Uruk Totally Explained

Everything about Uruk totally explained

Uruk (Sumerian: ^URUUNUG 𒌷𒀔, Biblical: Erech, Greek: Ορχόη or Ωρύγεια, Arabic Warkā’), was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates and west of the Tigris river, on the line of the ancient Nil canal, in a region of marshes, some 30 km east of As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq. The modern name Iraq is thought to be derived from the name Uruk. At its height, Uruk probably had 50,000–80,000 residents living in 6 square kilometres of walled area, the largest city in the world at its time.

Prominence

Uruk represents one of the world's first cities with a dense population. Uruk also saw the rise of the state in Mesopotamia with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Cities that coexisted at this time with Uruk were only about 10 hectares in area showing that it was vastly larger and more complex. Uruk is an important city because it represents a shift from small, agricultural villages to a larger urban center. The excavation of Uruk is highly complicated and shows different layers of Uruk from different periods of history. The latest layer most likely originated in the Late Uruk Period (3200-3000 BCE) and built on structures from Earlier Periods.

Origins and growth

Uruk went through several phases of growth, from the Early Uruk Period to the Late Uruk Period. Uruk became a center for events such as trade, specialization of crafts and the evolution of writing. Evidence from excavations such as extensive pottery and the earliest known tablets of writing support these events.
Also known by its oldest sector as Kulab, Kulaba or Unug-Kulaba, it was one of the oldest and most important cities of Sumer. According to the Sumerian king list, Uruk was founded by Enmerkar, who brought the official kingship with him. In the epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, he's also said to have constructed the famous temple called E-anna, dedicated to the worship of Inanna (the later Ishtar). The city seems to have been built in two major sections called the Eanna District and the Anu District. Within there were large central temple complexes called the Eanna precinct, Kullaba precinct, and the Anu temple. There are different interpretations as to what purpose the precincts served. Scholars generally believe that it was a unifying feature of the city. There is evidence of spaces for workshops included inside the Eanna precinct. It also seems clear that it served both an important religious function and state function. The rest of the city was composed of much more modest homes arranged around the temple complexes. Inside, the Eanna precinct was made up of several buildings and had its own wall, separating it from the rest of the city. In contrast the Anu District was built on a terrace with a temple at the top.
It was also the capital city of Gilgamesh, hero of the famous Epic of Gilgamesh. According to the Bible (Genesis 10:10), Erech (Uruk) was the second city founded by Nimrod in Shinar. Historical kings of Uruk include Lugalzagesi of Umma (who conquered Uruk) and Utu-hengal.

Political history

Uruk played a very important part in the political history of the country from an early time, exercising hegemony in Sumer before the time of Sargon of Akkad. Later it was prominent in the national struggles of the Sumerians against the Elamites up to 2004 BC, in which it suffered severely; recollections of some of these conflicts are embodied in the Gilgamesh epic, in the literary and courtly form that has come down to us. Oppenheim states, "In Uruk, in southern Mesopotamia, Sumerian civilization seems to have reached its creative peak. This is pointed out repeatedly in the references to this city in religious and, especially, in literary texts, including those of mythological content; the historical tradition as preserved in the Sumerian king-list confirms it. From Uruk the center of political gravity seems to have moved to Ur."
Its voluminous surviving temple archive of the Neo-Babylonian period documents the social function of the temple as a redistribution center. In times of famine, a family might dedicate children to the temple as oblates.

Modern discovery

The location of Uruk was discovered by William Loftus in 1849. The first significant excavations were by a German team led by Julius Jordan before World War I. This expedition returned in 1928 and made further excavations until 1939, then returned in 1954 under the direction of H. Lenzen and made systematic excavations over the following years. These excavations revealed some early Sumerian documents and a larger cache of legal and scholarly tablets of the Seleucid period, that have been published by Adam Falkenstein and other German epigraphists.
In the existing research on Uruk there's little to nothing about the palace or its layout. The excavations are not completed and there's little to indicate for sure whether what is thought to be a palace is in fact one. Much is still unknown about Uruk with some tablets only being recently deciphered. The purpose of the buildings excavated can't be conclusively decided upon.

Further Information

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