🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Assur
Early Dynastic to Neo-Assyrian to Parthian · Assyrian (Akkadian dialect)
First capital and holy city of Assyria (c.2600 BCE–614 BCE, 70 ha on Tigris bend) — temple of god Assur (Ashur) whose city and god name are one.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Eridu
Ubaid to Neo-Babylonian · Ubaid → Sumerian → Babylonian
Sumerian sacred city traditionally first city in the world (Sumerian King List), center of god Enki/Ea cult (Abzu).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Babylon
Old Babylonian to Neo-Babylonian and Hellenistic (1894 BCE–141 BCE; monumental peak Nebuchadnezzar II 604–562 BCE) · Babylonian / Assyrian / Persian / Hellenistic
Capital of Babylonian empire (1894 BCE–539 BCE) on Euphrates, Babylon at its greatest under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BCE): Processional Way, Ishtar Gate (glazed brick dragons and…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Hatra
Parthian to Sassanian (c.200 BCE–241 CE) · Parthian-Arab (Hatrene Aramaic) / Hellenistic influence
Fortified Parthian-Arab desert city (2nd c BCE–241 CE) with circular walls 6.4 km circuit resisting Trajan (117) and Septimius Severus (198).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Uruk (Warka)
Neolithic to Sassanian (c.5000 BCE–632 CE; Uruk period city 4000–3100 BCE) · Sumerian / Babylonian / Persian
Type site for Uruk period and first true city (c.4000–3100 BCE), Uruk at peak 2900 BCE housed 50,000–80,000 inside 9.5 km city wall built by Gilgamesh (per Epic).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Ur
Ubaid to Persian (c.3800 BCE–300 BCE; Early Dynastic/Ur III peak 2600–2000 BCE) · Sumerian / Akkadian / Babylonian / Persian
Sumerian city-state of the moon god Nanna (Sîn), Ur famous for Woolley's excavations 1922–34: Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu (2112 BCE) best-preserved ziggurat, Royal Cemetery with Standard of Ur, Pu-abi's…