Ur-Nammu

Ur-Nammu, who died around 2094 BCE, was a Sumerian king who founded the Third Dynasty of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, reestablishing centralized rule after a period of Akkadian and Gutian dominance, and who reigned from about 2112 to 2094 BCE before being succeeded by his son Shulgi. He built the Ur III state into an empire through military conquest, defeating the ruler of Lagash, subduing rival claimants at Uruk, and turning back a coalition that included Elamite forces, while also constructing temples, canals and roads and initiating construction of the Great Ziggurat of Ur. His most significant legacy for the history of law is the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest surviving written law code known, predating the more famous Code of Hammurabi by roughly three centuries. Ur-Nammu held the titles King of Ur and King of Sumer and Akkad, and inscriptions associate him with the goddess Ninsun as his personal deity.