UR THE CHALDEAN

 

Ur arose from the depths of the misty past as the capital of Sumer, one of the oldest civilizations of Mesopotamia. As we know, the Sumerians were Semites, in contrast to the ancient Jews. When some 2000 years B.C. of the Arabian Desert covered great invasion of Semitic nomads, the first thing they faced in the South, were vast plantations, its buildings and canals.

No one could guess that quest of Ur, referred to in the Bible, will lead to the discovery of the civilization, which we were able to dive into prehistoric times darkness deeper than leave traces of ancient man found in Egypt.

Once, 4000 years ago, here grew vast fields of wheat and barley. Everywhere, as far as you can reach the eye, stretched orchards, groves of date palms and fig trees. These extensive lands could successfully withstand the comparison with current Canadian wheat farms or gardens and fruit farms of California. The lush green fields and orchards have been with network level artificial canals and ditches - the masterpiece of the irrigation system. Once upon a time the most experienced of the local people have learned to use the water of the great rivers. Skillfully and systematically to accord a precious moisture from dying this way and transformed the desert into a rich and fertile land.

Around the middle of the 19th century throughout Egypt, Mesopotamia and Palestine began research and excavation.

Until the Bible was the only documented source of our knowledge about this part of Asia to 550 B.C. But the Bible does not talk about the historical period, leaving a vague twilight of the past. About people and names found in the Bible, does not even know the ancient Greeks and Romans.

In the same way as the Frenchman Champollion, which happens to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs, Rawlinson, who identified the city, successfully solved the riddle of cuneiform writing. Ancient documents began to talk!