How the Sumerian King List Relates to the Bible

Of all the ancient artifacts I have studied, the Sumerian Kings list brings the largest “wow” factor to me, outside of the claims of the Bible itself. Basically, it is a list of kings, kept by the Sumerian civilization sometime around 2100 BC. The list exists in many different fragments of clay tablets. The largest list is the Weld-Blundell prism, which you can find at Ashmolean Museum cuneiform collection in Oxford. Some of these fragments of the list do not exactly agree with each other. Yet overall, they are similar enough that they are considered different copies of the same document.

What is jaw-dropping about this historical document is that it lists kings in two groups. First are those who ruled before a great flood. Then there are those who ruled after it. Not only that, but the pre-flood kings had outrageously long reigns, just as people in the Bible did before the flood of Noah. After the flood, these life spans and reign lengths drastically decrease, just as they do in the Bible.

Quotes from the Sumerian Kings List:

“After the flood had swept over the earth and when kingship was lowered again from heaven…”

king list, according to source 1.

This mention and the fact that the lengths of life spans changes is an argument for the Bible’s account of a great flood.

“After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28800 years. Alaljar ruled for 36000 years. 2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years.“

king list, according to source 2

Whoa. That is definitely off the rails in lifespan account, as far as I know. The oldest life span reported in the Bible was Methuselah, who died at age 969. Side note, Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather.

Mixing Fact with Myth and Legend

The other distinguishing feature of the Sumerian King List is that some of it is in agreement with the Epic of Gilgamesh. This epic is an ancient story, discovered in Nineveh (which is in present-day Turkey). The poem is Mesopotamian in origin, written originally recorded around 2100 BC. It tells several stories of Gilgamesh, one being the story of the great flood. In the epic, the flood was created by the gods, just as the Bible teaches that the great flood was created by God. Gilgamesh is also listed in the Sumerian king list. To learn more about Gilgamesh, see this article on the Ancient History Encyclopedia website.

Gilgamesh may have been a real person, but most stories about him are probably not true. No one knows just how long these stories of him were handed down orally before they were recorded on clay tablets. Perhaps his story is mostly fiction mixed in with facts, like stories of George Washington and the cherry tree. Of course, the Gilgamesh story gets a lot wilder than not lying about a cherry tree. His stories involve gods and magic.

What about those crazy long life spans on the Sumerian King List???

I found one article on answersingenesis.org that goes into exhausting detail to show that the Sumerian civilization used 60 as their base number. (I found that information in many places, but the answersingenesis.org article went into extreme detail.)

Many scholars believe that when the king list was written, the writer of it had a copy of the Genesis record. That is because both include exactly eight rulers, pre-flood, excluding Adam and Noah, who were not kings. I found a long explanation as to how the lifespans on the king list actually agree quite well with the Genesis account, and for the life of me, I could not follow this long numerical explanation. I did find the charts helpful and interesting though. To view the charts and the article, just click here. For a chart that compares the cuneiform dates to the Bible names and years, click here.

Historical Documents

As archaeologists dig up more and more ancient documents and remains of cities and people, our understanding of past civilizations increases. Isn’t it amazing how much power the writers of the world have?

When you have multiple documents, written at a time when witnesses of the events were still alive, and the documents agree, then I do not believe evidence such as that can be ignored.

If you would like to learn more about the King list, I am including my sources below for your reading. I am also including links to articles I have written on similar topics. Feel free to comment below and share your thoughts.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face fo the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Genesis 1:1-2

Similar Articles on this Website:

What the Nuzi Tablets Tell Us About the Bible

How do we know the Bible is reliable?

What is at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.?

Sources

1. The Sumerian king list: translation–http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm

2. The Sumerian King List still puzzles historians after more than a century of research, 30 Jan., 2014, ancient-origins.net., by April Holloway

3. Gilgamesh–https://www.ancient.eu/gilgamesh/, by Joshua J. Mark, 29 March, 2018.

4. The Antediluvian Patriarchs and the Sumerian King List, answersingenesis.org, by Raul Lopez, 1 Dec., 1998. Originally published in Journal of Creation 12, no 3 (December 1998): 347-357.

5. The incredible similarities between the Sumerian King List and accounts in Genesis, ancient-code.com,

6. Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, & Time Lines, Rose Publishing, 2005, 100 Proofs for the Bible Old Testament, page 48.