Ur: The City of the Moon God

by Harriet Crawford

The ancient Mesoptamian city of Ur was a Sumerian city state which flourished as a centre of trade and civilisation between 2800–2000 BCE. However, in the recent past it suffered from the disastrous Gulf war and from neglect. It still remains a potent symbol for people of all faiths and will have an important role to play in the future.

This account of Ur's past looks at both the ancient city and its evolution over centuries, and its archaeological interpretation in more recent times. From the 19th century explorers and their identification of the site of Mukayyar as the Biblical city of Ur, the study proceeds to look in detail at the archaeologist Leonard Woolley and his key discoveries during the 1920s and 30s. Using the findings as a framework and utilising the latest evidence from environmental, historical and archaeological studies, the volume explores the site's past in chronological order from the Ubaid period in the 5th millennium to the death of Alexander. It looks in detail at the architectural remains: the sacred buildings, royal graves and also the private housing which provides a unique record of life 4000 years ago. The volume also describes the part played by Ur in the Gulf war and discusses the problems raised for archaeologists in the war's aftermath.

Genres: History, Ancient History

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2014

About the author

Dr. Harriet Crawford (Institute of Archaeology, University College London): Director, The Joint Kuwaiti-British Archaeological Expedition to As-Sabiyah. Dr. Crawford has had a long and distinguished career in Western Asian archaeology, having written numerous articles and books. She has a long-standing love of the Sumerians and their civilization. Prior to initiating the British Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait, she was a director of the successful London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition, which excavated at Saar. She is currently an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, and a Fellow of the McDonald Institute, Cambridge.

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Smoothly written study on one of the most ancient Mesopotamian cities, and one of the most ancient cities of humanity in general. The book has a rather schoollike feel, contains limited illustrations and way too little maps or plans. In essence, Crawford restricts herself to an overview of the excavations done by British archaeologist Leonard Woolley in the 1920s-1930s. Through the endless enumerations of the architectural elements that have been uncovered, Crawford fails at all to give us an insight into life in and around Ur, in the 3rd millennium BCE. It is illustrative that the subtitle of this book refers to the cult of the moon god, but that the study itself provides little information about it. More on Ur, in the review in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Sense of History]

This work has its limitations (see the review in my general account – my link here), but that does not alter the fact that the archaeological work in and around the southern Mesopotamian city of Ur has yielded an impressive amount of material. These excavations were mainly the work of the British archaeologist Leonard Woolley, a man who was particularly careful for his time (the first half of the 20th century). This book relies almost exclusively on his work and views, although Crawford occasionally makes minor corrections. Ur, known in Biblical mythology as the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham, flourished especially in the period from about 2600 to 2200 BCE. This can certainly be deducted from the impressive ruins of palaces and temples, and in particular from the very rich 'royal tombs' from the period 2600-2500 BCE, whose grave goods still impress through their refinement. Due to its strategic location on the Persian Gulf and the mouth of the Euphrates, Ur clearly benefited from both maritime trade and trade into the Mesopotamian interior.

Nevertheless, in the end I find that the later period, shortly after 2000 bCE (also called the period of Isin and Larsa) provides the most interesting information: Crawford outlines how an 'industrial district' actually came into being in Ur, with very large workshops for the production of pottery, textiles and metallurgy. Supplemented by written sources, we learn a lot more about the real ins and outs of this Mesopotamian metropolis than can be concluded from the 'dull' ruins of temples and palaces in the city center.

[Iset · Rating 4 out of 5]

A recently published text on Sumer is most welcome for its rarity. Crawford’s book takes a different approach to many overview books which tend to look at a specific era and cover different places within that range. Instead, this book focuses on one specific city and its development over a greater span of time. The result places Ur in its context, allowing consideration of the changes the city underwent and observation of patterns within the cause and effect of history building upon itself. The book does frequently discuss the fortunes of other contemporary Sumerian cities, naturally, as Ur did not exist in a featureless political landscape, but the pictures of these cities is incoherent and the focus remains on Ur. Some photographs and lists provide welcome illustration of key points, although it could use some more. The text seems to be mainly aimed at academics, and as many such books, can be dry in places, although in certain sections is very readable.

7 out of 10

[Apocryphal Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers a capsule history of the ancient city of Ur - one of the oldest known cities in the world. Located on the lower Euphrates river near the head of the Persian Gulf, this city played an important role in the early history of the ancient near east and, for about 100 years at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, was arguably the most important city in the world.

The author, archaeologist Harriet Crawford, is one of the most prolific writers on this period and definitely knows her stuff. As a survey, this book covers all the periods that saw people living on the site, from the Ubaid period c.5000 BC to its eventual decline sometime during or after time the Persians ruled Babylon c.500BC. She also discusses the work of Sir Leonard Woolley in excavating the city in the '20s.

As a light survey, I think it does a fine job. It's accessible to the lay-person and relatively concise. For my money, though, I think I would have preferred something more encyclopedic. This book is nowhere near complete. It lacks illustrations of many of the key finds discussed in the text, is missing king lists, and so forth. It's also a little shy on synthesis, which is something I found in other books by this author. It mainly focuses on the architecture. And it adds little that is new to the discussion of the city or period, so if you've already read about this subject in some depth, you won't find anything too exciting in here.

If you're interested in cities of the ancient near east (including Ur), then I would point you instead to Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City by Gwendolyn Leick which tells the story of ancient Mesopotamia from the first cities to the invasion of the Persians by framing one city at a time, from Eridu to Babylon. It's one of the most remarkable books on ancient history I've ever read, and Ur gets its own chapter.

[Aimee Leonhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dull with too many written descriptions of archeological remains, old maps and drawings of artifacts rather than photographs. This is a book on the history of the archeology of the site as much as the site itself without any new understandings of the ancient civilization of the Sumerians. It’s probably useful for graduate students and academics but a real slog otherwise.

[Thomas Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview of the city of Ur and Woolley's excavations to uncover its secrets.

[Norman Styers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good summary of archaeological research on Ur. From the subtitle, I thought there would be more discussion of the religious practices of the people of Ur.