Ur

UR. - A very ancient Mesopotamian city (Sumerian URIM⁴⁰, later URI⁴¹, Akkadian URG⁴²), named in the Bible in Gen. 11:28-31; 15:7; Neh. 9:7 (Hebrew 'Ur Kaidim, "Ur of the Chaldees"). Today it is Tell al-Muqajjar ("of bitumen," according to the technique of Ur-Nammu, who in his constructions used bitumen as cement for baked bricks), a moving ruin in a great desert 16 km west of the Euphrates. U. is of singular interest for the cultural and religious history of humanity.

When prehistory sheds light on it, in the 'Ob jd period (v. SUMER). U. is already a rich city, bounded on one side by the Euphrates and on the other by a canal, in a most fertile district, entirely laid out with canals; the river also constituted a danger: in fact, in an extraordinarily high flood it seems that U. was buried under 2.50 m of fluvial deposits: and in this some wanted to see, wrongly, a proof of the flood. With the first dynasty of U. the historical period of Sumer begins. The names of Mesannepadda, king of U., of his consort Ninturnin, and of his son and successor Aannepadda have been handed down to us. The cultural splendor of that era stands out from the "royal tombs" of U., which are moreover a proof of belief in life after death; thus the tomb of Prince Meskalamdug, and that, even more splendid, of the "lady" Sub-ad. Those personages (it is debated whether kings or priests) passed into the tomb in festive full-dress array, and so too did their entire court, who, in festive garments and with musical instruments, died together, each in full peace of mind and in his place, as did also the draft animals, to accompany their master to a happier existence in the next life. Such wealth of gold and lapis lazuli, pearls and precious stones, is not explicable without very extensive commercial relations. U. was then already a considerable city, with metallurgical and textile industries (a privilege it maintained until the times of Abraham and perhaps beyond). Later, however, it succumbed to the hegemony of Lagash under Eanatum and Entemena, to that of Uruk, to Sargon of Akkad (ca. 2300 B.C.) and later to the Gutians.

U. reached its apogee when its most brilliant political figure, Ur-Nammu (v.), founded the III dynasty of U. (ca. 2050-1950 B.C.), subjugating Sumer and Akkad entirely. Then the magnificent temples were rebuilt, especially Ekišnugaj, with the "tower" (ziqqurati) 30 m high, with three terraces and magnificent stairways. Anesti, author of social reforms, promulgated a code of laws. To the time of the III dynasty belong the great works of Sumerian literature. In the end, U. was destroyed by the Elamites and their Amorite allies; but even then the attraction of the renowned sanctuary of Nanna or Sin ("Moon") induced its rebuilding, and throughout the time of the kings of Isin and Larsa it remained a notable provincial city, favored especially by the latter; until in the wars of Rim-Sin of Larsa and Hammurabi (v.) it was once again destroyed. C. L. Woolley has well described the appearance of the city of that time: a city above all of merchants and of the textile industry (carried on by slaves), fallen from its ancient splendors, but still a center of attraction for the hordes of the Arameans, Sütü, and perhaps already of the Chaldeans (?), often forced to emigrate, like the family of Abraham (v.), who from there, obeying the word of God, went first to Haran (v.) and then to Palestine. After this time there seem to have been rather ephemeral revivals, favored by kings zealous for the sanctuary of Sin; thus under Kurigalzu, Kassite king of Babylon (ca. 1340), under the great Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (v.), under Nebuchadnezzar (v.), extremely devoted to the great gods, under Nabonidus (v.), who with the cult of Sin wanted to reform the religion of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and gave a daughter in marriage to the god Sin in the sanctuary that he rebuilt for the last time with greater magnificence in U., the most famous city of that deity. The last cuneiform inscriptions, concerning modest restorations, are found under Cyrus; later a complete silence supervenes.

It is to be supposed that in a new flood the Euphrates took its present bed, obstructing the entire system of canals, and that then the most fertile region was lost. It seems that priests, in very modest houses, still wanted to save the cult of the great moon god, but they too had to desist. However, the Hellenistic name of the region, Camerina, seems to continue the memory of the moon god who, as true king of U., had guided his people (Arabic qamar "moon"). - See pl. LXXXV.

Pietro Nober