Page 28 - Diva_3_2024_Irak Special_

irak special

“Ur profited from its location as

the city closest to the entrance of
the Arabian Gulf. Archaeological
including the ziggurat, were rebuilt, and was no longer inhabited after about 500 BCE
research shows that Ur was the most agriculture was improved through irrigation. by which time Babylonia had fallen to the
important port on the Gulf, His code of laws, the Code or Ur-Nammu, Persian Achaemenid Empire.The demise of
is one of the oldest such documents known, Ur was perhaps owing to drought, changing
which extended much further preceding the code of Hammurabi by 300 river patterns, and the silting of the outlet to
inland than it does today.” years. In the Ur III period Ur was a capital the Gulf. The city with five thousand years of
of the vast territorial state that extended far history was deserted.
north and east, reaching Syria and the Zagros
mountains, exercising influence deep into the Excavations
Iranian Plateau. The Ur III administration In 1625, the site was visited by Pietro della
moving supplies up and down the Euphrates. was the most centralized bureaucratic state Valle, who recorded the presence of ancient
Ur was situated at the edge of great marshes, the world had yet known and used written bricks stamped with strange symbols,
compared to “a bull standing in the wet reeds” records on an unprecedented scale; more cemented together with bitumen, as well as
in the Enheduanna’s Temple hymns. The city’s than 80 000 cuneiform tablets have been inscribed pieces of black marble that appeared
location and strong bounds to the wetland uncovered to date, giving unique insights into to be seals. The site was first excavated in 1853
environment are repeatedly mentioned in ancient economy and society. The literature and 1854 by John G. Taylor, British vice consul
the Sumerian texts, such as the hymn to Ur- also flourished in this period, with numerous at Al Basrah from 1851 to 1859. He worked on
Namma, the hymn for Rim-sin mentioning the compositions related to the kings of the Third behalf of the British Museum. All about the
temple of Ekishnugal in Ur or the hymn to the Dynasty, particularly Ur-Nammu and his city he found abundant remains of burials of
chief god of Ur-Nanna-Suen. Ur profited from son Shulgi, who were deified during their later periods. Apparently, in later times, owing
its location as the city closest to the entrance reigns. The Ur Empire continued through to its sanctity, Ur became a favorite place of
of the Arabian Gulf. Archaeological research the reigns of three more kings: Amar-Sin, sepulchers, so that even after it had ceased
shows that Ur was the most important port on Shu-Sin, and Ibbi-Sin. It fell around 1940 to be inhabited, it continued to be used as a
the Gulf, which extended much further inland BCE to the Elamites. Historical narratives necropolis. After Taylor’s time the site was
than it does today. All the wealth which came of the Mesopotamian societies of Assyria visited by numerous travelers. After some
to Mesopotamia by sea had to pass through and Babylonia kept names, events, and soundings were made in 1918 by Reginald
Ur. Ur emerged as a key player in the political mythologies of Ur in remembrance. The city Campbell Thompson, H. R. Hill worked the
life of the southern city-state system during came to be ruled by the first dynasty (Amorite) site for one season for the British Museum in
the period of the First Ur Dynasty (2670 BCE) of Babylonia which rose to prominence in 1919, laying the groundwork for more extensive Near the ziggurat several temples, residences
when it became one of the most important southern Mesopotamia in the 18th century efforts to follow. Excavations from 1922 to and public building were also uncovered.
and wealthy cities under king Mesanepada. BCE. After the fall of Hammurabi’s short lived 1934 were funded by the British Museum and Excavations were also made continued the
The excavated artifacts from the Royal Tombs Babylonian Empire, it later became a part of the University of Pennsylvania and led by the royal tombs layer: a 3.5 m. thick layer of
of Ur (First Dynasty of Ur, c. 2600 BCE) can the native Akkadian ruled Sealand Dynasty archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley.A alluvial clay covered the remains of earlier
be considered as emblematic of the wealth, for over 270 years, and was reconquered into total of about 1,850 burials were uncovered, habitation, including pottery from the Late
power, and sophistication of the Sumerian Babylonia by the successors of the Amorites, including 16 that were described as “royal Ubaid period. Woolley later published several
civilization. They provide very early evidence the Kassites in the 16th century BCE. During tombs” containing many valuable artifacts, articles and books about the discoveries.
for the international exchange of semi- the Kassite Dynastic period Ur came under including the Standard of Ur.
precious stones and metals from as far away sporadic control of the Elamites and Middle Archaeologists have discovered evidence
as India and Afghanistan on an institutional Assyrian Empire. The city fell to the north The most significant scientific excavations of a prehistoric occupation at Ur during the
scale. Mesopotamian Assyrian Empire from the were conducted at Ur from 1922 to 1934 Late Ubaid period (c. 4000 BCE). These early
10th to late 7th centuries BCE. From the end funded by the British Museum and the levels were sealed off with a sterile deposit that
Further history of Ur of the 7th century BCE Ur was ruled by the University of Pennsylvania and led by Sir was interpreted by excavators of the 1920s as
Ur came under the control of the Akkadian so-called Chaldean Dynasty of Babylon. In the Charles Leonard Woolley. A total of about evidence for the Great Flood of the Book of
Empire founded by Sargon the Great between 6th century BCE there was new construction 1,850 burials were uncovered, including Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is now
the 24th and 22nd centuries BCE. The Third in Ur under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II of sixteen that were described as “royal tombs” understood that the south Mesopotamian
Dynasty of Ur was established when the king Babylon. The last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, containing many valuable artifacts. Most of plain was exposed to regular floods from the
Ur- Nammu came to power between c. 2047 improved the ziggurat. However the city the royal tombs were dated to about 2600 BCE. Euphrates and the Tigris, with heavy erosion
BCE and 2030 BCE. During his rule, temples, started to decline from around 550 BCE and from water and wind. Ur is recorded in written

w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h