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Uruk (Sumerian: unug; Akkadian: uruk, Biblical Hebrew: Erech, Greek: Ορχόη, Ωρύγεια Orchoē, Ōrugeia; modern Arabic وركاء Warkā') was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River.
Uruk is the namesake of the Uruk period, the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia (ca. 4300-3100 BCE). In addition to being one of the first cities, Uruk was the main force of urbanization during the Uruk Period. This period saw a shift from small, agricultural villages to a larger urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Although other settlements coexisted with Uruk they were generally about 10 hectares while Uruk was significantly larger and more complex. The Uruk period culture exported by Sumerian traders and colonists had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. At its height c 2900 BCE, Uruk probably had 50,000–80,000 residents living in 6 square km of walled area; the largest city in the world at the time.
The semi-mythical king Gilgamesh, according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian king list, ruled Uruk in the 27th century BCE. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BCE in the context of the struggle of Babylonia with Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Seleucid and Parthian periods, until it was finally abandonded during the Sassanid period shortly before the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia.
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Articles
Article
Cuneiform Writing
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by
Jan van der Crabben published on 18 January 2012 |
Writing is undeniably one of humanity's most important inventions. The earliest forms of storing information on objects were numerical inscriptions on clay tablets, used for administration, accounting and trade. The first writing system dates back to around 3000 BC, when the Sumerians developed the first type script: hundreds of abbreviated pictograms that... [continue reading]
Article
The Mesopotamian Pantheon
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Joshua J. Mark published on 25 February 2011 |
The gods of the Mesopotamian region were by no means uniform in name, power, provenance or status in the hierarchy. Mesopotamian culture varied from region to region, from city-state to city-state and, because of this, Marduk should not be regarded as King of the Gods in the same way Zeus ruled in Greece. While Marduk was venerated highly in Babylon... [continue reading]
Article
Culture Contact, Cultural Integration and Difference: A Case from Northern Mesopotamia
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by
Sevil Baltali, Department of Anthropology, Yeditepe University, Turkey
published on 04 June 2012 |
Ancient northern Mesopotamia reveals the presence of southern Uruk-style material cultural elements along with indigenous styles in fourth millennium B.C.E. In this study, I argue that we need to focus on the ways northern Mesopotamian societies constructed ‘cultural difference’ through an analysis of the meanings of southern-style elements... [continue reading]
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