Definition
Uruk (Sumerian: unug; Akkadian: uruk, Biblical Hebrew: Erech, Greek: Ορχόη, Ωρύγεια Orchoē, Ōrugeia; modern Arabic وركاء Warkā') was was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River.
Uruk is eponymous of the Uruk period, the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia (ca. 4300-3100 BC). In addition to being one of the first cities, Uruk was the main force of urbanization during the Uruk Period. This period saw a shift from small, agricultural villages to a larger urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Although other settlements coexisted with Uruk they were generally about 10 hectares while Uruk was significantly larger and more complex. The Uruk period culture exported by Sumerian traders and colonists had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. At its height c 2900 BCE, Uruk probably had 50,000–80,000 residents living in 6 square km of walled area; the largest city in the world at the time.
The semi-mythical king Gilgamesh according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian king list ruled Uruk in the 27th century BCE. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BCE, in the context of the struggle of Babylonia with Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Seleucid and Parthian periods until it was finally abandonded during the Sassanid period shortly before the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia.
Uruk is eponymous of the Uruk period, the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia (ca. 4300-3100 BC). In addition to being one of the first cities, Uruk was the main force of urbanization during the Uruk Period. This period saw a shift from small, agricultural villages to a larger urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Although other settlements coexisted with Uruk they were generally about 10 hectares while Uruk was significantly larger and more complex. The Uruk period culture exported by Sumerian traders and colonists had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. At its height c 2900 BCE, Uruk probably had 50,000–80,000 residents living in 6 square km of walled area; the largest city in the world at the time.
The semi-mythical king Gilgamesh according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian king list ruled Uruk in the 27th century BCE. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BCE, in the context of the struggle of Babylonia with Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Seleucid and Parthian periods until it was finally abandonded during the Sassanid period shortly before the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia.
Articles
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Writing is undeniably one of humanity's most important inventions. The earliest forms of storing information on objects were numerical inscriptions on clay tablets, used for administration, accounting...
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Illustrations
Uruk Books
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Free Press (24 January 2006)Price: $10.20 -
Penguin Classics (30 December 1960)Price: $9.95 -
Oxford University Press, USA (15 February 2009)Price: $10.04 -
Bear & Company (05 May 2010)Price: $16.32 -
W. W. Norton & Company (17 March 2007)Price: $19.77
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