Erech

Important Sumerian city, located at what is now called Warka near the Euphrates River, 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) northwest of Ur and 160 miles (257.4 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Genesis 10:10 refers to Erech as the second of four cities founded by Nimrod. Partial excavations have uncovered the city walls (6 miles, or 9.7 kilometers, in circumference), canals, and the remains of elegant buildings with fluted walls decorated with colored cones and inscriptions. Two ziggurats are among the oldest ever discovered, and several temples date back to the late fourth or early third millennium BC. The use of clay cylinder seals began in Erech, and from the same period have come hundreds of pictographic inscriptions.

Ancient inscriptions indicate that Erech and its surroundings were regarded as extremely beautiful and fertile. Its religious pantheon centered on the aggressive goddess of love, Inanna, who was supposed to have brought to Erech the “divine laws” to which it owed its greatness. She helped Erech to subjugate its enemies and married King Dumuzi to ensure the fertility and prosperity of Sumer. Dumuzi, in turn, was identified with Tammuz, the fertility god widely worshiped in Mesopotamia and Palestine.