Page 14 - 100 Events That Made History

Ur founded

The first CITIES provided the blueprint

for other urban settlements to develop The ziggurat may
have been 98 ft
(30 m) in height.

Top temple
Ur was ESTABLISHED on
the riverbanks of ancient
Mesopotamia (modern-day
Iraq) about 3200 BCE. The
city reached its peak under
King Ur-Nammu, who went
on a one-man mission to
make Ur the supreme
city of Mesopotamia. In
the heart of the city was
a ziggurat temple for
the moon god Nanna,
who was the patron
god of the city.

How it changed

It’s hard to imagine
The ziggurat
our world today without
was completed
cities. Ur was the
by Ur-Nammu’s
first to be worthy
son Shulgi.
of the name.
the world
Set in stone
Ur-Nammu put the city’s builders to work, as he
strove to make Ur a center of groundbreaking
ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENT. Gradually, the
barren landscape changed, with mud-brick buildings
giving way to religious shrines, and decorative
mosaics, made out of stone. The world’s first urban
landscape was created.
Territorial tension
As multiple city-states were established all
over Mesopotamia, WARS broke out over
who was on top. The Standard of Ur (left)
depicts one such battle. Armies fought
bloody battles, with many dying to control
The Standard may have the land. Ur was abandoned about 450 BCE.
been mounted on a pole
and carried into battle.
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