler Sargon II (722–705 BC) received a report which included

List of rulers The following list should not be considered complete: #DepictionRulerSuccessionEpithet datesNotesEarly Dynastic I period ()Predynastic Sumer ()1stEn-sipad-zid-ana𒂗𒉺𒇻𒍣𒀭𒈾Uncertain, (28,800 years)Historicity uncertain Known from the SKL; very little otherwise Said on the SKL to have held the title of, "King" of not just Larak; but, to have held the "Kingship" over all of Sumer

See also Cities of the Ancient Near East

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