Third Dynasty of Ur
royal dynasty in Mesopotamia
The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Mesopotamian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 21st century BC (middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by historians as the Neo-Sumerian Empire.
The Third Dynasty of Ur is commonly abbreviated as "Ur III" by historians studying the period. It is numbered in reference to previous "dynasties" of Ur according to the historical reconstruction of the Mesopotamian past written in the Sumerian King List, such as the First Dynasty of Ur (26–25th century BC), but it seems the once supposed Second Dynasty of Ur was never recorded.
This kingdom was founded by Ur-Namma (c. 2112–2094 BC), who succeeded in reuniting southern Mesopotamia a few decades after the fall of the Empire of Akkad. His son and successor Shulgi (c. 2094–2047 BC) then firmly held the heart of the kingdom, a very prosperous agricultural and urban region, where a very advanced economic administration was established, based on the temple domains controlled by the royal power. Under his reign, military campaigns expanded further the influence of Ur, creating an "Empire." Shulgi's successors managed to maintain the empire for a quarter of a century. Then it gradually disintegrated, under the combined action of incursions of Amorite populations from the North and internal forces which restored their autonomy to several important cities and regions.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Third Dynasty of Ur” as royal dynasty in Mesopotamia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as royal dynasty in Mesopotamia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q723587. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2094 and 2047.
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This entry incorporates text from “Third Dynasty of Ur” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.