Ziggurat at Ur

The Ziggurat of Ur (sometimes called the "Great Ziggurat of Ur"; Sumerian E-temen-nigur(u) É.TEMEN.NÍ.GÙR(U).(RU) 𒂍𒋼𒉎𒅍(𒊒) meaning "house whose foundation creates terror") is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the city of Ur near Nasiriyah, in present-day Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. The structure was built during the Early Bronze Age (21st century BC), but had crumbled to ruins by the 6th century BC of the Neo-Babylonian period when it was restored by King Nabonidus.

Its remains were excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by Sir Leonard Woolley. Under Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, they were encased by a partial reconstruction of the façade and the monumental staircase. The ziggurat of Ur is the best-preserved of those known from Iran and Iraq, besides the ziggurat of Dur Untash (Chogha Zanbil).^{[citation needed]} It is one of three well preserved structures of the Neo-Sumerian city of Ur, along with the Royal Mausolea and the Palace of Ur-Nammu (the E-hursag).

Ur (Sumerian: Urim; Sumerian Cuneiform: 𒋀𒀕𒆠 URIM₂^KI or 𒋀𒀊𒆠 URIM₅^KI; Akkadian: Uru; Arabic: أور‎) was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar (Arabic: تل المقير‎) in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Nasiriyah.

The city dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a City State from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesh-Ane-pada. The city's patron deity was Nanna (in Akkadian Sin), the Sumerian and Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name, URIM₂^KI being the classical Sumerian spelling of LAK-32.UNUG^KI, literally "the abode (UNUG) of Nanna (LAK-32)".