18 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Queen Kubaba: Some 4,500 years ago, a woman rose to power and reigned over one of the largest civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia

Is it possible to say who was the first queen in history? Given the size and diversity of human civilization, perhaps the answer to that is still unknown. However, according to the history that has been documented and is known to all people, Queen Kubaba was the first woman to rule the ancient Sumerian Dynasty.

Very few women ever rose to power in the kingdoms and empires established in the Near East, Asia, and Europe. These women often first accessed their power through men (fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons).

But the Sumerian queen Kubaba was a true monarch — a queen regnant who ruled in her own right, rather than a queen consort, who is simply the wife of the monarch. The King List refers to her as Lugal (king), not as Eresh (queen consort). She is the only woman to bear this title.

A common setting for stories about strong women in antiquity is Egypt, the country of the pharaohs Sobekneferu, Hatshepsut, and Cleopatra. However, Kubaba, probably circa 2400 B.C., ascended to the Sumerian throne well in advance of all of them.

In the recorded history, that is known worldwide, Kubaba was the first female ruler who ruled the ancient Sumerian Dynasty for a hundred years. Tons of monarchs make an appearance on the Sumerian King List, but there’s only one lady named: Kubaba, or Kug-Bau.  She was a woman alone – the only queen regnant who’s recorded as bearing divine rulership.

This list, a chronicle of rulers that often straddles the boundary between history and legend, provides us with the little information we do know about her. For instance, it is said that Enmen-lu-ana ruled for 43,200 years. Even though Kubaba’s reign makes more sense, she is nevertheless recognized for having led Sumer for an improbable 100 years.

According to the Sumerian King List, Kubaba is the only female ruler who has ruled for 100 years in the early days of the third dynasty of Kish during 2500–2330 BC, an ancient city-state of Sumer, Mesopotamia.

Iraq. Kish. (Tel-Uhaimir). Ruins of Kish at time of excavation. Photo: Commons
Iraq. Kish. (Tel-Uhaimir). Ruins of Kish at time of excavation. Photo: Commons

In the King List, Kubaba is first mentioned as “the woman tavern-keeper.” How did she go from running a bar/inn to ruling a city? We can’t be certain, but female tavern keepers were important figures in Sumerian mythology and daily life. Perhaps this is due to the enormous importance of beer in Sumerian culture. Women often ran taverns, holding perhaps one of the only independent female positions of power in ancient Sumer.

Siduri the tavern-keeper, who runs an inn in the Underworld, is a significant character in the Epic of Gilgamesh. She must be some kind of immortal to live where she does, and she gives Gilgamesh wise advice like “Who among mortals can live forever?” “Man’s life is short…let there be pleasure and dancing.” So, even in antiquity, a female tavern-keeper was seen as a guide along perilous paths and a figure worthy of veneration in what was probably a very important epic.

But what was the purpose in identifying her profession? By associating her with the mythical Siduri and a prominent feminine profession the recorder of the King List literally immortalized Kubaba and made her the one of world’s most independent women.

Her epithet is longer than most, which suggests that ancient scribes found her especially noteworthy. Alongside her name it reads, “the woman tavern-keeper, who made firm the foundations of Kish.”

Kubaba or Kug-Bau, as she is called in the Sumerian language, according to the Sumerian King list and she ruled after the Great Flood, following the defeat of Sharrumiter of Mari. Some historian links her with the Fourth dynasty of the Kish dynasty.

Relief of the goddess Kubaba, holding a pomegranate in her right hand; orthostat relief from Herald’s wall, Carchemish; 850-750 BC; Late Hittite style under Aramaean influence. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey. Photo: Commons

The Sumerian tradition holds that kingship is not linked to a permanent capital. It moves from place to place, bestowed by the gods on one city and then transferred elsewhere at their discretion after a few generations. Mari held the throne for more than a century before Kubaba, the lone member of Kish’s Fourth dynasty. It was relocated to Akshak after Kubaba. Kish rose to prominence again with Kubaba’s son, Puzer-Suen, and grandson, Ur-Zababa, who served as the city’s fourth and final dynasty’s first two rulers.

In his book “Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature“, Rivkah Harris claims, vaguely, that Kubaba “seized” the throne.

Canadian Assyriologist Albert Kirk Grayson has written that “the whole point of the narrative is to illustrate that those rulers who neglected or insulted [the god] Marduk or failed to provide fish offerings for the temple Esagil had an unhappy end.”

According to the text, Kubaba feeds a fisherman and persuades him to offer his catch to Esagila. Marduk’s favor in response comes as no surprise: “Let it be so,” the god said, and with that, he “entrusted to Kubaba, the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world.” That’s right — her campaign expenses for world domination amounted to a loaf of bread and some water. Coincidentally, bread and water (the ingredients of Sumerian beer) were the foundation of her pre-monarch life as well.

It seems that the divine connotations became more prominent over time, and the human Kubaba gradually vanished from memory. She was supposedly worshipped as the guardian of the Syrian city of Carchemish in the Hittite era in the following millennium. The connection between the historical figure and the deity is not evident, though.

Cover Photo: Commons

Related Articles

1.5 Million-Year-Old Hand Axes and Seven Paleolithic Sites Discovered in Iraq’s Western Desert

30 January 2025

30 January 2025

Archaeologists from the Free University of Brussels (VUB) uncovered hand axes dating back 1.5 million years and discovered seven Paleolithic...

“Secret” Excavations in Luxembourg Reveal 141 Roman Gold Coins from Nine Roman Emperors

13 January 2025

13 January 2025

Archaeologists uncovered a Roman gold coin hoard of 141 Roman gold coins dating to the second half of the 4th...

Papal bull discovered in a former cemetery dated to the 14th century

10 May 2023

10 May 2023

A medieval bull found in 2021 in Budzistów village (Kołobrzeg district), Poland has been restored and placed on display in...

Ancient Rituals and ‘Devil’s Money’: Elite Pagans’ Medieval Cult Site Unearthed at Hezingen

15 February 2025

15 February 2025

Researchers in the eastern Netherlands have uncovered a medieval cult site featuring structural remains and a hoard of gold and...

Remains of a 12-year-old boy wearing a bronze warrior belt found in Pontecagnano

6 July 2021

6 July 2021

The remains of a 12-year-old boy wearing a bronze warrior belt were found at Pontecagnano, an outpost of the pre-Roman...

Researchers found similar descriptions in the Book of Revelation and ancient curse tablets

10 February 2023

10 February 2023

A research project headed by Dr. Michael Hölscher of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), has uncovered that the book of...

Google Earth Helped Archaeologists Make İmportant Discoveries in Leicestershire

26 April 2021

26 April 2021

After Google Earth revealed traces of underground structures, archaeologists digging at a Roman settlement in Leicestershire say they have made...

The Ancient City of Miletos’s “Sacred Cave” Opened to Visitors

2 October 2021

2 October 2021

In the ancient city of Miletos, which had an important place in the advancement of philosophy, art, and science in...

Two unique mid-14th-century shipwrecks discovered in Sweden

22 April 2023

22 April 2023

During an archaeological dig in western Sweden this summer, the remains of two medieval merchant vessels known as cogs were...

Artifacts used for ancient magic rituals discovered on Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca

11 September 2023

11 September 2023

The artifacts, found in the 1990s on the ancient Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca, may have been in...

A rural necropolis from Late Antiquity discovered in northeastern France

5 November 2022

5 November 2022

Inrap archaeologists have unearthed a small rural necropolis from the late 5th century (Late Antiquity) at Sainte-Marie-aux-Chênes in northeastern France....

The Lion of Venice was Made in China: : Isotopic Analyses and Stylistic Comparisons Prove it

16 September 2024

16 September 2024

Recent scientific studies have revealed that the famous bronze-winged lion above one of the two columns in Piazzetta San Marco,...

Storms uncover precious marble cargo from a 1,800-year-old Mediterranean shipwreck in Israel

15 May 2023

15 May 2023

Numerous rare marble artifacts have been found at the site of a 1,800-year-old shipwreck in shallow waters just 200 meters...

1.5 tons of bronze coins found in east China

19 December 2022

19 December 2022

An ancient coin hoard containing 1.5 tonnes of coins from the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties has been discovered...

Gate sanctuary discovered during the excavation of Archanes palace in Crete, belonging to the oldest civilisation in Europe

24 October 2024

24 October 2024

Recent excavations at the Archanes Minoan palace in Crete, belonging to the oldest civilisation in Europe, have revealed an important...