to fix, on the one hand, their own names as the builders of the public buildings and
structures (Sallaberger 1999 ). On the other hand, they provided the public buildings
with their own names. In some cases these names allow us to speculate about the
activities carried out in them and to propose the function of the building.
According to the texts, the elite of Ur can be called builders of monumental
buildings, be it buildings with religious or more worldly functions. These buildings can
be identified as public buildings due to precisely this circumstance: an elite, exercising
power in secular and religious affairs (not the priests!), acted as builders and did so as
representatives of the community. In addition, it shows that this elite controlled the
resources that were necessary for these monumental projects.Space design and building order: was any sign of a past visible or
did the present present the New?All buildings forming the public precinct of Ur, which was placed in the central
northern area of the city, were new building-types, including the new type of ziggurat
(while the ziggurat as a type of building dates back to the ED at both Kish and Ur)
and did not refer to a local (or other) tradition, were thus not rooted in a building
tradition of the immediate or distant past. The political development, a break with the
past and the beginning of the New was seemingly reflected in the architectural
development of Ur. Regardless of this rejection of any visible links to the past, the
written heritage of the kings of the third dynasty of Ur coined their image as those who
had re-established the norms and values of the Sumerian world – resurrecting the
Sumerian language and literature – and thus recreating the ‘golden past’ prior to the
Akkadian ‘intermezzo’.
What did the builders build?
The mightiest building of the new precinct, the ziggurat, flanked by two vast court-
yards and a large double enclosure wall was founded on behalf of Urnammu, the
founder of the third dynasty of Ur. Bricks built into the walls of the inner courtyard,
in which the ziggurat was the dominant feature, were inscribed with the Sumerian
name e-temen-ni-gur-ru(house: the foundation carries shiver) (George 1993 ). The
ziggurat as the mightiest building of the precinct was dedicated to the mightiest
religious power of the city, according to the textual tradition the city- and moon god
Nanna. A gate named e-dub-lal-mah(‘House, exalted door – socket’) (ibid.) was
located at the southeastern corner of that enclosure and served, according to the textual
evidence, as the local law court. Northeast of the gate was the ga-nun-mah, meaning
‘House, exalted storehouse’ (ibid.). According to its name it had functioned as a great
magazine and its layout, characterised by two rows of large rooms laid out parallel to
each other, does not contradict this interpretation. The ‘Giparu’-House (ibid.), located
southwest of the gate, a structure of large wings connected by courtyards, was used,
according to the inscriptions, as the ‘temple of the high-priestess (entu) of Nanna-Suen
at Ur’ (ibid.). The function of the ki-sal-gu-en,the court of the assembly, called e-hur-
sagby Woolley (Mittermayer, 2009 ), is not yet clear. It may have been used as a temple
as well or possibly as a palace. The textual evidence does not really settle this open
question and the building itself, with its interior design of courtyards and rooms, as
well as its location, allows both interpretations.
–– Marlies Heinz ––