History glossary
Uruk
one of the world's earliest major cities, in southern Mesopotamia near modern Warka in Iraq.
- Category
- City
- Region
- Southern Iraq
- Date range
- major growth c. 4000-3000 BCE
What it means
Uruk was a large Sumerian city in southern Mesopotamia, near the modern archaeological site of Warka in Iraq. Around the fourth millennium BCE, it became a center of temples, administration, trade, craft production, and early writing.
