What does mythology say about the city of Ur?

Question

what were some of its gods, etc.

Answer 1

I don't know what mythology says, but scripture talks about Ur and worship of a moon god.

Many scholars place the site of Abraham’s Ur in southern Mesopotamia, and on that basis suggest that Abraham had contact with and was influenced by the dominant cult of that Ur, the cult of the moon god. With the aid of the book of Abraham, others suggest an alternate location for the Ur of the Chaldees in the story of Abraham.

Aside from the fact that ancient tradition allows a southern Mesopotamian location (as well as two northern Mesopotamian sites), those who opt for the southern Mesopotamian location base their conclusion on three pieces of evidence.

First, the ancient name of tell al-Muqayyar is similar in sound to the Hebrew Ur (in the original cuneiform documents, the name can be read either Urim or Uri). These words are similar to the Hebrew Ur, but the similarities are not without problems. For example, the Hebrew, if it were based on the original cuneiform name for al-Muqayyar, would have to disregard the Sumerian vowel and the possible final m.

Second, the Chaldeans Abraham mentions in conjunction with Ur have been equated with the Kaldu, Aramean people living in southern Mesopotamia in the first millennium b.c. However, equating the Kaldu of the cuneiform documents with the Chaldeans of Genesis results in several problems. One problem is that the Kaldu did not arrive in southern Mesopotamia until long after the time of Abraham. A related problem lies in the King James Version translation of Genesis, wherein the word Chaldees appears for the Hebrew word kasddim. There are two possible referents for the Hebrew word kasddim—neither of which matches the history of Abraham. One possibility is that the referent may actually be the Kaldu of the first millennium b.c. Unfortunately, as noted above, this referent is chronologically out-of-place. The other possibility, based on speech sounds, is that it refers to the Kassites, a non-Semitic group that became the ruling class in Babylon during the second half of the second millennium b.c. Equating the kasddim with the Kassites, however, still presents anachronistic and phonological problems.

And third, because Abraham settled for a time in Haran, a known major center of the moon-god cult, scholars have theorized that the city of origin for Abraham must also have been a major center of the moon-god cult. The fact that Ur in southern Mesopotamia was also such a site tended to confirm that Abraham did indeed have his origins there. This assumption is not warranted, however, because the book of Abraham indirectly says that Abraham left Ur partly to get away from the local cult. He would hardly have gone to another location of the same cult. This would also probably exclude Ur in southern Mesopotamia as Abraham’s city of origin.

Where, then, could Abraham’s Ur have been? The book of Abraham provides some background that helps in the search. From this book we learn that not only Abraham but also Abraham’s ancestors had lived in the land of the Chaldeans. We also learn that priests of Pharaoh attempted to sacrifice Abraham on an altar at Potiphar’s Hill in the plain of Olishem in Ur of Chaldea.

God told Abraham to leave the land of the Chaldees—partly because the priest of the Pharaoh had put Abraham’s life in danger, partly because there was a famine in the land, and partly because the ultimate territorial goal God had in mind for Abraham was Canaan. Abraham therefore went to a place called Haran and stayed there until he eventually moved on to Canaan.

With this in mind, it is possible to draw some conclusions about the location of Ur:

First, the Book of Abraham is not the result of numerous transmissions, as is the Bible. Therefore, the term Chaldeans in the Book of Abraham is not likely to be out-of-place chronologically. Since we can safely date Abraham to at least the Middle Bronze Age, and since neither the Kassites nor the Kaldu were in southern Mesopotamia by the end of the Middle Bronze Age, neither group could possibly be the referent for the Hebrew kasddim. It is quite possible, then, that Abraham’s Ur of the Chaldees was in an area other than southern Mesopotamia.

Second, the Ur of Abraham was under strong Egyptian influence. The only area in Asia that we know was under Egyptian influence at any time is an area comprising approximately all of present-day Israel, Lebanon, and western Syria from Ebla to the coast. In fact, southern Mesopotamia has never been under Egyptian cultural or religious influence, and on that point alone, it could be ruled out as the site of the Ur of Abraham.

Third, when Abraham left the land of the Chaldees, he most likely went to a place outside the direct influence of Egypt. However, he would probably not have moved in a direction away from the land of Canaan. Abraham’s first stop was in Haran, a site that is located (with relative certainty) on the east of the Euphrates on the Balih River just north of the present-day Syrian-Turkish border. If Abraham’s Ur were in northwestern Syria or southern Turkey, Haran would not be much out of the way for Abraham on his journey to Canaan.

Fourth, when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, there was a famine in Haran as well as in Ur. Therefore, Ur of the Chaldees and Haran likely lay within the same ecological system. Since Haran lay within the Fertile Crescent, normally an area with adequate annual rainfall, Abraham’s Ur was probably within the Fertile Crescent as well. Both northwest Syria and southern Turkey are within the Fertile Crescent. Ur of southern Mesopotamia, however, lies below the Fertile Crescent, in an arid plain where irrigation is necessary.

As a result of these insights provided by the book of Abraham, some scholars increasingly feel persuaded that Ur of the Chaldees was located somewhere in or near northwestern Syria.

Answer 2

Ur City did exist. , it is the ancient city of Sumer, S Mesopotamia. The city is also known as Ur of the Chaldees. It was an important center of Sumerian culture (see Sumer) and is identified in the Bible as the home of Abraham. The site was discovered in the 19th cent., but it was not until the excavations of C. Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and 30s that a partial account of its history could be constructed. Remains found at the site seem to indicate that Ur existed as far back as the late Al Ubaid period (see Mesopotamia) and that the city was an important commercial center even before the first dynasty was established (c.2500 ). Among the most important remains of the first dynasty, which has revealed a luxurious material culture, are the royal cemetery, where the standard of Ur was found, and the Temple of Ninhursag at Ubaid, bearing the inscriptions of the kings of the first dynasty. Ur was captured c.2340 by Sargon, and this era, called the Akkadian period, marks an important step in the blending of Sumerian and Semitic cultures. After this dynasty came a long period of which practically nothing is known except that a second dynasty rose and fell. The third dynasty was established c.2060 under King Ur-Nammu, who built the great ziggurat that has stood, although crumbled and covered with sand, throughout the centuries. An inscription in the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul was identified (1952) as a fragment of the code of Ur-Nammu. It predates the code of Hammurabi by 300 years and is the oldest known law code yet discovered. The third dynasty of Ur fell (c.1950 ) to the Elamites and later to Babylon. The city was destroyed and rebuilt throughout the years by various kings and conquerors, including Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus in the 6th cent. About the middle of the 6th cent., Ur went into a decline from which it never recovered. A record dated 324 mentions it as being inhabited by Arabs, but by that time its existence as a great city was forgotten. The change in the course of the Euphrates, which had been the source of the city's wealth, probably contributed to the final decline of Ur. Ur is mentioned often in the Bible (Gen. 11.28,31; 15.7; Neh. 9.7) and was at one period known to the Arabs as Tall al-Muqayyar [mound of pitch].


thanks!
Hope these would help you..

Answer 3

Excavations have proved that Ur was leading among the old Sumeria cities of Mesopotamia. Its earliest dwellings go back some six-thousand years, and after it had enjoyed prominence in the dawn of dynasties, 4800 - 4300 years ago, it assumed a leading position during the Third Dynasty of Ur, over 4000 years ago.
In later times, although political leadership shifted to other Babylonian and Assyrian centers, it maintained its importance and kings continued to lavish their care on its temples and institutions.
The landmarks of the city lie within a large area the inhabited section of which measured 1200 x 700 meters. It was encircled by a mud-brick wall, almost elliptical in shape.

It's not the whole story-it's the most important, but it can be useful to you...I hope :)!

Answer 4

Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia.

Biblical Ur
Ur is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the patriarch Abram (Abraham). This identification is, however, disputed. Ur was a powerful sophisticated polytheist city located west of modern day Basra in southern Iraq near the banks of the Euphrates river that prospered more than 2000 years before the birth of Christ and thought to be the place where Abraham spent his early years.

Ur is mentioned four times in the Tanakh or Old Testament, with the distinction "of the Kasdim/Kasdin" - traditionally rendered in English as "Ur of the Chaldees", referring to the Chaldeans, who were already settled there by around 900 BC. In Genesis, the name is found in 11:28, 11:31 and 15:7. In Nehemiah 9:7, a single passage mentioning Ur is a paraphrase of Genesis.

The Book of Jubilees states that Ur was founded in 1688 Anno Mundi (year of the world) by 'Ur son of Kesed, presumably the offspring of Arphaxad, adding that in this same year, wars began on Earth.

Yes, The cult of the Moon-god was the most popular religion throughout ancient Mesopotamia.

Answer 5

The main shrines of the Sumerian religion were in Ur and Harran. There is a Stele of Ur-Nammu of Ur (c. 2100 BCE) who waters the Tree of Life later used by the Hebrews in their Creation Myth, that is now in the University Museum, Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Ur was also the place that the World Flood epics were written about Atrahasis and Gilgamesh (c. 2600 -3000 B.C.E.) One of the ancient tablets from UR contains this guide to worship; "Worship your God every Day, with sacrifice and prayer which properly go with incense offering. Present your freewill offering to your god for this is fitting for the gods. Offer him daily prayer, supplication and prostration and you will get your reward. Then you will have full communion with your gods. Reverent Sacrifice prolongs life, and prayer atones for guilt."

And since another answerer stated Abraham was possibly born in Ur, this is probably where many of the myths/stories of the Bible were copied from.