Uruk

Uruk (`rk) or Erech (ē`rĕk), ancient Sumerian city of Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates and NW of Ur (in present-day S Iraq). It is the modern Tall al Warka. Uruk, dating from the 5th millennium B.C., was the largest city in S Mesopotamia and an important religious center. The sanctuaries of the goddess Inanna (who corresponds to the Babylonian Ishtar and is also called Nana or Eanna) and Anu, the sky god, date from the early 4th millennium B.C. The temple of Anu, known as the white temple, stood on a terrace and seems to have been a primitive form of ziggurat. Uruk was the home of Gilgamesh and is mentioned in the Bible (Gen. 10.10). There have been excavations at the site since 1912.

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Erech

 or Uruk

Ancient city, Mesopotamia. Located northwest of Ur on the Euphrates River, it was one of the greatest cities of Sumer and was enclosed by brickwork walls that, according to legend, were built by the mythical hero Gilgamesh. Excavations have traced successive cities that date from the prehistoric Ubaid period (c. 5000 BC) to Parthian times (126 BC–AD 224), when in c. 70 BC an ancient school of learned scribes was still using cuneiform script. Urban life in what is known as the Erech-Jamdat Nasr period (c. 3500–2900 BC) is more fully illustrated at Erech than at any other Mesopotamian city.