Gu'abba (Gú-ab-baki), also Gu-abba and Guabba, was the name of a city but also in the Ur III period the name of the district around it. It was active in the Early Dynastic III through the Akkadian Empire and Ur III periods. It is known that there was a large harbor and shipyard (mar-sa), where "'big boats' (má-gal-gal) or 'Makkan boats' (má Má-ganki)" were built, that handled trade with the Persian Gulf entities not just for the Girsu province but for other parts of the Ur III Empire as well. These ships had a crew as large as 120 men.Laursen S, Steinkeller, "Babylonia, the Gulf Region, and the Indus: archaeological and textual evidence for contact in the Third and Early Second Millennium B.C.", Winona Lake, In: Eisenbrauns, 2017 There were also regular shipments of sesame stalks reaped in Susa and received at Gu'abba. Susa is known to have had a harbor at that time.Maekawa, K., "Agricultural Production of the Girsu-Lagaš Institution at Susa During the Ur III Period", In Susa and Elam II. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 48–80, 2023 In the Ur III period a transportation and messenger resthouse was established in Gu'abba.Heimpel, W, "Towards an Understanding of the Term Sikkum", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 5–31, 1994
The city also had a palace, several temples, large granaries,and a large textile industry which mostly processed wool.Steinkeller, Piotr, "Trade routes and commercial networks in the Persian Gulf during the third millennium BC", Collection of Papers Presented to the Third International Biennial Conference of the Persian Gulf (History, Culture, and Civilization). Tehran: Scientific Board of the Third International Conference of the Persian Gulf, Department of History, University of Tehran, 2013Alivernini, Sergio, "Some Considerations on the Management of an Administrative Structure in Ur III Mesopotamia: The Case of mar-sa", From the 21st Century BC to the 21st Century AD: Proceedings of the International Conference on Neo-Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22–24 July 2010. Penn State Press, 2013 There were over 4000 weavers employed at Gu'abba along with about 6000 support personnel. The weavers were of some status and were provided with meat and sesame oil.Steinkeller, Piotr, "Care for the Elderly in Ur III Times: Some New Insights", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie & Vorderasiatische Archäologie 108.2, 2018Lafont, Bertrand, "Women at Work and Women in Economy and Society during the Neo-Sumerian Period", The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East, edited by Brigitte Lion and Cécile Michel, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 149-173, 2016 Texts from the Ur III period record that there was a "village of traveling merchants" from Meluhha in Gu'abba.Vermaak, P. S. 2008, "Guabba, the Meluhhan Village in Mesopotamia", Journal for Semitics 17, pp. 553–570, 2008
Nin-MAR.KI is the city goddess of Gu'abba. A year name of Ur-Baba, a ruler of the 2nd dynasty of Lagash who preceded Gudea was "Year in which the temple of Ninmarki in Gu'abba was built". The temple owned large segments of the land and industry in the city.Sjöberg, Å.W., Bergmann, E. 1969. The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns. Locust Valley, New York: J.J. Augustin Publisher, 1969 There was also a shrine to the deified ruler Shulgi in the city. Witzig, Sophia, "Les gouverneurs de Girsu/Lagas sous la IIIe dynastie d'Ur (2112-2002 AEC)", Dissertation, Université Lumière-Lyon II, 2023 The city was mentioned in Sumerian temple hymns as "a house which extends over the midst of the sea".Sj6berg, A., and Bergmann, E., "The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns", Locust Valley, N.Y.: J. J. Augustin, 1969 In the Sumerian literary composition Lament for Sumer and Ur it states:
In a text of the Lagash ruler Gudea it states
History The city was known in the Early Dynastic II and Akkadian Empire periods but did not become prominent until the time of the Ur III Empire. In the Ur III period the nation-states of Girsu and Lagash, independent powers during the Early Dynastic period, were combined into a single province with an area of around 3000 square kilometers extending 80 kilometers north to south and 40 kilometers east to west which is sometimes referred to as Girsu and sometimes as Ĝirsu-Lagaš.Yoffee, Norman, "Myths of the Archaic State. Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005 Canals connected the major cities of Girsu, Lagaš, Nigen, and Guabba. It consisted of three districts, Ĝirsu, Kinunir-NIĜIN ("the banks of the canal flowing towards NIĜIN") and Gu'abba ("the sea shore"). The Kinunir-NIĜIN district included the towns of Lagaš, Kinunir, NIĜIN (Tell Zurghul), Kiesa/Kiessa/Ki'eš, and Urub and had temples of Inanna, Dumuzi-abzu (Kinunir), Nanše (Ningin), Nindara (Ki'eš), Bagara, Ĝatumdu, and Lugal-Urub (Urub).Bartash, Vitali, "Humans as Donations and the Question of Temple Slavery in Early Mesopotamia", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 49-82, 2025 Notizia, Palmiro, "Institutional Lending Practices in the Ur III Period (ca. 2110–2003 BCE): the še-ur5-ra-Loans from Ĝirsu-Lagaš", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 112.2, pp. 154-183, 2022 There were also known to have been shrines to the deified ruler Shulgi in that district, at Nina, Kiešsa, Kinunir, and Guabba. Pitts, Audrey, "The Cult of the Deified King in Ur III Mesopotamia", Harvard University, 2015 The Gu'abba district included Gu'abba, Old Gu'abba, Asuna, Hurim, and Gukara. In this period the coastline was receding to the south and it is thought that Old Gu'abba was on the former coastline. Other known towns were Kisura, Kalamsaga, and Kimadasal. Kinunir is closely associated with Niĝin. Kinunir and Niĝin have also been referred to as "satellites" of Gu'abba.Sharlach, T. M.,"III. The Bala of the Province of Lagash: Part I: Commodities", in Provincial Taxation and the UR III State. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 61–102, 2004 Alivernini, Sergio, "A Catalogue of Harbours in the Province of Ĝirsu/Lagaš Documented in the Administrative Texts of the Ur III Period", Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 72.3, pp. 275-286, 2019
The "Going-to-Nigin Canal", known as early as the Early Dynastic III period, linked the cities of Girsu, Lagash, Nigin, and Gu'abba.Hammer, Emily, Elizabeth Stone, and Augusta McMahon, "The structure and hydrology of the early dynastic city of lagash (tell al-hiba) from satellite and aerial images", Iraq 84, pp. 103-127, 2022 During this period the northern coastline of the Persian Gulf would have been much further to the north then it currently is.Iacobucci, G., Troiani, F., Milli, S., & Nadali, D., "Geomorphology of the lower mesopotamian plain at tell zurghul archaeological site", Journal of Maps, 19(1), 2023
Location The location of Gu'abba is unknown though its general area is known to be in the southeastern part of the ancient Girsu province and on what would have been the north coastline of the Persian Gulf in that period. It is also known to have been on a canal linking it to other cities in the province. Text indicate that it was 12 days travel by boat from Gu'abba to Puzrish-Dagan and also that is five "towing days" from Girsu to Gu'abba. A towing day was about 10 kilometers. al-Hamdani, Abdulamir, "Shadow States: The Archaeology of Power in the Marshes of Southern Mesopotamia. Doctoral Dissertation submitted at StonyBrook University", 2015 Ur III texts indicate that by the time the sea had continued to recede and that by then Gu'abba was several days travel from the sea.
One proposal for the city's location is Ishan Hoffa which is 65 kilometers east of Girsu.Heimpel, Wolfgang, "Assyriologische Feldforshung", in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im Alten Vorderasien by Harmatta, J & Komoróczy, G (eds.), pp. 527-529, 1976 Another proposal is Tell Ijdaiwah, 63 kilometers south of Girsu.Zarins, Juris, "The early settlement of southern Mesopotamia: review of recent historical, geological and archaeological research", JAOS 112/1, pp. 55-77, 1992 A final proosal is an unnamed site 58 kilometers south-east of Girsu. None of these proposals has gained support as their size and occupation period are not appropriate. A further proposal is Tell Turoum which lies about 10 kilometers south of Nigin (47 km southeast of Girsu, and 18 km southeast of Lagash). The site has an area of about 30 hectares and a surface survey indicates occupation in the Early Dynastic III through the Third dynasty of Ur periods.Al-Ḥamdani, Abdulamir, "Kingdom of reeds: the archaeological heritage of southern Iraqi marshes", The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARII) Newsletter, No. 9, pp. 15-20, 2014Al-Ḥamdani, Abdulamir, "Dirasa Maidaniya lil mawaqei al-Athariya fi Hawr al-Hammar [A field study for the archaeological sites in Hawr al-Hammar]", Sumer 59, pp. 63-115, 2014
Kinunir Kinunir (ša3 ki-nu-nirki), also Kinirsha, was a town in the southern region of Mesopotamia, occupied in the Early Dynastic III, Akkadian Empire, and Ur III periods. It is still unlocated. Rarely, it is called Kinirša. It is first mentioned in the Early Dynastic III period as one of the places, along with Ki'eš, sacked by Lugal-Zage-Si. It had a temple of the god Dumuzi-abzu, E-Kinirsha, as well as a shrine to the deified Ur III ruler Shulgi.Foxvog, Daniel A., "A Third Arua Summary from Ur III Lagash", Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie Orientale, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 19–29, 1986
Ur III ruler Shulgi established a roadhouse at Kinunir which was on primary trade route between Ur and Susa, which was then part of the Ur III Empire. Texts show a number of Elamites housed there in transit. Li, Zhi, "Support for messengers: road stations in the Ur III period", Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München, 2021 As an example a text lists provisions for 30 Elamites and to Simmu, the "man of Marhasi" on the way to Drehem. In another text the 30 are called "Elamites of Marhasii".Steinkeller, Piotr, "The Question of Marḫaši: A Contribution to the Historical Geography of Iran in the Third Millennium B.C", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 237-265, 1982 Similar roadhouses were established at Girsu and Gu'abba.Veldhuis, Niek, "A multiple month account from the Gu'abba rest house", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 91.1, pp. 85-109, 2001Notizia, Palmiro, "Prince Etel-pū-Dagān, Son of Šulgi", From the 21st Century BC to the 21st Century AD, pp. 207-20, 2013
Patronyms like "Lu-Kinunir" and Ki-nu-nir-ki-du10 "Kinunir is a good place" are known from this period.Garfinkle, S. J., "Merchants and State Formation in Early Mesopotamia", in Opening the Tablet Box. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 185–202, 2010 Tavernier, Jan, "Ur and Other Cities in Some Sumerian and Akkadian Personal Names: The Pre-Sargonic and Sargonic Periods", Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale: Ur in the 21st Century, 2016
See also Chronology of the ancient Near East Cities of the ancient Near East List of Mesopotamian dynasties Umma–Lagash war
References
Further reading Borrelli, N., & Notizia, P., "Prestige on display: Markers of economic and social status in ur III babylonia", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, 11(2), pp. 199–239, 2024 Borrelli, Noemi, "Water environments in Ur III Ĝirsu/Lagaš: from natural setting to economic resource", Water History 12.1, pp. 39–55, 2020 Grégoire, Jean-Pierre, "La Province méridionale de l'État de Lagash. Recherche historique et économique", Annuaires de l'École pratique des hautes études 96.1, pp. 299–303, 1963 Heimpel, W., "The Nanshe Hymn", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 65–139, 1981 Hommel, Fritz, "Gis̆galla-Ki-Babylon, Ki-Nu-Nir-Ki Borsippa", 1893