City of Ur

Ancient Ur, today known as Tell al-Muqayar, was situated on the banks of the lower Euphrates.

Ur city began to emerge around 5500 BC beginning from small fishing and marsh exploitation village.

By 4000 BC Ur’s inhabitants were raising cattle, goats, sheep, wheat, barley and dates. It became a true urban city around 3100 BC.

Archeologists has found that City of Ur was flooded by sea during the 5th-4th millennium.

The book of Genesis describes Abraham as the archetypal man of faith and family patriarch, originally coming from Ur. During Abraham time city of Ur was called Ur of the Chaldees.

Ur was a walled city built by masters of engineering with two enclosed harbors to accommodate shipping from the Euphrates. The principle public building, temples and palaces were enclosed in and inner fortification where stood the great ziggurat.

Ur emerges as a key player in the political life of the southern city-state system during the period of the first Ur dynasty 2670 BC when it became the capital of Sumer under the King of Ur Mesanepada.

During 2600 BC the population to be estimated 34 000. Various tribes, such as Akkadians, Amorites and Sumerians conquered and settled there.

Before the 2nd century BC, the Euphrates ran much closer to Ur and the city was linked to the Euphrates by a canal that allowed Ur to develop as an important foreign trade market place.

According to archeological discoveries, the world’s first written law code was promulgated by Ur-Nammu, Sumerian king of the city state of Ur, about 2060 BC.

Ur remained an important commercial center until about 150 BC, when the Euphrates changed its course. 

The rich agricultural fields that made Ur a rich city soon transformed into deserts.
City of Ur

The ruin of Ur in the 18^th  century