"Erech" redirects here. For the fictional location in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, see Erech (Middle-earth). For the fictional monsters in the same works, see Uruk-hai.
William Loftus, Walter Andrae, Julius Jordan, Heinrich Lenzen, Margarete van Ess
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name
Uruk Archaeological City
Part of
Ahwar of Southern Iraq
Criteria
Mixed: (iii)(v)(ix)(x)
Reference
1481-005
Inscription
2016 (40th Session)
Area
541 ha (2.09 sq mi)
Buffer zone
292 ha (1.13 sq mi)
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Uruk, today known as Warka, was a city in the ancient Near East situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates. The site lies 93 kilometers (58 miles) northwest of ancient Ur, 108 kilometers (67 miles) southeast of ancient Nippur, and 24 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of ancient Larsa. It is 30 km (19 mi) east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.[1]
Uruk is the type site for the Uruk period. Uruk played a leading role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC.
By the final phase of the Uruk period around 3100 BC, the city may have had 40,000 residents,[2] with 80,000–90,000 people living in its environs,[3] making it the largest urban area in the world at the time. King Gilgamesh, according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian King List (henceforth SKL), ruled Uruk in the 27th century BC. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BC in the context of the struggle of Babylonia against Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Achaemenid (550–330 BC), Seleucid (312–63 BC) and Parthian (227 BC to AD 224) periods until it was finally abandoned shortly before or after the Islamic conquest of 633–638.
William Kennett Loftus visited the site of Uruk in 1849, identifying it as "Erech", known as "the second city of Nimrod", and led the first excavations from 1850 to 1854.[4]
^Harmansah, 2007
^Nissen, Hans J (2003). "Uruk and the formation of the city". In Aruz, J (ed.). Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 11–20. ISBN 9780300098839.
^Algaze, Guillermo (2013). "The end of prehistory and the Uruk period". In Crawford, Harriet (ed.). The Sumerian World(PDF). London: Routledge. pp. 68–95. ISBN 9781138238633. Retrieved 26 July 2020.[dead link]
^William Kennett Loftus (1857). Travels and researches in Chaldaea and Susiana: with an account of excavations at Warka, the "Erech" of Nimrod, and Shush, "Shushan the Palace" of Esther, in 1849–52. Robert Carter & Brothers. Of the primeval cities founded by Nimrod, the son of Gush, four are represented, in Genesis x. 10, as giving origin to the rest : — 'And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Galneh, in the land of Shinar.' ...let us see if there be any site which will correspond with the biblical Erech — the second city of Nimrod. About 120 miles southeast of Babylon, are some enormous piles of mounds, which, from their name and importance, appear at once to justify their claim to consideration. The name of Warka is derivable from Erech without unnecessary contortion. The original Hebrew word 'Erk,' or 'Ark,' is transformed into 'Warka,' either by changing the aleph into vau, or by simply prefixing the vau for the sake of euphony, as is customary in the conversion of Hebrew names to Arabic. If any dependence can be placed upon the derivation of modern from ancient names, this is more worthy of credence than most others of like nature.... Sir Henry Rawlinson states his belief that Warka is Erech, and in this he is supported by concurrent testimony.... [Footnote: See page xvi. of the Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1852 ; and Proceedings of the Royal Geogr. Society, vol. i., page 47]
rendering support to display the cuneiform script in this article correctly. Uruk, today known as Warka, was a city in the ancient Near East situated east...
The Uruk period (c. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the...
settlements. The world's earliest known texts come from the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between c. 3350 – c. 2500 BC, following a period...
millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified. His rule probably would have taken place sometime...
southern Mesopotamia, and is taken to include the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods. Sumer was the region's earliest known civilization and ended with...
commonly worshipped. It is sometimes proposed that the Eanna temple located in Uruk originally belonged to him, rather than Inanna, but while he is well attested...
the Aegis of Uruk (ドルアーガの塔 〜the Aegis of URUK〜, Druaga no Tō ~the Aegis of URUK~) and its sequel The Tower of Druaga: the Sword of Uruk (ドルアーガの塔 〜the...
Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BC). These...
Orchoth (as a class). They had similar names in other Middle-earth languages: uruk in Black Speech; in the language of the Drúedain gorgûn, "ork-folk"; in Khuzdul...
Lament for Uruk, also called the Uruk Lament or the Lament for Unug, is a Sumerian lament. It is dated to the Isin-Larsa period. The Lament for Uruk is one...
Enlil: he defeated the city of Uruk and tore down its walls, in the battle of Uruk he won, took Lugalzagesi king of Uruk in the course of the battle, and...
The art of Uruk encompasses the sculptures, seals, pottery, architecture, and other arts produced in Uruk, an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia that...
Fatma Uruk (born in 1988) is a Turkish world record holder female free-diver and school teacher. Fatma Uruk was born in İzmir, Turkey in 1988. Between...
patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, her early main cult center. In archaic Uruk she was worshiped in three forms: morning Inanna (Inana-UD/hud)...
hegemony over Mesopotamia according to the SKL. This numbering (e.g. Kish I, Uruk IV, Ur III) is not present in the original text. It should also be noted...
Mesopotamian mythology, wartime comrade and friend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Their exploits were composed in Sumerian poems and in the Akkadian Epic...
preceding Uruk period and continues into the Early Dynastic I period. Jemdet Nasr Abu Salabikh Tell Fara Tell Uqair Khafajah Nippur Ur Uruk In the early...
potentially connected to a powerful political family in the southern city of Uruk, Nabopolassar revolted against the Neo-Assyrian king Sinsharishkun at an...
Enmerkar was an ancient Sumerian ruler to whom the construction of the city of Uruk and a 420-year reign was attributed. According to literary sources, he led...
or Uruk vase is a slim carved alabaster vessel found in the temple complex of the Sumerian goddess Inanna in the ruins of the ancient city of Uruk, located...
of tongues", and also involves Enmerkar constructing temples at Eridu and Uruk, it has, since the time of Samuel Kramer, been compared with the Tower of...
Uruk Sulcus is a bright region of grooved terrain adjacent to Galileo Regio on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. It is thought to be younger than the darker material...
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