This city was located in Mesopotamia, in the lower reaches of the Euphrates. It is located on the border between the steppe and the desert. Now it is the territory of Iraq. Life was in full swing here long before Rome and Athens, even long before Babylon. When the Sumerians came here, Uruk was already an ancient city. It was ruled by five dynasties of Sumerian kings, then they were replaced by the Akkads. It was conquered by the Babylonians and Assyrians, Persians, later Greeks and Romans, Parthians and, finally, Arabs. However, Uruk died, covered by the sands of the desert. Today, the years of his birth and sunset date back to the XXX - XXVIII centuries BC!
Centenary excavations
In 1902, German archaeologist Walter André discovered Uruk under a 15-meter layer of sand. At that time, a new stage in the study of ancient Mesopotamia began, which has been excavated for over a hundred years. Over the years, thanks to the efforts of scientists, the ruins of cities such as Babylon, Kalhu, Nivea, Lagash and Nippur appeared from under the sand. In 1922, the city of Ur appeared to the eyes of people, and ten years later, in the upper reaches of the Euphrates, Mari. During the excavations of Mari, an amazing treasure was found - a golden eagle with a lion's head.
The greatness of Uruk shook the imagination of even seasoned archaeologists. They admired the two huge temple towers dedicated to the goddess of love Ishtar and the heavenly patron of the city - Anu. Four more temples and a magnificent royal palace were excavated. But this was not even what struck the researchers. It seemed that the city was built not by ancient people with antediluvian construction equipment, but by representatives of a highly developed civilization. The cobbled streets were so wide that three chariots, each drawn by four horses, could rush along them at the same time. The townspeople, apparently, were accustomed to comfort - their houses were heated, sewerage, each had a bathroom, the floor and walls of which were covered with mosaic paintings.
An incredible find
Promotional video:
But the most incredible find was twelve clay tablets with Sumerian cuneiform, which were in the palace library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. As you know, Sumerian cuneiform originated in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. e. Written signs were applied with a sharpened stick to wet clay tiles, or tablets. The scribes pressed the corner of a rectangular stick on the clay, and the writing took the form of wedge-shaped recesses.
The first cuneiform tablets appeared in Europe in 1626. They were brought from Persepolis by the Italian traveler Pietro della Balle. For more than a hundred years, no one could decipher them, until in 1802 the German teacher Georg Grotefeld suggested that the tablets were a Persian text, and in this case they should have the names of the Persian kings. He was able to decipher the names of Xerxes and Darius and, in the end, guess the meaning of the ten cuneiform signs. Following Grotefeld, other researchers took up the decoding.
By that time, archaeologists had tens of thousands of tablets. And when the library of King Ashurbanipal was discovered, experts were already able to read the fragments of texts written on them, from which they learned about kings and wars, life, religion, trade, crafts and just the daily life of people who built beautiful cities five thousand years ago. It turned out that these tablets also contain fragments of an ancient epic about the great king Gilgamesh, who until then was considered a fictional figure.
By the way, thanks to the decrypted text, it became clear that the city that Walter André discovered is Uruk, built by order of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh - Son of God
“No one in the whole immense ball that floats in the ocean of the Universe and is called the Earth was equal to Gilgamesh. The gods themselves fell in love with him when the divine mother Ninsun gave birth to him from the mortal Lugalbanda”- these words about Gilgamesh and the Uruk erected by his order begins one of the most ancient texts of mankind. This king was handsome, smart, courageous and strong. He was called a cruel ruler, but they obeyed unquestioningly, because they saw that all his orders were directed to the benefit of the people, and because, of course, Gilgamesh was half god. Ancient chroniclers reported on the exhausting labor of all male subjects in the construction of powerful walls around the city. They molded bricks day and night, burned them and stacked them in piles. Those who did not want to obey were immediately put to the brutal execution.
But one day the subjects of the cruel king decided to complain to the god Anu, the heavenly patron of the city. "Gilgamesh is our master," they said, "he is wise and mighty, but because of him we do not see the white light, spending our whole life on construction." Instead of simply punishing Gilgamesh or making him soften, the goddess of creation Aruru, at Anu's request, blinded the wild man Enkidu from a clay shoe, who was supposed to defeat the king in order to prove that he was not omnipotent, and then show him his place.
Death of the innocent Enkidu
And then one day the priestess of her temple sent by the goddess Ishtar came to the desert where Enkidu lived. “Why do you live here alone? - asked the messenger of the goddess. "Come with me to the city, there you can see me every day." Struck by the girl's beauty, Enkidu went with the priestess. In the city he met with Gilgamesh, quarreled with him and offered to fight. But it turned out that the forces of the rivals are equal - none of them could prevail, and then, to the surprise of the gods, Gilgamesh and Enkidu fraternized.
Together, these two heroes accomplished many feats. But one day it happened that Ishtar offered her love to the king, and he, who had heard about her lustfulness and bad character, did not want to deal with the goddess. Then, in a rage, Ishtar sent illness to the named brother of Gilgamesh, who rejected her, and after 12 days the innocent Enkidu died in terrible agony.
The king who became immortal
A saddened Gilgamesh tried to save Enkidu from the realm of death, but to no avail. And then it occurred to him to try to find a way to live forever. In search of eternal life, the king wandered the earth, simultaneously performing amazing feats, but he never reached his goal. And only once, crossing the river, he seems to have acquired the highest wisdom thanks to the ferryman, who said: “Man is mortal. Eternal life is the fate of the gods. You can immortalize your name with great deeds."
One of the tablets found by archaeologists says that Gilgamesh really immortalized his name, which was embodied in the glorious city of Uruk that he built. For many years Uruk was hidden from human eyes under the sands, but now he shone again in his beauty, and with him appeared to the world of people and Gilgamesh, who found a new life.