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Ur
Ur (/ʊr/ or /ɜːr/) was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar (Arabic: تَلّ ٱلْمُقَيَّر, lit. 'mound of bitumen') in Dhi Qar Governorate, southern 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, 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq. 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 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.
Archaeological discoveries have shown that Ur was a major Sumerian urban center on the Mesopotamian plain. The discovery of Ur's Royal Tombs further confirmed this. These tombs, which date to the Early Dynastic IIIa period (approximately in the 25th or 24th century BC), contained many luxury items made of precious metals and semi-precious stones imported from long distances (Ancient Iran, Afghanistan, India, Asia Minor, the Levant and the Persian Gulf). This immense wealth shows Ur's economic importance during the Early Bronze Age.
Excavation in the old city of Ur in 1929 revealed the Lyres of Ur, instruments similar to the modern harp but in the shape of a bull and with eleven strings.
The site consists of a mound, roughly 1200 by 800 metres with a height of about 20 metres above the plain. The mound is split by the remnants of an ancient canal into north and south portions. The remains of a city wall are visible surrounding the site. The occupation size ranged from about 15 hectares in the Jemdet Nasr period to 90 hectares in the Early Dynastic period and then peaking in the Ur III period at 108 hectares and the Isin-Larsa period at 140 hectares, extending beyond the city walls. Subsequent period had varying lesser degrees of occupation.
When Ur was founded, the Persian Gulf's water level was two-and-a-half metres higher than today. Ur is thought, therefore, to have had marshy surroundings; irrigation would have been unnecessary, and the city's evident canals likely were used for transportation. Fish, birds, tubers, and reeds might have supported Ur economically without the need for an agricultural revolution sometimes hypothesized as a prerequisite to urbanization.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of early occupation at Ur during the Ubaid period (c. 5500–3700 BC), a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley.
Later, a layer of soil covered the occupation levels from the Ubaid period. Excavators of the 1920s interpreted the layer of soil as evidence for the Great Flood of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Book of Genesis. It is now understood that the South Mesopotamian plain was exposed to regular floods from the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, with heavy erosion from water and wind, which may have given rise to the Mesopotamian and derivative Biblical Great Flood stories.
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Ur AI simulator
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Ur
Ur (/ʊr/ or /ɜːr/) was a major Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar (Arabic: تَلّ ٱلْمُقَيَّر, lit. 'mound of bitumen') in Dhi Qar Governorate, southern 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, 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq. 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 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.
Archaeological discoveries have shown that Ur was a major Sumerian urban center on the Mesopotamian plain. The discovery of Ur's Royal Tombs further confirmed this. These tombs, which date to the Early Dynastic IIIa period (approximately in the 25th or 24th century BC), contained many luxury items made of precious metals and semi-precious stones imported from long distances (Ancient Iran, Afghanistan, India, Asia Minor, the Levant and the Persian Gulf). This immense wealth shows Ur's economic importance during the Early Bronze Age.
Excavation in the old city of Ur in 1929 revealed the Lyres of Ur, instruments similar to the modern harp but in the shape of a bull and with eleven strings.
The site consists of a mound, roughly 1200 by 800 metres with a height of about 20 metres above the plain. The mound is split by the remnants of an ancient canal into north and south portions. The remains of a city wall are visible surrounding the site. The occupation size ranged from about 15 hectares in the Jemdet Nasr period to 90 hectares in the Early Dynastic period and then peaking in the Ur III period at 108 hectares and the Isin-Larsa period at 140 hectares, extending beyond the city walls. Subsequent period had varying lesser degrees of occupation.
When Ur was founded, the Persian Gulf's water level was two-and-a-half metres higher than today. Ur is thought, therefore, to have had marshy surroundings; irrigation would have been unnecessary, and the city's evident canals likely were used for transportation. Fish, birds, tubers, and reeds might have supported Ur economically without the need for an agricultural revolution sometimes hypothesized as a prerequisite to urbanization.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of early occupation at Ur during the Ubaid period (c. 5500–3700 BC), a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley.
Later, a layer of soil covered the occupation levels from the Ubaid period. Excavators of the 1920s interpreted the layer of soil as evidence for the Great Flood of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Book of Genesis. It is now understood that the South Mesopotamian plain was exposed to regular floods from the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, with heavy erosion from water and wind, which may have given rise to the Mesopotamian and derivative Biblical Great Flood stories.
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