Uru-Ka-gina's Edict and the Formation of Law in Sumerian Society

Writing was invented in late 4th millennium BC in southern Mesopotamia and consequently written documents were produced. Legal documents are among the most important documents left to us from ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerian legal documents allow us to study the formation of law in the earliest urban societies. In this paper we study the edicts of Uru-Ka-gina (also read Iri-Ka-gina). Old and new interpretations of this magnificent text are examined. This essay proposes a new perspective about the origin of the idea of divine rule.