by John Sprague

Created on: March 08, 2007   Last Updated: July 02, 2010

This city,in this war torn place,is many years old and the history that it possesses is beyond our imagination. Such a place existed during the Assyrian and Babylonian age and in later years was the birthplace of a huge biblical hero by the name of Abraham. Yes, the remains of the city of Ur are in southeastern Iraq and about 200 miles south of Baghdad.

Back in early 2004, I was living in a tent in nearby Cedar, Iraq. I was fortunate to have viewed the Ziggurat of UR and the birth location of Abraham. These historic places are located just outside the main gate of another American base known as Tallil Air Base. Cedar was about five air miles away. You may even remember the rescue of Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq about a year earlier than this date which is the nearest present day city to this site. This recent history was just a few miles from this archeologist's dream. The history past and present are all around this area.

My memory from time spent at Cedar and Talil are quite vivid. Ur was perhaps the earliest city in the world and today it is 80 percent under dust and dirt. Ur flourished under the Sumerians between 3500 BC and 4000 BC. In the early decades of the 20th century, excavations uncovered a royal cemetery in which members of the ruling elite were buried with their servants and beautifully-made possessions. Ur's dominant feature is the remains of this ramped ziggurat. God's request to Abraham to migrate from Ur was no small request. Abraham's leaving Ur would be like a person today leaving a city which was prosperous, was filled with opportunity, and provided safety and security. In those days, it was such a place but today it is not. It is dust and dirt with poverty all around.

But in that place, I saw the oldest archway supposedly ever invented and first used. The life of the Ziggurat is closely tied with the city of Ur itself. The city is considered a cradle of civilization, playing a key role in defining urban culture and serving as an example for future city designs. Several thousand years ago, the path of the Euphrates River flowed very close to the city's walls. Because of its location, Ur became a hub for the development of commerce and the seat of political influence for the entire area. The city's early history was marked by three separate dynasties in a single millennia, with the first occurring before 3,000 B.C. and the last ending around 2,000 B.C.

While the original inhabitants of Ur have faded into history, the Ziggurat of Ur stands a remarkable window into humanity's past culture. Actually, the Ziggurat today was the foundation of what is left of it. The Temple had rested on top of it at one time. Someday, it is conceivable that this could once again be a destination rather than its current setting.

When my first time to leave Iraq finally came, it so happened that all roads and convoys were shutdown. The highway had gone Red! This condition signified that it was now dangerous to travel on the roads that would take me down to Kuwait. Luckily for me, I was able to fly out of the area from nearby Talil. It was at this time, that I was fortunate to fly on my first C-130 Transport plane. This reliable airplane was being operated by The West Virginia Air National Guard.

As you can see, Iraq and the history there is enormous and it is a great place to save for humanity. The people deserve to have peace and freedom. It is worth all our sacrifices.The world is a better place today because we've should up for freedom and democracy. Europe may not thank us but they certainly should. Imagine if we didn't care about freedom then?

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