Urukagina
Urukagina was a ruler (
énsi) of
Lagash in
Mesopotamia about the
24th century BC. His wife was probably Queen
Shagshag. He is best-known for his reforms to combat corruption, which are sometimes cited as the first example of a
judicial code. Although the actual text has not survived, its content may be surmised from other references to it that have been found. In it, he exempted widows and orphans from taxes; compelled the city to pay funeral expenses (including the ritual food and drink
libations for the
journey of the dead into the lower world); and decreed that the rich must use silver when purchasing from the poor, and if the poor does not wish to sell, the powerful man (the rich man or the priest) cannot force him to do so. His code is notable because it gave greater support to women than did the later Codes of
Hammurabi,
Lipit Ishtar, or the later
Assyrian or
Babylonian Codes.
Urukagina's Code is perhaps the first known example of government self-reform. Like the
Magna Carta and the
United States Constitution that followed (and like the Codes of Hammurabi, et. al. to some degree), Urukagina's code limited the power of politicians. He governed government.
Urukagina freed the inhabitants of Lagash from usury, burdensome controls, hunger, theft, murder, and seizure (of their property and persons). He established freedom. The widow and the orphan were no longer at the mercy of the powerful man.
He also participated in several conflicts, notably a losing border conflict with
Uruk. During his reign, Uruk fell under the leadership of
Lugal-Zage-Si,
patesi of
Umma, who ultimately overthrew Urukagina, annexed Lagash, and established a Mesopotamian Empire.
