I've recently been obsessed with Ancient Mesopotamia and the Sumerian Dynasties. After reading the list of Sumerian Kings, i see many listed as having ruled for many thousands of years. (ie. En-men-lu-ana ruled for a supposed 43,200 years!)

Obviously humans do not live that long (even if we were to accept people loved longer in antiquity). And many of the explanations seem half-assed at best. Does anyone have any "unorthodox" ideas as to these obscene spans of reign by these kings? and when i say "unorthodox," i dont mean Ancient Aliens, just something less dumb than, "they added together years to accommodate for accomplishments." Since later kings are listed as reigning for very normal time spans.