The oldest city of Uruk was located on the central-western lands of the Sumerians in the north-west of Lars along the then current of the Euphrates. Over the course of several thousand years, the river changed its course and now the ruins of the city lie in the desert at a distance of about 35 kilometers from it. The Old Testament mentions a city called Erech, the original Sumerian name is Unug, and its modern name is Varka.
Archaeological research
On the territory of the city of Uruk, about 18 archaic layers have been dug for the whole time. The first researcher in the period 1850-1854 was the English archaeologist William Kenneth Loftus. During his research, he extracted several small things from the earth, including clay tablets, and made an approximate map. The next archaeologists in the early years of the 20th century were Robert Koldeway, Walter Andre and in 1912 I. Jordan. Then the research was continued in the period 1931-1939 by A. Noldke, E. Heinrich and G. Lenzen. Further excavations were conducted by K. Lenzen in 1953-1967. His successors were in 1977 G. Schmidt and other German scientists. In 1989, a total of 39 German exploration campaigns were organized for the Sumerian city of Uruk. Recent excavations were carried out in 2001 by Margaret van Ess, whose team began to view the area of the city with a magnetometer.
In the research area, architecture characteristic of the entire era was discovered, hence the whole of this historical period and got its name from the name of the city.
All Sumerian settlements of that time were built in the same way. Everywhere in the central point was on a high artificial hill the temple of the patron god. Throughout the territory, the same method was noted for creating walls, niches, a separate cult table, etc. In the ancient city of Uruk, there was the oldest stone structure in Mesopotamia - a block-stone street and the oldest screes on which the White Temple was erected.
Excavations showed that the inhabitants of this city were probably the first to build a defensive wall. Dried brick served as building material - the wall was 9 km long and densely surrounded the city. Despite the fact that the shaft was dug up severely damaged, such an early date of its construction is based on information on the print of the stamp with a cylindrical head depicted on it.
History of the city
Uruk became the most important city-state, a commercial, cultural and administrative center in all of southern Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC. e. It was also central to the economic and political life of the ancient region, whose influence reached northern Syria in the west and Iran in the east. Here was invented the world's first known writing system - a pictographic letter, which was used in the city of Uruk at the end of the 4th millennium BC e., then gradually it spread throughout Mesopotamia.
Development features
In the period of about 2900-2350 BC. e. Uruk maintained its dominant position of the capital. The first phase of this period, however, was marked by several radical changes. The city was actively developing and the number of its inhabitants increased. At this time, a new city mud wall was built. Also, many buildings were erected, mainly residential buildings. A lot of information about those times can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh. In particular, it says that during the reign of Gilgamesh in the city of Uruk, 1/3 of its parts were churches, 1/3 of the city buildings and 1/3 of the gardens.
Gradual sunset
In the subsequent period, the number of inhabitants decreased and only the western part of the city was settled. At the end of the early Dynastic period (c. 2350 BC), the ruler of Lugalzagesi conquered all of southern Mesopotamia, and made the city of Uruk the capital of his state.
During the reign of Lugalzagesi, a large construction program began - the so-called Stampflehmgebäude and a large terrace in the northern part of the city. It seems that both projects were never completed, most likely because this ruler was defeated by Sargon the Great, founder of the Akkad dynasty. After the victory, Sargon ordered the destruction of the walls of Uruk. In his new capital, Akkad, he built the temple of the goddess Isann (Inanny), as a result of which her cult in the former capital of the Sumerians lost its significance. A few finds in Uruk from this period show that there has been a marked decrease in the number of inhabitants who seem to have inhabited only the northern part of the city.