Uruk: The First Great City
Uruk was one of the most important cities (at one time, the most important) in ancient Mesopotamia. According to the Sumerian King List, it was founded by King Enmerkar circa 5000/4500 BCE. Uruk is best known as the birthplace of writing circa 3200 BCE, as well as for its architecture, the famous exploits of its king Gilgamesh, the invention of the cylinder seal, and other cultural innovations.
Located in the southern region of Sumer (modern-day Warka, Iraq), Uruk was known in the Aramaic language as Erech, which, it is believed, gave rise to the modern name for the country of Iraq, though another likely derivation is Al-Iraq, the Arabic name for the region of Babylonia. The city of Uruk is most famous for its great king Gilgamesh and the epic tale of his quest for immortality (now regarded as the oldest work of literature in the world), but also for a number of firsts in the development of civilization, which occurred there.
It is considered the first true city in the world, the origin of writing, the first example of architectural work in stone, the building of great stone structures, the origin of the ziggurat, and the first city to develop the cylinder seal, which the ancient Mesopotamians used to designate personal property or as a signature on documents. Considering the importance the cylinder seal had for the people of the time, and that it stood for one's personal identity and reputation, Uruk could also be credited as the city that first recognized the importance of the individual in the collective community.
The city was continuously inhabited from its founding until circa 300 CE, when, owing to both natural and human influences, people began to desert the area; it was largely abandoned (though not entirely) by circa 700 CE. By this time, it had depleted natural resources in the surrounding area and was no longer a major political or commercial power. The once-great city finally lay abandoned and buried until it was excavated in 1853 by William Loftus for the British Museum.
The Ubaid period (circa 6500-4000 BCE), when the so-called Ubaid people first inhabited the region of Sumer, is followed by the Uruk Period (4000-3100 BCE), during which time cities began to develop across Mesopotamia and Uruk became the most influential. The Uruk period is divided into 8 phases from the oldest through its prominence and into its decline, based upon the levels of the ruins excavated and the history that the artifacts found there reveal. The city was most influential between 4100 and circa 3000 BCE when Uruk was the largest urban center and the hub of trade and administration.
In precisely what manner Uruk ruled the region, why and how it became known as the first city in the world, and in what manner it exercised its authority are not fully known. Scholar Gwendolyn Leick writes:
The Uruk phenomenon is still much debated, as to what extent Uruk exercised political control over the large area covered by the Uruk artifacts, whether this relied on the use of force, and which institutions were in charge. Too little of the site has been excavated to provide any firm answers to these questions. However, it is clear that, at this time, the urbanization process was set in motion, concentrated at Uruk itself.
Since the city of Ur had a more advantageous placement for trade, further south toward the Persian Gulf, it would seem to make sense that city, rather than Uruk, would have wielded more influence, but this is not the case.
Artifacts from Uruk appear at virtually every excavated site throughout Mesopotamia and even in Egypt. The historian Julian Reade notes:
Perhaps the most striking example of the wide spread of some features of the Uruk culture consists in the distribution of what must be one of the crudest forms ever made, the so-called beveled-rim bowl. This kind of bowl, mould-made and mass-produced, is found in large numbers throughout Mesopotamia and beyond. (30)
This bowl was the means by which workers seem to have been paid: by a certain amount of grain ladled into a standard-sized bowl. The remains of these bowls, throughout all of Mesopotamia, suggest that they "were frequently discarded immediately after use, like the aluminum foil containing a modern take-away meal" (Reade, 30). So popular was the beveled-rim bowl that manufacturing centres sprang up throughout Mesopotamia, extending as far away from Uruk as the city of Mari in the far north. Because of this, it is unclear if the bowl originated at Uruk or elsewhere (though Uruk is generally held as the bowl's origin). If at Uruk, then the beveled-rim bowl must be counted among the many of the city's accomplishments, as it is the first known example of a mass-produced product.
ā Uruk: The First Great City
