Uruk

Uruk, the archaeological site now called Warka, was an ancient city in West Asia, situated east of the Euphrates River’s modern course on a dried-up ancient channel in Iraq’s Muthanna Governorate. It lies 93 kilometers northwest of Ur, 108 kilometers southeast of Nippur, and 24 kilometers northwest of Larsa. As the type site for the Uruk period, it was central to Sumer’s early urbanization in the mid-4th millennium BC. Around 3100 BC, at its peak, the city may have held up to 50,000 residents, with 80,000 to 90,000 people in its surroundings, making it the world’s largest urban area at the time. According to the Sumerian King List, Gilgamesh ruled Uruk in the 27th century BC. The city lost its prime importance after the Early Dynastic period with the rise of the Akkadian Empire. It saw periods of flourishing during the Isin-Larsa period, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian times, and throughout the Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Parthian periods, before being abandoned shortly before or after the Islamic conquest of 633–638. William Kennett Loftus visited the site in 1849, identifying it as “Erech,” the second city of Nimrod, and led the first excavations from 1850 to 1854.

The name Uruk has multiple cuneiform spellings: in Sumerian, it is unugᵏⁱ; in Akkadian, Uruk; in Arabic, Warkāʾ or Auruk; in Syriac, ʾÚrūk; and in Biblical Hebrew, ʾÉreḵ. Ancient Greek names include Orkhóē, Orékh, and Ōrúgeia. Many linguists also state that the name Iraq derived from Uruk.

According to the Sumerian King List, Uruk was founded by King Enmerkar. The epic *Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta* relates that he built the House of Heaven for the goddess Inanna in the Eanna District. In the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, Gilgamesh builds the city wall and is its king. Uruk grew through phases from the Early Uruk period (4000–3500 BC) to the Late Uruk period (3500–3100 BC), formed when two smaller Ubaid settlements, Unug and Kullaba, merged. Their temple cores became the Eanna District (dedicated to Inanna) and the Anu District of Kullaba. The Eanna District included several buildings with workshops and was walled off from the city, while the Anu District was built on a terrace with a temple at the top. Eanna remained dedicated to Inanna throughout the city’s history. The rest of the city consisted of courtyard houses grouped by profession in districts around Eanna and Anu. A canal system, described as “Venice in the desert,” flowed throughout, connecting Uruk with maritime trade on the ancient Euphrates and the surrounding agricultural belt. The original city lay southwest of the ancient Euphrates; today, Warka is northeast of the river, a shift caused by the Euphrates changing course, which, along with irrigation salinization, may have contributed to Uruk’s decline.

During the Uruk period (4000–3200 BC), Uruk was the main force of urbanization and state formation, shifting from small agricultural villages to a larger urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Other settlements were about 10 hectares, while Uruk was significantly larger and more complex. Its culture, exported by Sumerian traders and colonists, influenced surrounding peoples, who gradually developed their own economies and cultures. Uruk could not maintain long-distance military control over colonies like Tell Brak.

Dynastic categories come from the Sumerian King List, which has problematic historical accuracy. In 2009, two copies of an inscription suggested a 19th-century BC ruler of Uruk named Naram-Sin. Uruk continued as a principality of Ur, Babylon, and later Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Parthian empires. It enjoyed brief independence during the Isin-Larsa period under kings such as possibly Ikūn-pî-Ištar, Sumu-binasa, Alila-hadum, and Naram-Sin; Sîn-kāšid; his son Sîn-irībam; his son Sîn-gāmil; Ilum-gāmil; Etēia; AN-am3; ÌR3-ne-ne (Irdanene), who was defeated by Rīm-Sîn I of Larsa around 1740 BC; Rîm-Anum; and Nabi-ilīšu. During Ilum-gāmil’s time, a temple for the god Iškur was built, as recorded on a clay cone inscription.

After thriving in the Early Dynastic period, especially Early Dynastic II, Uruk was annexed by the Akkadian Empire and declined. Later, in the Neo-Sumerian period, it revived as a major economic and cultural center.