Uruk – Home To The Legendary Hero Gilgamesh

Angela Sutherland  – AncientPages.com – The Old Testament mentions the city Uruk as Erech, and its original Sumerian name is Unug. What we know today about Uruk comes from archaeological excavations carried out at the site, which modern name is Warka.

The oldest settlement was built in this place during the Ubaid period (5000 BC) in the 5th millennium BC. Already between 4000 and 3000 BC, Uruk became Mesopotamia’s most extensive and the most influential city. In the beginning, it occupied an area of approx. one hundred hectares (one square kilometer) continued to develop until it reached around 400 hectares.

According to the Sumerian King List, Uruk was founded by King Enmerkar around 4500 BC and was the largest settlement in southern Mesopotamia, if not the world. King List adds that Enmerkar brought the official kingship with him from the city of E-ana after his father Meskiaggasher, son of Utu, had “entered the sea and disappeared.” Enmerkar founded Uruk, the largest settlement in southern Mesopotamia around 4500 BC, and was said to have reigned for “420 years” (or even “900 years”).

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