What and who is…
Ur

also known as: Ur of the Chaldees, Ur Kasdim

Hebrew: אוּר —transliteration: Uwr

This is the name of a city and a biblical man.

Ur, the city

also known as: Ur Kaśdim or Ur of the Chaldeans

Ur was the largest city of Shinar or northern Chaldea, and the principal commercial center of the country as well as the center of political power. It was located in southern Mesopotamia. Ur was a major urban center and moon-god Sin worship site with ziggurat pyramids and advanced (but pagan) culture.

Ur was a major Sumerian city-state “of the Chaldees” (Chaldeans) a center of moon-god worship and the ancestral home or birthplace of a key biblical family. Terah, Abram (Abraham), Sarai, Haran and Lot all lived here before leaving in a step of faith toward the land of Canaan (Genesis 11:28, 31).

Ur stood near the mouth of the Euphrates, on its western bank, and is today represented by the mounds (of bricks cemented by bitumen) of el-Mugheir, i.e., “the bitumined,” or “the town of bitumen,” now 150 miles from the sea and some 6 miles from the Euphrates, a little above the point where it receives the Shat el-Hie, an affluent from the Tigris.

The city-state’s 1st recorded king as Mesannepada (aka Mesh-Ane-pada or Mes-Anne-pada), son of Meskalamdug. He ruled for 80 years.

Major trade hub port city

In ancient times, this main seaport was directly on the Persian Gulf via the Euphrates river mouth. Its North Port and West Port were two enclosed basin harbors within Ur’s walls. Abu Tbeirah was a satellite harbor/port town about 9 miles (~15 km) away, the oldest excavated in Iraq, 3rd millennium BC.)

In ancient times, the Persian Gulf reached this far inland. Ur was the port of Babylonia, where trade was carried on with the dwellers on the gulf, and with the distant countries of India, Ethiopia, and Egypt.

Ur was abandoned about 500 BC, but long continued, like Erech, to be a great sacred cemetery city, as is evident from the number of tombs found there. (See Abraham.)

The oldest king of Ur known to us is Ur-Bau (aka Ur-Baba) (servant of the goddess Bau, aka Ba'u, Baba, Babu), as Hommel reads the name, or Ur-Gur, as others read it. He lived some twenty-eight hundred years BC, and took part in building the famous temple of the moon-god Sin in Ur itself. …His cuneiform inscription, written in the Sumerian language, and stamped upon every brick of the temple in Ur… reads: “Ur-Ba'u, king of Ur, who built the temple of the moon-god.”

“Ur was consecrated to the worship of Sin, the Babylonian moon-god. It shared this honor, however, with another city, and this city was Haran (Harran). Harran was in Mesopotamia, and took its name from the highroad which led through it from the east to the west. The name is Babylonian, and bears witness to its having been founded by a Babylonian king.

The same witness is still more decisively borne by the worship paid in it to the Babylonian moon-god and by its ancient temple of Sin. Indeed, the temple of the moon-god at Harran was perhaps even more famous in the Assyrian and Babylonian world than the temple of the moon-god at Ur.

Between Ur and Harran there must, consequently, have been a close connection in early times, the record of which has not yet been recovered. It may be that Harran owed its foundation to a king of Ur; at any rate the two cities were bound together by the worship of the same deity, the closest and most enduring bond of union that existed in the ancient world. That Terah should have migrated from Ur to Harran, therefore, ceases to be extraordinary. If he left Ur at all, it was the most natural place to which to go. It was like passing from one court of a temple into another.

Such a remarkable coincidence between the Biblical narrative and the evidence of archaeological research cannot be the result of chance. The narrative must be historical; no writer of late date, even if he were a Babylonian, could have invented a story so exactly in accordance with what we now know to have been the truth.

For a story of the kind to have been the invention of Palestinian tradition is equally impossible. To the unprejudiced mind there is no escape from the conclusion that the history of the migration of Terah from Ur to Harran is founded on fact” —Rev. Archibald Henry Sayce, British Assyriologist and linguist

Archaeology

Today the site of ancient Ur is called Tell el-Muqayyar, in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. Ur was occupied from about 3800 BC to after 500 BC. Excavations by Leonard Woolley first revealed its prominence in the ancient world.

Other archaeological discoveries in Ur:

• The Ziggurat of Ur (and associated temple complex) — a massive stepped temple tower (ziggurat/pyramid) dedicated to the false god Sin (aka Sīn, Suen, Nanna, Nannar)

  It stands as a landmark of Sumerian religious architecture and urban planning. This is one of the best-preserved examples in Mesopotamia. It featured baked-brick construction (with bitumen), multiple levels, and was part of a larger sacred temenos (enclosure) with temples, courtyards, and administrative buildings. Later restorations occurred under Ur-Nammu (Ur III period) and Neo-Babylonian kings like Nabonidus.

• The Royal Cemetery (Early Dynastic Period, circa 2600–2500 BC)

  About 1,850–2,000 burials have been excavated here in the southeastern area, including 16 elaborate high status tombs (brick-built chambers with death pits containing the bodies of attendants, soldiers, musicians, and animals (e.g., oxen) who appear to have been killed or drugged to accompany rulers.

  Some of these graves feature evidence of extraordinary wealth: gold, silver, lapis lazuli (from Afghanistan), carnelian, and other imports, demonstrating extensive trade networks. A magnificent golden helmet was found. One of the most iconic Sumerian artworks found is the Standard of Ur—a trapezoidal wooden box inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, depicting “War” and “Peace” scenes (banquet and military procession). Royal board games have been found, as well as weapons, jewelry and inscribed cylinders. Many give evidence of artistic mastery. Many finds are now in the British Museum, Penn Museum, and Iraq Museum.

  

  Feminine golden headdress of advance craftsmanship

  The Tomb of Puabi (aka Pu-abi) a high status woman of petite size (approximately 1.45–1.5 meters tall / under 5 ft tall) who died around age 40. She was possibly a queen or high priestess of 2600–2450 BC. Her tomb contains her elaborate gold headdress with floral motifs, beads of gold/silver/lapis/carnelian, a cylinder seal identifying her, and rich grave goods of advanced craftsmanship, including a bull-headed lyre, vessels, and a chariot. Her attendants were buried with her.

• Architecture of various various periods, including houses, temples (e.g., Enunmah/Ga-nun-mah), harbors, and city layout insights

• Cuneiform tablets and inscriptions: Administrative texts, royal dedications (e.g., Ur-Nammu), and earlier archaic examples, shedding light on economy, governance, and literacy.

• Evidence of industrial pottery production

• Tools

• Seals

Ur, the man

This Israelite man was the father of one of David’s mighty heroes, Eliphal (1 Chronicles 11:35). Nothing more is known about him.