Ziggurat Ur
The Great Ziggurat of Ur The city of Ur was one of the most important Sumerian city states in ancient Mesopotamia during the 3 rd millennium BC. Lil kingdom game. One of best preserved and most spectacular remains of this ancient city is the.
Ur, modern Tall al-Muqayyar or Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq, important of ancient southern ( ), situated about 140 miles (225 km) southeast of the site of and about 10 miles (16 km) west of the present bed of the. In antiquity the river ran much closer to the city; the change in its course has left the ruins in a desert that once was irrigated and fertile land. The first serious excavations at Ur were made after by H.R. Hall of the, and as a result a joint expedition was formed by the British Museum and the that carried on the excavations under ’s directorship from 1922 until 1934.
Almost every period of the city’s lifetime has been illustrated by the discoveries, and knowledge of Mesopotamian history has been greatly enlarged. Ziggurat at Ur (modern Tall al-Muqayyar, Iraq). Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images/Imagestate Foundation of the cityAt some time in the bce, the city was founded by settlers thought to have been from northern Mesopotamia, farmers still in the Chalcolithic phase of. There is evidence that their occupation was ended by a flood, formerly thought to be the one described in. From the succeeding “Jamdat Nasr” ( Late Protoliterate) phase, a large cemetery produced valuable remains allied to more sensational discoveries made at Erech. Ur in the early dynastic period, 29th–24th century bceIn the next (Early Dynastic) period Ur became the capital of the whole of southern Mesopotamia under the Sumerian kings of the 1st of Ur (25th century bce). Excavation of a vast from the period preceding that dynasty (26th century) produced royal containing almost incredible treasures in gold, silver, bronze, and semiprecious stones, showing not only the wealth of the people of Ur but also their highly developed civilization and art.
Not the least remarkable discovery was that of the custom whereby kings were along with a whole retinue of their court officials, servants, and women, privileged to continue their service in the next world. Musical instruments from the royal tombs, golden weapons, engraved shell plaques and mosaic pictures, statuary and carved cylinder seals, all are a collection of unique importance, illustrating a civilization previously unknown to the historian. A further development of it, or perhaps a different aspect, was shown by the excavation at, a suburb of Ur, of a small also of a type previously unsuspected, richly decorated with statuary, mosaics, and metal reliefs and having columns sheathed with coloured mosaic or polished copper. The inscribed foundation tablet of the temple, stating that it was the work of a king of the 1st dynasty of Ur, dated the building and proved the historical character of a dynasty that had been mentioned by ancient Sumerian historians but that modern scholars had previously dismissed as fictitious.A few personal inscriptions confirmed the real existence of the almost legendary ruler I, king of, who reigned in the 24th century bce, and a cemetery illustrated the of his time.
