Uruk ( ; Sumerian: Cuneiform: 𒀕𒆠, unug ki , Akkadian: 𒌷𒀕 or 𒌷𒀔 Uruk ( URU UNUG ); , Warkāʼ or Auruk; Aramaic/Hebrew: אֶרֶךְ ʼÉreḵ; , Ὀρέχ Orekh,  ) was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia), situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the dried-up, ancient channel of the Euphrates, some 30 kilometers east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.