Ur of the Chalees: Abraham's Home
A Tour Through the Ruins of the Biblical City of Ur and Its Treasure
From the Ziggurat to the home of Abraham--the patriarch of Islam, Christianity, Judaism--Ur has many treasures. Here is an exclusive look at the Biblical city today.
In the 1920s, a British archeologist team excavated a site in Southern Iraq call the City of Ur. This is the same city called “Ur of the Chaldees” in the Old Testament (see Genesis 11:28) that was the birthplace of the great patriarch Abraham. Today an Iraqi guide—the grandson of one of the members of the original excavation team—leads Coalition soldiers on a tour through the city and its many treasures.
The Ziggurat
In the center of Ur is a large solid stone temple, called a Ziggurat. This is a pyramidal, stepped structure that resembles Aztec temples in Central America. The Ziggurat at Ur has eroded a little bit over time, but most of it still stands as a great sentinel in the flat desert. This would have been the religious center of the City of Ur during Abraham's day.
Market Place and Museum
Around the Ziggurat are the ruins of several buildings. One of the most interesting finds in this area was an archway that is still standing today. The archway is one of the oldest arches in history, and an architectural treasure. Also near the Ziggurat are the ruins of a large rectangular building. The guide says that this building was discovered with many artifacts from vastly different periods of time inside. Archeologists concluded that this was one of the first museums.
Burial Grounds
Ur, like any decent city, has a cemetery. Ancient brick walls form a simple maze. These walls are held together by unrefined tar instead of mortar. There are mass graves where the common citizens were buried as well as royal tombs. On some of the bricks, cuneiform writings extol the deeds of the great kings of Ur. Archeologists found valuable treasures in these tombs such as “The Great Lyre from the ‘Kings grave’,” the headdress and jewelry of Queen Puabi, ancient art, and much more.
Abraham’s House
Beyond the burial grounds a short distance is the “neighborhood” where archeologists found a house inscribed with the name “Abraham.” This is a great religious treasure as Abraham is held up as the great patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The foundation of Abraham’s neighbor’s houses can also be seen, but none of them have been reconstructed as was Abraham’s. According to the guide, in the early 1990s, Pope John Paul II wanted to visit the holy house. Saddam Hussein ordered that the building be rebuilt upon the original foundation. Once the project was completed, Saddam refused to ensure the Pope’s safety, so the Pope never made the journey. Today, Coalition soldiers enjoy the building.
It is a large house with more than a dozen rooms and no roof. There are stairs that lead up to a second floor, but this floor was not reconstructed. The stairs end at the top of the walls where one can walk and look down on the rooms. There is a large courtyard with the original drainage system. This drainage system consists of a hole about eight to twelve inches in diameter and about four feet deep with shards of broken pottery around the edge. Similar shard-lined holes can be found all over Ur. The idea, being that the pottery shards were supposed to create gaps that would help the water captured in the hole drain into the surrounding ground quicker than simply seeping through the native clay.
Availability
Many of the treasures from the tombs can be found at the University of Pennsylvania in their exhibit “Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur.” At this time, only Coalition soldiers are allowed on tours of the City of Ur.
