Uruk- Mesopotamian LocationLocation · Landmark"City of Gilgamesh"
Also known as: Warka, Erech, and Unug
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Description
"See its wall, which gleams like copper — survey its brickwork, which none can equal." So the Epic of Gilgamesh opens and closes, framing the hero's quest within the city he built. Home to Inanna's E-anna temple, Uruk was where civilization itself was said to begin.
Mythology & Lore
The Walled City
The Epic of Gilgamesh opens and closes with a description of Uruk's walls, inviting the reader to walk their circuit and admire their brickwork: "Three square miles and a half is Uruk's expanse." These walls, attributed to Gilgamesh himself, framed the entire epic. Whatever the hero endured in his quest for immortality, the walls he built would outlast him. The narrator instructs the reader to examine the fired brickwork, to find the copper tablet box in the wall's foundation, and to read the story inscribed within.
Temple of Heaven
Uruk's most sacred precinct was the E-anna ("House of Heaven"), the temple complex dedicated to Inanna, goddess of love and war. In the myth of Inanna and the Mes, the goddess journeyed to Eridu and obtained the divine decrees of civilization from Enki, bringing them back to Uruk in her Boat of Heaven.
The E-anna also hosted the sacred marriage ritual, in which the king of Uruk took the role of Dumuzi, consort of Inanna, and consummated a ritual union with a priestess representing the goddess. This ceremony was believed to ensure the fertility of the land and the legitimacy of royal authority.
City of Kings and Heroes
The Sumerian King List records a dynasty of legendary rulers at Uruk. Enmerkar contended with the lord of Aratta in a contest of wits and magic. Lugalbanda wandered the mountains and won the favor of the Anzu bird. Gilgamesh, their successor, sought immortality across the world's edge and returned with nothing but the walls he had built.
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