Ur-Nammu

Hello. My name is Ur-Nammu, and I was a king who lived a very, very long time ago. I was the leader of a special city called Ur. Being the king meant I got to help all of the people who lived there. I wanted to make my city a wonderful and safe place for everyone. It was my job to be a good helper and make sure everyone felt happy in our home of Ur. I loved my city and all the people who lived in it.

I loved to build big, amazing things. My people and I worked together to build a giant, tall building called a ziggurat. Around the year 2100 BCE, we started building. We stacked big bricks higher and higher until our ziggurat looked like a huge staircase reaching for the sky. It was so tall. We built this special place to show that we cared about our gods. It made us happy to look up and see the beautiful ziggurat we all built together. It was the most important building in our city of Ur and everyone was very proud of it.

Besides building, I also wanted to make sure everyone was fair and kind to each other. So, around the years 2100 to 2050 BCE, I made a list of rules for our city. These were not mean rules. They were kind rules to help everyone be good neighbors. The rules helped people know how to share and how to be nice. I wanted my city of Ur to be a happy and peaceful place where friends could live and play together without anyone being unfair. Our rules helped make that happen.

I lived a long life many years ago. Even though that was a long, long time ago, people today still remember me. They remember the amazing ziggurat I built that reached for the sky. They also remember the fair rules I made to help people live together peacefully. It makes me happy to know that my ideas of building great things and being kind to others are still important today.