Ancient site · City
Eridu
Also known as Tell Abu Shahrain
A mound in southern Iraq that Sumerian tradition remembered as the oldest city, where kingship first came down from heaven. Excavators found eighteen mudbrick temples built one on top of another, beginning with a tiny shrine of the Ubaid period and growing into a large platform temple, which shows how Mesopotamian temples developed over time.
The city's god was Enki. The ruins of a ziggurat of Ur-Nammu still stand.
- Dates
- c. 5400–600 BCE
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 30.82° N, 46.00° E
How we know
The early temples are known from excavation; later Sumerian texts name Eridu and call it the first city.
Nearby sites
- Ur (ziggurat and Royal Cemetery) c. 3800–500 BCE; Royal Cemetery c. 2600 BCE; ziggurat 21st century BCE
- Uruk (Eanna and the White Temple) c. 5000 BCE – c. 700 CE; Eanna and White Temple c. 3500–3100 BCE
- Etemenanki, the ziggurat of Babylon origins perhaps 18th century BCE; rebuilt 7th–6th century BCE; demolished 323 BCE
- Tower of Babel (legend) Legend; no date can be given
- Babylon c. 2300 BCE – c. 1000 CE; first mentioned c. 2200 BCE
- Susa c. 4200 BCE – 1218 CE
Related
- Ubaid culture archaeological culture