Uruk was the center of the Sumerian goddess Inanna’s worship in ancient Mesopotamia. The city, located in southern Mesopotamia, became one of the region’s most influential urban centers during the fourth and third millennia BCE.
Inanna’s principal sanctuary at Uruk was the Eanna district, a major religious and administrative complex. The city was also associated with the sky god Anu, and its rulers sponsored temples, walls, and public works. Uruk’s importance helped make its name influential in later traditions about early cities and kings.
Archaeologists have found some of the earliest known writing-related tablets at Uruk, dating to the late fourth millennium BCE. The city is linked with the legendary king Gilgamesh, but legendary stories and archaeological evidence are not identical kinds of evidence. Uruk should also be distinguished from Ur, another major Sumerian city farther south.