Ur summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Ur.

Northeastern facade (the ascents partly restored) of the ziggurat at Ur, southern Iraq.

Ur , Ancient city and district, Sumer, southern Mesopotamia. It was situated on a former channel of the Euphrates River in what is now southern Iraq. One of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, it was settled sometime in the 4th millennium bc. In the 25th century bc it was the capital of southern Mesopotamia under its first dynasty. Though it later declined, it again became important around the 22nd century bc. It is mentioned in the Bible (as Ur of the Chaldees) as the early home of Hebrew patriarch Abraham (c. 2000 bc). In subsequent centuries it was captured and destroyed by many groups, including the Elamites and Babylonians. Nebuchadrezzar II restored it in the 6th century bc. Excavations, especially in the 1920s and ’30s, uncovered remains of great archaeological value.

Sites associated with ancient Mesopotamian history

history of Mesopotamia Summary

History of Mesopotamia, history of the region in southwestern Asia where the world’s earliest civilization developed. The name comes from a Greek word meaning “between rivers,” referring to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but the region can be broadly defined to include the area

Iraq Summary

Iraq, country of southwestern Asia. During ancient times, lands that now constitute Iraq were known as Mesopotamia (“Land Between the Rivers”), a region whose extensive alluvial plains gave rise to some of the world’s earliest civilizations, including those of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria.