Ur of the Chaldees

Ur was one of the major cities of ancient southern Mesopotamia and played an especially important role in Sumerian civilization.

The city became the center of the powerful Third Dynasty of Ur near the end of the third millennium BC. Monumental construction included the famous ziggurat associated with the moon god Nanna.

Archaeological excavations revealed temples, houses, administrative records, graves, and thousands of cuneiform tablets documenting the city's long history.

The biblical expression "Ur of the Chaldeans" employs terminology associated with a people prominent in southern Babylonia during a considerably later historical period. Scholars have proposed several explanations for this chronological feature of the biblical wording.

Ur of the Chaldeans is traditionally and widely identified with Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq near ancient channels of the Euphrates.

The archaeological identification of Tell el-Muqayyar as ancient Ur is certain because of inscriptions and extensive excavation.

What remains open to discussion is whether this southern city is specifically the Ur intended by the Abraham narrative. Alternative northern Mesopotamian proposals have been advanced, but the southern Ur remains the predominant identification.