Abrahams hometown – Ur of the Caldeans – Is Ur located what is now Iraq? ~ Hubert Haider
The first biblical reference to Abraham’s hometown of Ur of Chaldees appears in Genesis 11. Subsequent references occur in Genesis 15:7 and Nehemiah 9:7.
“Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran” (Genesis 11:27-32).
Anciently, there were several cities bearing the name “Ur” or similar names. Consequently, various locations have been suggested as the possible location of Abraham’s hometown of Ur. For instance, besides southeastern modern-day Iraq, alternative northern and western sites for Abraham’s Ur have been suggested to include locations in present-day Syria and Turkey.
One thing seems clear: There was more than one Ur. Places named Ur, or something linguistically close enough to it to be a candidate for Abrahamic Ur (such as Ura), have turned up in numerous ancient inscriptions — at Ugarit (on the Mediterranean coast in modern Syria), at Nuzi (in northeastern Iraq), at Alalakh (in Turkey about a hundred miles north of Ugarit) and, most recently, in the extraordinary archive from Ebla (in northern Syria, east of Ugarit). The Ebla tablets include references to places called Ur, Ura and Urau. Unfortunately, none of these references can be located with precision, but the findspots of the tablets indicate the cities were most likely somewhere in central or northern Syria or southern Turkey — relatively near Haran.1
Arguments are offered for each site suggested to be the location of Abraham’s Ur. Yet, the southeastern location in Iraq remains the most frequently cited location of Abraham’s Ur.
I believe the case for identifying the Ur (of the Chaldees) in Genesis 11:28, 31 (compare with Nehemiah 9:7) with Ur, now Tell el-Muqayyar, in southern Babylonia, remains strong, although the available information precludes certainty. … A number of cuneiform texts mention several places named Ur, or something very like it, but most can be dismissed so far as Genesis is concerned: …2
The key in the Book of Genesis that identifies the southeastern Iraqi Ur is the clarification following the city name of Ur — “of the Chaldees.” This distinguishes Abraham’s Ur from every other city bearing the same name. Residents of Ur in Abraham’s day did not attach the phrase “of the Chaldees” to their city name. The Chaldean people had not risen to power in that area by then, but did so about 1,000 years after the time of Abraham. However, Moses, who by inspiration wrote the Book of Genesis, stipulated which Ur was the hometown of the patriarch Abraham by associating Ur with the later kingdom of the Chaldees, by which his readers and later auditors of Genesis could distinguish among the several cities bearing the name, Ur. “Abraham migrated from Ur at the end of the third or beginning of the second millennium B.C. (i.e., just before or after 2000 B.C.).”3
The most generally-accepted theory at the present time is that Ur is to be identified with the modern Mugheir (or Mughayyar, “the pitchy”) in Southern Babylonia, called Urumma, or Urima, and later Uru in the inscriptions. This borders on the district which in the 1 st millennium B.C. was called Chaldaea (Kaldu).4
Ur of the Chaldees was made famous and sparked a greater interest in archaeology through the protracted efforts of Leonard Woolley. “Between 1922 and 1934, Woolley directed 12 seasons of excavations at the site of ancient Ur (Tell el-Mukayyar) in southern Iraq on behalf of the loins Expedition of the British Museum and The University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.”5 Ur of the Chaldees is “[a] very ancient city in southern Babylon; identified with Tell Muqayyar, close to the right bank of the Euphrates, half-way between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf.”6
It stood near the mouth of the Euphrates, on its western bank, and is represented by the mounds (of bricks cemented by bitumen) of el-Mugheir, i.e., “the bitumined,” or “the town of bitumen,” now 150 miles from the sea and some 6 miles from the Euphrates, a little above the point where it receives the Shat el-Hie, an affluent from the Tigris. It was formerly a maritime city, as the waters of the Persian Gulf reached thus far inland. Ur was the port of Babylonia, whence trade was carried on with the dwellers on the gulf, and with the distant countries of India, Ethiopia, and Egypt.7
“Abraham’s native city customarily is located in southern Babylonia, not very far from the ancient city of Uruk to the NE and about 150 miles from the head of the Persian Gulf. Eridu is to the SW. Modern excavation of the site of Ur began in 1854 with J. E. Taylor. The city was then only a ruined site named the Mound of Bitumen (Arab. al muqayyar). In 1918 H. R. Hall resumed excavations. Sir Leonard Woolley conducted excavations from 1922 to 1934. The famous royal cemeteries, dating c. 2500 BC, yielded jewelry and art treasures of unbelievable beauty, particularly gorgeous head attire, personal jewels, and a golden tumbler and cup of Queen Puabi (formerly rendered Shubad). Several musical instruments and other beautifully crafted objects demonstrate that this city had achieved a high level of civilization 500 years before Abraham. The Heb. Bible is quite clear in its statements that Abraham’s home was originally in Lower Mesopotamia in the city of Ur and that he emigrated to Haran and Upper Mesopotamia on his way to Canaan (Gen 11:28-31; 12:1-4; 15:7; Neh 9:7). Interestingly enough, Ur in connection with Abraham is referred to as “Ur of the Chaldeans.” The qualifying phrase “of the Chaldeans” is not an anachronism, as many critics contend (cf. Jack Finegan, Light from the Ancient East, p. 57, n. 28). It is rather an instance of numerous archaic place names being defined by a later scribal gloss to make clear to a subsequent age where and what these places were when their history and locality had been forgotten. The Chaldeans came into southern Babylonia after 1000 BC. It was, of course, quite natural for the Hebrew scribe to define the then incomprehensible foreign name by a term intelligible to his own day. As a result of archaeological excavation, the city of Ur is now one of the best-known sites of southern Babylonia.”8
There are several biblical sites that can be known with certainty (e.g., Jerusalem, Haran), but many other biblical sites are not as readily discernible in modern times, or so far cannot be identified. However, respecting “Ur of the Chaldees,” despite some disagreement, the consensus of most resources today is that the Abraham’s Ur is located near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, relatively close to the Persian Gulf. The short answer, then, to the question that was posed would be, “Yes, Ur of the Chaldees, Abraham’s hometown, is in present-day Iraq.”
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1 Editor, H. S. (2002;2002). BAR 26:02 (March/April 2000). Electronic Edition. (Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society).
2 Editor, H. S. (2002;2002). BAR 27:03 (May/June 2001). Electronic Edition. (Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society).
3 Karleen, P. S. The handbook to Bible Study : With a guide to the Scofield study system. (New York: Oxford University Press) 1987.
4 International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft.
5 Editor, H. S. (2002;2002). BAR 10:05 (Sep/Oct 1984). Electronic Edition. (Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society).
6 Negev, A. The archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Lands (New York: Prentice Hall) Electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996.
7 Easton, M. Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Electronic form by Logos Research Systems. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1996.
8 The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press) 1988.
