This volume provides editions of all known royal inscriptions of the five kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur (2112-2004 BC), from Ur-Nammu to Ibbi-Sin, as well as those of contemporaneous rulers of states on the periphery of the Ur III empire (excluding Elam). Ur III Period contains the first complete edition of the Fu-Sin inscriptions, the most complete and up-to-date information on the members of the Ur III royal family, and the first published charts of Ur III city governors, providing a wealth of new material for researchers.

Douglas Frayne has provided indexes of museum numbers, excavation numbers, provenances, dimensions, and lines preserved of the various exemplars in an easy-to-read tabular mode. The accompanying microfiche, now incorporated at the back of the book, displays the text of selected inscriptions in a "musical score" format. Most of the inscriptions are in Sumerian, with a few in Akkadian and one in Hurrian.

Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC) is yet another exhaustively researched and substantial contribution to the RIM project, and to the study of ancient Mesopotamia.

Douglas Frayne is Assistant Editor with the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project and Assistant Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Toronto.

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