Iraq, the ancient land now known as the “Cradle of Civilization”, is considered the birthplace of the Bible and is known for its earliest writing system, urban centers, literature, metallurgy, science, medicine, and business. In the Bible, Ur is said to be the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. Modern Iraq is the “Cradle of Civilization”, containing more than 10,000 archaeological sites that weave a fascinating story.
Pope Francis plans to embark on the first-ever papal visit to the biblical land of Iraq in early March in a spiritual pilgrimage. British archaeologists have unearthed a sprawling complex near the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq, home of the Ziggurat. The Ziggurat, a 50-foot pyramid temple, towers over the vast Iraqi desert. The royal palace, which was the home of Abraham, is less than a mile away.
The Ziggurat and surrounding remains of the ancient city of Ur are a symbol of the great history of Iraq. The ruins, tombs, and home of the Ziggurat are located near the royal palace, which was the site of an airport seized at the beginning of the war.
The city of Ur, once the largest in the world and the crown jewel of one of humanity’s first civilizations, sits in a wasteland at the edge of a war zone. The oasis at Al Asad was once believed to be the biblical “Abraham’s Well”. Coalition forces returned control of the ancient archaeological site Ur back to Iraqi authorities on May 13. Ur may have been the world’s first city and the location of the first libraries.
📹 Discover Ur, Iraq
Where is the tree of Adam and Eve located?
The Garden of Eden is a biblical narrative that explains the human journey from innocence to sin, misery, and death. According to the Genesis account, God created Adam from the dust of the ground and planted the Garden of Eden with the “tree of life” and the forbidden “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” at its center. Adam was tasked with tending the garden and naming the animals, but was given a single command to not eat the fruit of the forbidden tree.
God created Eve, a companion of Adam, who lived unashamedly without clothes as husband and wife. However, an evil serpent deceived Eve, who ate the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam. They recognized their nakedness and donned fig leaves as garments. God saw their transgression and proclaimed their punishments, including pain in childbirth and subordination to man. God clothed them with animal skins and cast them out of the paradise garden, armed with a sword of fire to prevent their return.
Was the Garden of Eden in Iraq?
Iraq, traditionally considered the “garden that God planted in the East”, is a country with a population of over 40 million, predominantly Arabs and Kurds. The country is located in the Middle East and has a diverse population, including Assyrians, Turkmen, and Shia Muslims. Islam is the predominant religion, with 95-98 of the population being Muslim, 60 Shia, and 40 Sunni. Non-Islamic minorities include Christians, Jews, Mandaeans, and Yazidis.
The country’s history is marked by its rich cultural heritage, including the birth of Christianity in Egypt, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. However, the country is currently experiencing instability, suffering, and uncertainty for its inhabitants.
What holy place is in Iraq?
Iraq, a Shiʿi Islamic republic, has traditionally been the physical and spiritual center of Shiʿism in the Islamic world, with its two most important holy cities, Najaf and Karbala, located in southern Iraq. Kūfah, sanctified as the site of the assassination of ʿAlī, the fourth caliph, in the 7th century, and Sāmarrāʾ, farther north near Baghdad, are also of great cultural and religious significance to the Shiʿah. In premodern times, southern and eastern Iraq formed a cultural and religious meeting place between the Arab and Persian Shiʿi worlds, with religious scholars moving freely between the two regions.
Shiʿis constituted the majority of the population, but Iraq’s Sunni rulers gave preferential treatment to influential Sunni tribal networks, and Sunnis dominated the military officer corps and civil service. Shiʿis remained politically and economically marginalized until the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, and since the transition to elective government, Shiʿi factions have wielded significant political power. Other religions followers include Christians, Yazīdīs, Mandaeans, Jews, and Bahāʾīs.
The Jewish community traces its origins to the Babylonian Exile and was largely concentrated in or around Baghdad. The Christian communities are chiefly descendants of the ancient population that was not converted to Islam in the 7th century and are subdivided among various sects, including Nestorians, Chaldeans, and members of the Syriac Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches.
What was Mosul called in Biblical times?
Nineveh, the oldest and most populous city of the ancient Assyrian empire, was situated on the east bank of the Tigris River and surrounded by Mosul, Iraq. It was situated at the intersection of important trade routes and had fertile agricultural and pastoral lands. The first person to survey and map Nineveh was archaeologist Claudius J. Rich in 1820, who later completed a work by Felix Jones. Excavations have been undertaken intermittently since then, with A.
H. Layard discovering the palace of Sennacherib and bringing back an unrivalled collection of stone bas-reliefs and thousands of tablets inscribed in cuneiform from the library of Ashurbanipal. R. Campbell Thompson excavated the temple of Nabu (Nebo) in 1929-32 and discovered the site of the palace of Ashurnasirpal II. In 1931-32, Thompson dug a shaft from the top of the Quyunjik (Acropolis) down through strata of accumulated debris, proving that more than four-fifths of this great accumulation is prehistoric. The first settlement, a small Neolithic hamlet, was probably founded around the 7th millennium bce.
What were the three ancient regions in the land that is known as Iraq?
Iraq, once known as Mesopotamia, was a region with extensive alluvial plains that gave rise to some of the world’s earliest civilizations. It later became a valuable part of larger imperial polities and became a central and integral part of the Islamic world after the 7th century. The modern nation-state of Iraq was created following World War I (1914-18) from the Ottoman provinces of Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul.
Iraq gained formal independence in 1932 but remained subject to British imperial influence during the next quarter century of turbulent monarchical rule. Political instability increased after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958, but the installation of an Arab nationalist and socialist regime, the Baʿath Party, in a bloodless coup 10 years later brought new stability. With proven oil reserves second in the world only to those of Saudi Arabia, the regime was able to finance ambitious projects and develop plans throughout the 1970s.
However, the party’s leadership was quickly assumed by Saddam Hussein, a flamboyant and ruthless autocrat who led the country into disastrous military adventures, including the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) and the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). These conflicts left the country isolated from the international community and financially and socially drained.
Iraq is one of the easternmost countries of the Arab world, located at about the same latitude as the southern United States. It is bordered to the north by Turkey, to the east by Iran, to the west by Syria and Jordan, and to the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
What is the most ancient civilization in Iraq?
The Sumerians were the earliest known civilization in Mesopotamia, located in modern-day southern Iraq. They built around a dozen city-states in the fourth millennium BC. The discovery of Girsu in Tello, Iraq, 140 years ago revealed the existence of the Sumerian civilization and important Mesopotamian art and architecture monuments. The Sumerians were ancient pioneers, advancing writing, literature, hymns, prayers, building the first known cities, creating the first known code of law, and perfecting existing forms of technology such as the wheel, plough, and mathematics.
Where is the real Garden of Eden located?
The Garden of Eden, a biblical creation, has been a subject of debate among scholars. The Bible, in Genesis 2, describes the area around the Garden, including Ethiopia, and mentions a spring that divides into four major rivers, including the Euphrates. This has led some to believe that the Garden of Eden was in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley, which is now known as the “fertile crescent”. The area was also the site of the Tower of Babel and Abraham’s home in Ur.
However, the biblical information does not match the description of the Garden of Eden. The Tigres and Euphrates have their headwaters in the area surrounding Mt. Ararat, but they do not flow from a source like the spokes on a wheel, nor do the other two rivers flow from Ethiopia. Additionally, the mineral deposits mentioned in the Bible do not resemble those in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley.
Is the Garden of Eden in Iraq?
Iraq, traditionally considered the “garden that God planted in the East”, is a country with a population of over 40 million, predominantly Arabs and Kurds. The country is located in the Middle East and has a diverse population, including Assyrians, Turkmen, and Shia Muslims. Islam is the predominant religion, with 95-98 of the population being Muslim, 60 Shia, and 40 Sunni. Non-Islamic minorities include Christians, Jews, Mandaeans, and Yazidis.
The country’s history is marked by its rich cultural heritage, including the birth of Christianity in Egypt, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. However, the country is currently experiencing instability, suffering, and uncertainty for its inhabitants.
What does Iraq have to do with the Bible?
Iraq has a rich and vital contribution to Christian history, with the most biblical history of any other country in the world. The patriarch Abraham, Daniel, and other biblical prophets and saints are believed to have been from southern Iraq, including Ur, modern-day Nasiriya, Assyria, and northwestern Iraq. The biblical Garden of Eden is also attributed to being located in southern Iraq.
Prior to the Gulf War in 1991, Christians numbered one million in Iraq, but this may be an undercount by half as seen in the 1987 census numbers. The Ba’athist rule under Saddam Hussein kept anti-Christian violence under control but subjected some to “relocation programs”. The Christian population fell to an estimated 800, 000 during the 2003 Iraq War.
During the 2013-2017 Iraq War, Christian Assyrians and Armenians fled as they feared persecution by the terrorist organization, ISIS. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled to Baghdad, the nation’s capital, where they found refuge and adequate housing. Some have chosen to make Baghdad their new permanent home following the full defeat of ISIS in Iraq.
The current number of Christians in Iraq is around 500, 000, although numbers vary due to the last Iraqi census taking place more than 30 years ago. A census is scheduled to take place in 2020, which will clarify the numbers of Christians in Iraq.
What is Babylon called today?
Babylon, an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, was the cultural and political center of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. It was the site of two important empires, the 19th-16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire and the 7th-6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. It was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centers of the ancient Near East until its decline during the Hellenistic period.
The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town dates back to the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri of the Akkadian Empire. After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the south Mesopotamian region was dominated by the Gutian Dynasty for a few decades before the rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
Babylon became part of a small independent city-state with the rise of the first Babylonian Empire, now known as the Old Babylonian Empire, in the 19th century BC. The Amorite king Hammurabi founded the short-lived Old Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC, building Babylon into a major city and declaring himself its king.
After the Assyrians destroyed and rebuilt Babylon, it became the capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire from 626 to 539 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but there is no mention of its existence in extant Babylonian texts.
What place in Iraq is from Bible?
The Garden of Eden was a perfect place for Adam and Eve, located in what is now the southeastern tip of Iraq. Some scholars believe it was located in what is now Iraq due to the rivers named in the Bible that flowed from Eden. The Tower of Babel glorified man, but its site has never been found. Ur, an ancient city in Sumerian civilization, was born around 2166 B. C. and is now known as modern-day Nasiriyah.
Rebekah, wife of Isaac, was likely from Nahor, and in Genesis 24, Abraham sends his chief servant to find a wife for his son. Nineveh, the most important city in Assyria during Jonah’s time, was the most important city in Assyria. The northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian Empire in 740 B. C. as punishment for breaking a covenant with the Lord. The Assyrians dominated the Middle East, taking Israel’s northern tribes into captivity and never returning to Israel.
In 605 B. C., the king of Babylon captured Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and other prophets like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The stories found in the book of Daniel took place in Babylon, which is now located in Al Hillah, Iraq.
The prophet Ezekiel was taken captive in Babylon in 597 B. C. and told of God’s judgment on Israel and offered hope for exiles to return to Judah. This prophecy came true in 539 B. C. when Babylon was conquered by Persia, and exiles began returning to Judah the following year.
The Bible tells us that wise men came “from the east”, possibly from the area now making up Iraq or possibly through Persia.
📹 Great Ziggurat Of Ur & The Ancient City In Mesopotamia. Birthplace of Abraham? Nasiriyah, Iraq.
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I find it interesting that Abraham’s original name was Abram, which sounds like the Sumerian word abrum (ab2-ru-um) that means “storage facility” (according to the online Sumerian Dictionary at UPenn). So, maybe that was the role of his family or his own job, owning or working in a store room or museum.
Also close by, between the ziggurat and the tombs, is what is believed to be the oldest surviving structural arch. I could see the ziggurat from the tent I lived in in 2003 on what was previously the Iraqi Talil air base. I took the tour of the ziggurat several time. The very personable tour guide told us that he had been a college professor before. Every time that I went, a collection was taken up and given to him as compensation. I could not understand why such an important city had been built in such a horrible location even though I was told that the Euphrates had re-located (It is now several miles north of the ziggurat). Your article helped me to visualize this.
Your collogue from Ancient Architects suggested it would be interesting to take a look – and it was! I was among the first foreigners that came to Ur after the Gulf war in 1991. I noticed the bomb craters near the ziggurat – and thought similarly that it was strange to walk in a place where people have been living – and fighting for nearly 6000 years. Great update – thank you!
I have been binge perusal these since your website was recommended to me. The sheer breadth of historical topics covered is amazing. Especially for a history nut like me. Most importantly, i learn something new in every one. Even topics like Egyptology that i am well versed in. Massive rEspect to all who work on this website.
Back in 9/2006, I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the Ziggurat of Ur with some of my 10CSH unit mates from Ft.Carson, CO when I was deployed to Talil Ali AB near An Nasiriyah, Iraq. In my living room, I have pictures of my visit to the Ziggurat of Ur. It will always be one of the highlight of my deployment.
Leonard Wooley’s book on his “Excavations at Ur”, as reedited by P.R.S. Moorey “Ur of the Chaldees” was the first detailed archeological work I read – the narrative starts at the bottom – the level of the deepest dig -and works its way upward in excavation-layers, forward in historical time but backwards in the archeologists’ own exeperience. By the time the reader reaches the surface, the excavators are only now starting the dig, and the story is over, if you know what I mean. An excellent read. And an excellent article, K.
Great article! I am American but I attended high school in Iran during the 70s and traveled extensively to the ancient sites in Iran. Though I learned a lot about ancient Mesopotamia, I was never able to visit any sites there (Tensions between Iran & Iraq were high). I studied the area very much and you do great justice to it! I particularly like your attention to city layouts and the architecture. You should consider collaboration or live stream with Cy (of History with Cy). As an Iranian-American, he brings a special and heart-felt understanding & of the cultures, details of individuals, and emphasis on reviewing individual cuneiform texts! PS: Cy seems like a very nice humble guy so he has not mentioned his name in Iranian is Koorōsh, the same as Koorōshe Basork (Cyrus the Great).
I find it amazing that when it comes to the deluge people will claim that these people thought their immediate surroundings were the whole world and totally disregard the fact that we’re talking about people with a firm grip on astronomy. Edit: And they had no telescopes, meaning they were pretty damm smart.
Kayleigh, as to the great flood, the way I understand it, the area near what is now the mouth to the Persian Gulf, was peopled by arrivals from an unknown location who came by boat and were well “educated” with many skills. This first occurred at the end of the last glaciation when the ocean and water levels were much lower than they are today. Over time their population grew and they inhabited all of the surrounding area. As the glaciers melted and flowed into the oceans(s) the land began to “flood” and the people were forced to move further into the valley of the two rivers (T&E). I don’t recall the rate of flooding but because this was such a low area, the flooding took years but still occurred pretty rapidly. As the people migrated to new land, they met up with people coming from the other direction. The people themselves described this as the great flood and it was to them, exactly that. I don’t know if you have done a article on this or not but I would like to see your take on it. Thanks.
Alot of people didn’t know that the ancient Hebrews came from Ur city,terah the high priest of Ur is abraham father,Abraham also lives in the Ur city. The Hebrews from the line of Shem who the first Hebrew sage. The Israelites came only to Jacob,which is the twelve tribes. While the Jews or Judaism came from Juda tribe alone.
I was there in 1991 when the US forces were dropping the bombs on the Migs The iraqi forces parked right next to the ziggurat in the city of Ur. My unit and other forces of 7th corps fought in the city and occupied it during the post war uprising revolt in iraq and had tons of refugees flood over the line we had there
To this day… it is still very unknown to where did the Sumerians or there language came from. There are only speculations about there origins, but it is most like that this people was already there in the fertile crescent before civilization and agriculture living out of hunting and gathering there resources and worship there already ancient deities.
The royal cemetery is fascinating, and how rich the kings were found there. Slaves built most of these ancient towns, although they didn’t have an army, to accumulate that wealth and protect it, they had to have some sort of organized protection. What do you think about the gold helmet found that is Iraq museum, do you think it’s still there?
In the exploration of Mesopotamia I would encourage reading the book The Ark Before Noah by Irving Finkel. He’s got a facinating story of discovery and some particularly interesting angles on how the peoples of Mesopotamia saw eachother distinctly and together. I commend it to your study and some day your own article on it.
This zigurit of Ur is the real Mekka, the abassite empire and its capital Baghdad rewrote the history of arabs and moved the black rock to present place in Saud arabia . in fact they moved geography of Iraq to the Arabian desert. the present Iraq is the indigenous place for the arabs but the false history which was written by the Persian and Turks made the arabs came from the desert.
I watched this article because, in discussion with friends, I thought the creation of all the means to support a city brought about the start of the end of human connection to the earth and nature. So that question is probably outside the objective of the article. To continue to support a city a considerably amount of exploration of people and nature has to occur. That people have to learn to hurt other people on a bigger scale. So there needs to be money which is a good way to disconnect with how more food and resources are brought into a city than the sum of the physical effort of the city dwellers, I suspect? So wealth within cities creates a false sense of reality so that wealthy people think they can have anything whilst outside war and suffering by systems of exploration feed that false reality. Bottom line is that it went wrong for humans when cities could be sustained. They are not civilised keep a few very comfortable who say this is civilised peaceful and comfortable.
Abrham was not born in Ur, he is named as ‘the Hittite’, and was also a merchant said to have arrived at Ur to set up shop. the Hittites are Anatolians. (eastern Turkey/ northern Syria.) “Abram of the Hittites came out of Ur, having been prophesied of the LORD that He would make of him a great nation” Kish and Lagash are also mentioned, along with directions and distances between them and Memphis and Babylon, it was this that had Wooley seeing the tel as the remains of Ur in the first place. he was laughed to scorn at the idea, the origin of the English phrase ‘wooley thinking’. he was proved right..
Could there have been something like a Ziggurats before the Pyramids of Giza was built, as base för the pyramids? Like the Queen’s chamber och the King’s chamber in the Cheops pyramid are the tempel up on the Ziggurat. So Cheops maybe did build the Pyramid, but not what was there before it was built.
The God of the Jewish Temple sent fire down to take consume their offerings. Did the gods of the zigerates do the same? We know there were no alters atop the pyramids as their human gods walked among them. the tower of bable never reached the heavens as the real Temple God who sent fire to consume offerings on his temple mount, struck them down
Your articles are full of content I’m interested in, but you have 12 commercials in a 30 minute block. I can’t play it and just listen, because some of these commercials will go on as long as your article if I don’t click skip. I have yet to make it through a single one of your articles as a result. A couple commercials, fine, necessary, understood… 12 in 27 minutes? Shameful… thumbs down, no sub.
I very much enjoy listening to your articles for several reasons, one, because I love history as well as archeology, but also because you are easy on the eyes. I know you are only sharing what you have been taught. However, I believe in a much younger earth. There is serious problems with radio carbon dating hitting around 1400 BC. But the issue I would strongly suggest that you research is the fact that we have been able to know for about 300 years how much the earth’s magnetic fields have lost their power. If you do the math with a uniformitarianism mind set, then at about 20,000 years nothing can exist???
You have done a great job of presenting the deeper history and from a woman’s insightful lens that too often, under the spell of patriarchal teachings archeologist & anthropologists barely give recognition to obvious female & feminine imagery. It’s always been and still is women who birth new life, nurtures human life, relationships, community’s & cultures. The 2 odd looking dolls or effigies remind me of the Paracaus Skulls made famous by #BrienFoerster & the facial renditions he was able to commission. But those images he’s been able to gather have no anatomical features other than the short, tiny body, huge 2 bulbed skulls that required some of the tall extended head dresses. Skulls w/o sutures, set way back from where our spines connect with the skull, huge eye sockets. I’ve tweeted him the moment of showing them, for his review.
Ugh. Still gave an upvote, but every time you say “BCE” it’s like you’re extending a middle finger to Christians, especially if you’re fine using pagan inspired names for days of week/planets, and are singling out Christianity for exclusion. Maybe that’s not your intent, but the “CE” crap was launched as a conscious anti-Christian effort. Many of the best youtube history websites use “BC” and “AD” and it’s unclear what religious views if any their authors have. I’d ask you to at least consider doing the same. If nothing else it conveys more information, like what our current (“common”) era is based on. “BCE” is a vague euphemism that literally dumbs down speech.