Ur

Ur
𒋀𒀕𒆠
Ur is located in Iraq
Ur
Ur
Shown within Iraq
Ur is located in Near East
Ur
Ur
Ur (Near East)
Ur is located in West and Central Asia
Ur
Ur
Ur (West and Central Asia)
LocationTell el-Muqayyar, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq
RegionMesopotamia, Middle East
Coordinates30°57′42″N 46°06′18″E / 30.9616529°N 46.1051259°E / 30.9616529; 46.1051259
TypeSettlement
History
Foundedc. 3800 BC
AbandonedAfter 500 BC
PeriodsUbaid period to Iron Age
CulturesSumerian
Site notes
Excavation dates1853–1854, 1922–1934, 2015-present
ArchaeologistsJohn George Taylor, Charles Leonard Woolley, Elizabeth C Stone, Paul Zimansky, Adelheid Otto
Official nameUr Archaeological City
Part ofAhwar of Southern Iraq
CriteriaMixed: (iii)(v)(ix)(x)
Reference1481-006
Inscription2016 (40th Session)
Area71 ha (0.27 sq mi)
Buffer zone317 ha (1.22 sq mi)

Ur[a] (/ʊr/ or /ɜːr/[3]) was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar[b] (Arabic: تَلّ ٱلْمُقَيَّر, lit.'mound of bitumen') in Dhi Qar Governorate, southern Iraq. Although Ur was once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the city is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 km (10 mi) from Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq.[4] The city dates from the Ubaid period c. 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being King Tuttues.

The city's patron deity was Nanna (in Akkadian, Sin), the Sumerian and Akkadian moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name, UNUGKI, literally "the abode (UNUG) of Nanna".[4] The site is marked by the partially restored ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC (short chronology), during the reign of Ur-Nammu and was reconstructed in the 6th century BC by Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon.[5]


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  1. ^ Kramer, S. N. (1963). The Sumerians, Their History, Culture, and Character. University of Chicago Press. pp. 28, 298.
  2. ^ Edwards, I. E. S.; et al. (December 2, 1970). The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. Part 1, p. 149. ISBN 9780521070515.
  3. ^ Agnes, Michael, ed. (2001). Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th ed.).
  4. ^ a b Ebeling, Erich; Meissner, Bruno; Edzard, Dietz Otto (1997). Meek – Mythologie. Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German). De Gruyter. p. 360. ISBN 978-3-11-014809-1.
  5. ^ Zettler, R. L.; Horne, L., eds. (1998). Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.


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