This is the Land of Uruk - perhaps the first true city in the world. Uruk was constructed at a time of great population explosion in the southern plains of Mesopotamia. The population of this region was growing at a rapid rate and the well fortified city of Uruk became the center of early Mesopotamia.

3. Uruk (Warka)

This is the site of Eanna, the temple of the goddess of love and war, Inanna/Ishtar. Eanna's ziggurat is relatively well preserved. Warka is perhaps most significant as the only site in southern Mesopotamia with substantial exposed remains, including a ziggurat dedicated to the sky-god Anu, dating to the late 4th millennium (ca. 3400-3100 B.C.), the late Uruk period. More on Uruk and the world of Sumer.

4. Larsa (Senkereh)

This city-state alternated with Isin in controlling southern Mesopotamia in the first two centuries of the 2nd millennium B.C. Under its Amorite dynasty, Larsa was dominant from the mid-l9th to early 18th centuries B.C. Larsa's ruler, Rim-Suen, was defeated by Hammurabi of Babylon. French archaeologists, under the direction of Andre Parrot, began excavations here in 1933, and the French continue to monitor this site today. Major finds include the palace of Nur-Adad (ca. 1865-1850 B.C.) and Ebabbar, temple of the sun god Shamash.