The Ziggurat of Ur is a stepped temple platform in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, in southern Iraq, built by King Ur-Nammu of the Third Dynasty of Ur and dedicated to the moon god Nanna, the city's patron deity. Its core was made of mud brick, covered with a facing of baked bricks set in bitumen, with three stairways leading up to a shrine at the top. Such temples were the religious and economic centres of Mesopotamian cities. The structure was later repaired by the Babylonian king Nabonidus, whose family had links to the moon cult. British archaeologist Leonard Woolley excavated it in the 1920s and 1930s, and part of the monument was reconstructed in the 1980s.
Before and after
- c. 2,181 BCERise of Seventh Dynasty of Egypt
- from c. 2,180 BCE to 350 CEKingdom of Kush
- from c. 2,160 BCE to 2,050 BCENinth Dynasty of Egypt
- from c. 2,150 BCE to 1,991 BCEEleventh Dynasty of Egypt
- 22nd century BCEConstruction of Ziggurat of Ur
- c. 2,100s BCEEpic of Gilgamesh
- c. 2,101 BCEThe Code of Ur-Nammu is issued
- from c. 2,050 BCE to 2,000 BCETenth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 2,050 BCECode of Ur-Nammu
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The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.