Reforms of Urukagina

The Reforms of Urukagina are among the earliest recorded attempts at legal and social reform, issued by Urukagina, the last king of the First Dynasty of Lagash in Sumer, who ruled the city-states of Lagash and Girsu around 2378 to 2368 BC after succeeding Lugalanda. They survive as short lists of claims inscribed on clay cones in three related but differing recensions, rather than as a single unified legal code, and address administrative and religious practice, including reducing the payment given to undertakers at burials from seven jugs of beer and 420 loaves of bread to three jugs and 80 loaves. The reforms date from the period of conflict with the rival city of Umma, before Lagash was later destroyed by Lugalzagesi, and predate the Code of Ur-Nammu as an early instance of a ruler systematizing changes to institutional and economic obligations.