Ur ( or ) was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar () in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. Although Ur was a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the site is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, southwest of the city of Nasiriyah. The city dates from the Ubaid period , and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesannepada.
AI overview
Ur was one of the most important cities in ancient Mesopotamia, located in what is now southern Iraq near the Euphrates River, and it served as a significant city-state beginning around the 26th century BC. The site, now called Tell el-Muqayyar, was originally situated on the coast of the Persian Gulf, though changes in the coastline have left it inland today.
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Key facts
- Ancient site.name
- Ur
- Ancient site.map_type
- Iraq#Near East#West Asia
- Ancient site.relief
- yes
- Ancient site.map_dot_label
- Ur
- Ancient site.location
- Tell el-Muqayyar, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq
- Ancient site.region
- Mesopotamia, Middle East
- Ancient site.type
- Settlement
- Ancient site.abandoned
- After 500 BC
- Ancient site.epochs
- Ubaid period to Iron Age
- Ancient site.cultures
- Sumerian
- Ancient site.excavations
- 1853–1854, 1922–1934, 2015-present
- Ancient site.archaeologists
- John George Taylor, Charles Leonard Woolley, Elizabeth C Stone, Paul Zimansky, Adelheid Otto
Article
24 sectionsContents
- Society and culture
- History
- Prehistory
- Prehistoric Ubaid period
- Early Bronze Age
- Early Dynastic period II
- Early Dynastic period III
- Akkadian period
- Ur III period
- Middle Bronze Age
- Late Bronze Age
- Iron Age
- Identification with the Biblical Ur
- Archaeology
- The Royal Tomb Excavation
- Current status and preservation
- Tell Sakhariya
- Ga’eš
- List of rulers
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Ur ( or ) was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar () in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. Although Ur was a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the site is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, southwest of the city of Nasiriyah. The city dates from the Ubaid period , and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesannepada.
The city's patron deity was the moon god Nanna (Sin in Akkadian), and the name of the city is derived from UNUGKI, literally "the abode (of Nanna)". 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. In recent years, Ur Tourist City, a modern heritage and tourism district, has been developed adjacent to the site to accommodate tourists and pilgrims.