Ancient Babylonia - Ur
Ancient city of Sumer, S Mesopotamia. The city is also known as Ur of the
Chaldees. It was an important center of Sumerian culture (see Sumer) and is
identified in the Bible as the home of Abraham. The site was discovered in the 19th
cent., but it was not until the excavations of C. Leonard Woolley in the 1920s
and 30s that a partial account of its history could be constructed. Remains found
at the site seem to indicate that Ur existed as far back as the late Al Ubaid
period (see Mesopotamia) and that the city was an important commercial center
even before the first dynasty was established (2500 B.C.). Among the most
important remains of the first dynasty, which has revealed a luxurious material
culture, are the royal cemetery, where the standard of Ur was found, and the Temple
of Ninhursag at Ubaid, bearing the inscriptions of the kings of the first
dynasty. Ur was captured 2340 by Sargon, and this era, called the Akkadian period,
marks an important step in the blending of Sumerian and Semitic cultures. After
this dynasty came a long period of which practically nothing is known except
that a second dynasty rose and fell. The third dynasty was established 2060 B.C.
under King Ur-Nammu, who built the great ziggurat that has stood, although
crumbled and covered with sand, throughout the centuries. An inscription in the
Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul was identified (1952) as a fragment of
the code of Ur-Nammu. It predates the code of Hammurabi by 300 years and is the
oldest known law code yet discovered. The third dynasty of Ur fell (1950 B.C.)
to the Elamites and later to Babylon. The city was destroyed and rebuilt
throughout the years by various kings and conquerors, including Nebuchadnezzar and
Nabonidus in the 6th cent. About the middle of the 6th cent., Ur went into a
decline from which it never recovered. A record dated 324 B.C. mentions it as being
inhabited by Arabs, but by that time its existence as a great city was
forgotten. The change in the course of the Euphrates, which had been the source of the
city’s wealth, probably contributed to the final decline of Ur. Ur is mentioned
often in the Bible (Gen. 11.28,31; 15.7; Neh. 9.7) and was at one period known to
the Arabs as Tall al-Muqayyar [mound of pitch].
Ancient Babylonia
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