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Uruk

Uruk1, also called Erech, Oρχόη (Orchoë, Greek) and Unug (Sumerian), and whose remains are called Warká was located in the Akkadian Lugalate on an old course of the al Furat (Euphrates) River. It was, in 2250 B.C.E., tied for fifth largest city in the world and tied for third largest in what is now Iraq.2 Many canals divided and served the city. The city diminished at the end of that millenium. It 2000 B.C.E. it was part of the Ur Lugalate. In 1800 BCE it may have been independent (but unimportant) or it may have been part of the Larsa Lugalate. In any case it was absorbed by Babilu (Babylon) who nearly destroyed the city, soon followed by an Elamite sacking. Iluma-Ilu of Isin added it to his "Second Babylonian Dynasty" (Dynasty of the Sea Land)"3. Its status diminished again under Kassite rule, though it had again become one of the top ten cities of the world in 1200 BCE4. By 1000 BCE, Uruk was again part of Babilu. In 430 BCE it was part of the Assur Lugalate and two centuries later part of the Arche Seleukeia, then part of the Arsakou Basileos-Basileonate (Arsacid Empire or Parthia).5 It diminished again in the second century CE when it was part of Eranshahr, and fell to ruins by the beginning of the eighth century CE.

External References

Stone Building from around the start of the third millenium BCE

map showing part of Akkadian Lugalate, 2250 BCE

map showing part of Ur Lugalate, 2000 BCE

map showing Uruk Lugalate, 1800 BCE

map showing part of Isin Lugalate, 1600 BCE

map showing parts of Elamite Sunkiate and Kar-Duniash, 1360 BCE

map showing parts of Elamite Sunkiate and Kar-Duniash, 1200 BCE

map showing parts of Elamite Sunkate and Babilu Lugalate, 1000 BCE

map showing parts of Elamite Sunkate and Assur Lugalate, 800 and 650 BCE

map showing parts of Persian Malkate, 430 BCE

map showing parts of Arche Seleukeia, 200 BCE

map showing parts of the Arsakou Basileos-Basileonate, 100 CE

map showing parts of Eranshahr, 361, 500 and 622 CE

Footnotes

1. In Akkadian and Sumerian, the city name was written in Cuneiform. This cannot be rendered in most browsers although unicode for it exists.
2. Tables of the World's Largest Cities, "2250 B.C." table, in Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987).
3. Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq, Penguin Books, 1992.
4. Roux, ibid., Tables of the World's Largest Cities, "1200 B.C." table. It was tied for ninth, and was the third largest city in what is now Iraq.
5. Roux, ibid., pg. 419.