Ur (Sumerian:urim ; Akkadian:?) is modern Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq, and was a city in ancient Sumer. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the then Euphrates river on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland. Currently, Ur is south of the Euphrates on its right bank, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Nasiriyah, Iraq and close to the site of ancient Eridu.
The site is marked by the ruins of a ziggurat, still largely intact, and by settlement mounds. The ziggurat of Ur was a temple of Nanna, the moon deity in Sumerian mythology, and has two stages constructed from brick: in the lower stage the bricks are joined together with bitumen, in the upper stage they are joined with mortar. The temple was built in 2100 B.C. during the reign of Ur-Nammu. The temple stands 70 feet (21 m) high.
