Ancient Cities in Abraham's Time: Uncovering a Forgotten World

To understand the background in which Abraham lived and operated in his youth, a period not extensively covered in the Torah, we can rely on the knowledge discovered recently about Mesopotamia, known in history as the land between the rivers.

For many years, scholars believed that when discussing people from 4,000 years ago, they referred to primitives who obviously couldn't read or write, lacked scientific knowledge, and were a "caveman" type, devoid of culture and knowledge, worshipping idols or statues. Obviously, they couldn't have lived in big cities, which they could hardly build, and instead wandered and lived in makeshift, primitive structures.

Over time, it became clear to recent generations that this description is quite inaccurate.

The Torah describes Nimrod's kingdom: "The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar." In the Al-Muthanna Governorate of present-day Iraq stands a massive mound named "Warka." This name evolved into "Iraq," known in the Torah as part of Nimrod's initial kingdom. For four millennia, no one thought to investigate what lay beneath the ruins of "Warka." Only in 1849 did a group of German researchers arrive, relying on the Torah's depiction of the ancient "Erech". However, the Ottoman Empire controlled the area and disfavored excessive probing into "ancient Muslim" history. It wasn't until 1910 that excavation permits were granted, when Germany and Turkey were allies, but World War I soon halted the plans. Serious excavations began in 1928 and continue to this day, with ongoing research.

It turned out that over 4,000 years ago, an organized civilization called the "Sumerians" governed Erech, or "Uruk," as per some ancient readings. The Sumerians were the earliest known cultured people. They wrote hundreds of thousands of tablets, invented various technological innovations like irrigation systems, had knowledge in mathematics and astronomy, crafted dictionaries to communicate in other languages, and established schools for writing and wisdom. Each city housed massive archives documenting commercial activities. The Sumerians and the people who succeeded them maintained books recording human history, describing a primordial paradise, the flood, and the ten kings (generations) before the flood, alongside many laws.

According to Sumerian writings, the founder of the city Uruk was named Enmerkar, perhaps a version of Nimrod. Gilgamesh, a renowned figure in Sumerian texts, fortified the city with a massive wall. According to a widely-known ancient text, "The Epic of Gilgamesh," Gilgamesh set out to find Utnapishtim (Noah), a flood survivor, to learn how he lived so long, gaining eternal fame. Dozens of copies of "The Epic of Gilgamesh" have been found across the ancient world, etched in stone with cuneiform, which involved pressing wedges into soft clay (the script is an ideogrammatic writing with over a thousand symbols).

Uruk spread across 6 square kilometers, surrounded by a colossal fortified wall, and housed about 80,000 inhabitants. It was one of the world's first cities, which explains why the Torah specifically mentions it. In the time of Abraham, King Hammurabi conquered Uruk. His name survived generations thanks to the code of laws inscribed on a giant stone at the city center, Hammurabi's Code, samples of which have been found worldwide. The texts were written in cuneiform, and their translation into our language isn't straightforward. According to some translations, the precise name is "Amraphel," not Hammurabi, and some believe he is "Amraphel King of Shinar," whom Abraham later fought in the battle of the four kings.

Accad is also mentioned alongside Erech. The Akkadians are known to have lived parallel to the Sumerians, later uniting under a single ruler into the Sumerian-Akkadian kingdom. Ancient texts from the 6th century BCE (around the First Temple's destruction) describe Akkad's location as known in their time, and the sages identify Akkad with Nisibis, on the Turkey-Syria border. The Akkadian language became international, used by the Canaanites in the land at the time to communicate with regional kings (letters from El-Amarna), so Akkadian culture outlasted the Sumerian. However, the Akkadians still used the Sumerian language for their literature and religious texts, allowing us to read both languages today.

The city Calneh, also mentioned as part of Nimrod's initial kingdom, appears in Isaiah (10:9) as Calno, and likely bordered modern Syria and Turkey. During the Sea Peoples' invasion of the Middle East, around the time the Israelites settled in the land, the Sea Peoples also invaded Calneh, establishing a kingdom known, among other names, as "Philistia."

In Abraham's time, it is noted that Nimrod ruled over all these major cities. Even during the prophet Micah's time, all of Babylon was still called "Nimrod's land." According to the Book of Jasher, Nimrod lived for 215 years, and the sages recount that he was later killed by Esau, Abraham's grandson. Residents of these cities worshipped Sumerian deities, about which we have learned from the literature discovered in the ruins of Sumerian cities. Their beliefs were strong, and Abraham, as a young man, dared to challenge them. He was the only person in the world to contest the idol-worshipping faith.