It was one of the oldest and most important cities of Babylonia,
and the site of a famous temple, called E-Anna, dedicated to the
worship of Nana, or Ishtar. Uruk played a very important part in
the political history of the country from an early time,
exercising hegemony in Babylonia at a period before the time of
Sargon. Later it was prominent in the national struggles of the
Babylonians against the Elamite Empire up to 2000 BC, in which
it suffered severely; recollections of these conflicts are
embodied in the Gilgamesh epic as it has come down to us.
According to the Sumerian king list, Uruk was founded by
Enmerkar, who brought the official kingship with him from the
city of E-ana. His father Mec-ki-aj-gacer had "entered the sea
and disappeared". External links and references