Although it had been a thriving city in Early Dynastic Sumer, especially Early Dynastic II, Uruk was ultimately annexed to the Akkadian Empire and went into decline.

Following the collapse of Ur ( c 2000 BC ), Uruk went into a steep decline until about 850 BC when the Neo-Assyrian Empire annexed it as a provincial capital.

The Sumerian civilization spanned over 3000 years and began with the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period ( mid-6th millennium BC ) through the Uruk period ( 4th millennium BC ) and the Early Dynastic periods ( 3rd millennium BC ) until the rise of Assyria and Babylonia in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC respectively.

The Anu Ziggurat began with a massive mound topped by a cella during the Uruk period c 4000 BC and was expanded through 14 phases of construction, labeled L to A < sub > 3 </ sub > ( L is sometimes called X ).

In myth, kingship was lowered from heaven to Eridu then passed successively through five cites until the deluge which ended the Uruk period.

He is also known through other literary references, where he and his son Aga of Kish are portrayed as contemporary rivals of Dumuzid, the Fisherman and Gilgamesh, early rulers of Uruk.

For example, some are called Orcheni from Uruk, others Borsippeni from Borsippa, and several others by different names, as though divided into different sects which hold to various dogmas about the same subjects.

For example, some are called Orcheni from Uruk, others Borsippeni from Borsippa, and several others by different names, as though divided into different sects which hold to various dogmas about the same subjects.

He began his career as énsi of Umma, from where he conquered several of the Sumerian city-states — including Kish, where he overthrew Ur-Zababa ; Lagash, where he overthrew Urukagina ; Ur, Nippur, and Larsa ; as well as Uruk, where he established his new capital.

The Uruk List of Sages and Scholars names Šaggil-kīnam-ubbib as the ummânu, or sage, who served under him and the later king Adad-apla-iddina when he would author the Babylonian Theodicy, and several literary texts are thought to originate from his age, written in both Sumerian and Akkadian.

However, there are no known year-names or other archaeological evidence verifying any of these later kings of Akkad or Uruk, apart from a single artifact referencing king Dudu of Akkad.

She has been banished as high priestess from the temple in the city of Ur and from Uruk and exiled to the steppe.

Accounting tokens made of clay, from Susa, Uruk period, circa 3500 BC.

Politically, this myth would seem to indicate events of an early period when political authority passed from Enki's city of Eridu to Inanna's city of Uruk.

The earliest known written magical incantations come from ancient Mesopotamia ( modern Iraq ), where they have been found inscribed on various cuneiform clay-tablets excavated by archaeologists from the city of Uruk, and dated to between the 5th and 4th centuries BC.

During the Uruk phase, colonists and traders from Southern Iraq established important quarters in settlements throughout the northern part of the Levantine region ( e. g. Amuq ).

The Ubaid culture gives way to the Uruk period from c. 4000 BC.

The earliest texts ( 7 archaic tablets ) come from the E Temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators.

The most notable architectural remains from early Mesopotamia are the temple complexes at Uruk from the 4th millennium BC, temples and palaces from the Early Dynastic period sites in the Diyala River valley such as Khafajah and Tell Asmar, the Third Dynasty of Ur remains at Nippur ( Sanctuary of Enlil ) and Ur ( Sanctuary of Nanna ), Middle Bronze Age remains at Syrian-Turkish sites of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh, Aleppo and Kultepe, Late Bronze Age palaces at Bogazkoy ( Hattusha ), Ugarit, Ashur and Nuzi, Iron Age palaces and temples at Assyrian ( Kalhu / Nimrud, Khorsabad, Nineveh ), Babylonian ( Babylon ), Urartian ( Tushpa / Van Kalesi, Cavustepe, Ayanis, Armavir, Erebuni, Bastam ) and Neo-Hittite sites ( Karkamis, Tell Halaf, Karatepe ).

Globular envelope with a cluster of accountancy tokens, Uruk period, from Susa.

Tablets based on System B, associated with Kidinnu, have been found mostly in Uruk, but the earlier tablets came predominantly from Babylon.

At the city of Uruk, archaeologists have excavated houses dating from the 5th and 4th centuries BCE in which cuneiform clay tablets have been unearthed containing magical incantations.

Sumerian references to the Mar. tu (" tent dwellers " – considered to be Amorite ) country West of the Euphrates date from even earlier than Sargon, at least to the reign of the Sumerian king, Enshakushanna of Uruk.

The seven stories of the ziggurat reached a height of 91 meters, according to a tablet from Uruk ( see below ), and contained a temple shrine at the top.

The Etemenanki is described in a cuneiform tablet from Uruk from 229 BCE, a copy of an older text ( now in the Louvre in Paris ).

* Uruk period: 4100 – 2900 BC ( Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age I )

An Early Dynastic II king ( Ensi ) of Uruk in Sumer, Gilgamesh ( c. 2, 600 BCE ), was commended for military exploits against Humbaba guardian of the Cedar Mountain, and was later celebrated in many later poems and songs in which he was claimed to be two-thirds god and only one-third human.

* Mesopotamia is in the Uruk period, with emerging Sumerian hegemony and development of " proto-cuneiform " writing ; base-60 mathematics, astronomy and astrology, civil law, complex hydrology, the sailboat, potter's wheel and wheel ; the Chalcolithic proceeds into the Early Bronze Age.

Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period ( 4th millennium BC ), continuing into the Jemdat Nasr and Early Dynastic periods.

As such, the periodization of Susa corresponds to Uruk ; Early Middle and Late Susa II periods ( 3800 – 3100 BCE ) correspond to Early, Middle, and Late Uruk periods.

The Early Dynastic II period is when Gilgamesh, the famous king of Uruk, is believed to have reigned.

The most notable architectural remains from early Mesopotamia are the temple complexes at Uruk from the 4th millennium BC, temples and palaces from the Early Dynastic period sites in the Diyala River valley such as Khafajah and Tell Asmar, the Third Dynasty of Ur remains at Nippur ( Sanctuary of Enlil ) and Ur ( Sanctuary of Nanna ), Middle Bronze Age remains at Syrian-Turkish sites of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh, Aleppo and Kultepe, Late Bronze Age palaces at Bogazkoy ( Hattusha ), Ugarit, Ashur and Nuzi, Iron Age palaces and temples at Assyrian ( Kalhu / Nimrud, Khorsabad, Nineveh ), Babylonian ( Babylon ), Urartian ( Tushpa / Van Kalesi, Cavustepe, Ayanis, Armavir, Erebuni, Bastam ) and Neo-Hittite sites ( Karkamis, Tell Halaf, Karatepe ).

Uruk gave its name to the Uruk period, the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia spanning c. 4000 to 3100 BC, succeeded by the Jemdet Nasr period of Sumer proper.

* Uruk XVI-X Early Uruk period ( 4000 – 3800 BC )

This period corresponds to Early Dynastic Sumer c 2900 BC, a time of great social upheaval when the dominance of Uruk was eclipsed by competing city-states.

Starting from the Early Uruk period, exercising hegemony over nearby settlements.

Rulers from the Early Dynastic period exercised control over Uruk and at times over all Sumer.

In the Early Dynastic I period ( 2900 – 2800 BC ), Uruk was in theory under the control of Kish.

Clay, Susa, Uruk period ( 4000 to 3100 BC ).

Proto-Elamite script in clay, Susa, Uruk period ( 3200 BC to 2700 BC ).

** Uruk IV period: 3300 – 3000 BC

** Jemdet Nasr period ( Uruk III ): 3100 – 2900 BC

** Uruk period (~ 4400 – 3100 BC )

The oldest pictorial record of the Oud dates back to the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago.

The Protoliterate period, dominated by Uruk, saw the production of sophisticated works like the Warka Vase and cylinder seals.

The earliest history of pottery production in the Near East can be divided into four periods, namely: the Hassuna period ( 7000-6500 BCE ), the Halaf period ( 6500-5500 BCE ), the Ubaid period ( 5500-4000 BCE ), and the Uruk period ( 4000-3100 BCE ).

** Uruk period ( protohistoric Sumer ) 4100 – 3100 BC

Like its Chalcolithic neighbor Uruk, Susa began as a discrete settlement in the Susa I period ( c 4000 BCE ).

Susa was firmly within the Uruk cultural sphere during the Uruk period.