Ur

Definition

Ur was a major city, and later the capital, of the Sumerian Empire in southern Mesopotamia. Its location near the sea made it a center of commerce and trade routes. Between 2030-1980 BCE, Ur was the world's largest city, boasting about 65,000 inhabitants within its walls. The city featured many glorious temples and tombs. Today, the site is recognizable for its well-preserved remains of the Great Ziggurat.

The earliest settlement of Ur dates back to the Ubaid Period, or about 5300–4000 BCE. Droughts brought about the consolidation of several small farming villages into larger settlements. This led to the need for large-scale irrigation, in order to support the larger farms and populations during the drought periods.

Due to its favorable location, Ur became the capital of the Sumerian Empire, and the city was ruled by an impressive record of dynastic Kings, including Ur-Nammu (2112–2094 BCE). Countless advances in agriculture, architecture, and warfare were achieved in the Sumerian empire. The Sumerians are also well-known for cuneiform writing, a very early form of written communication that helped propel Ur’s into position for trade and commerce.

The city of Ur faced much conflict throughout its dynasties, including its invasion by the great Akkadian King Sargon in 2340 BCE. Despite this, Ur flourished again and continued as an urban center in Mesopotamia for nearly 1500 years. Ur began to decline around 550 BCE, likely due to drought and other natural occurrences in the region.

Written by writer873, published on 28 April 2011 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

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Illustrations

Ur Books

• DK Eyewitness Books: Mesopotamia Philip Steele DK CHILDREN (25 June 2007) Price: $14.68

• Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near... Amanda H. Podany Oxford University Press, USA (09 July 2010) Price: $30.55

• The Ancient Near Eastern World Amanda H. Podany Oxford University Press, USA (24 January 2005) Price: $32.84

• The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian... Professor D. T. Potts Cambridge University Press (13 August 1999) Price: $58.39

• Cuneiform Texts and the Writing of History Marc Van De Mieroop Routledge (10 July 1999) Price: $33.20