UR:

By: Emil G. Hirsch

A locality mentioned four times in the Bible (Gen. xi. 28, 31; xv. 7; Neh. ix. 7) with the qualification (= "of the Kasdim," or Chaldees), and described as the original home of Abram. Modern scholars, with few exceptions, are agreed that Ur is identical with the mound of ruins in southern Babylonia on the right bank of the Euphrates, known as Al-Muḳair or Al-Mughair. This was an ancient seat of lunar worship; and it was dominant as a political center as early as 3000 B.C. Those scholars who incline to establish a connection between moon-worship ("Sin" = "moon") and the monotheism of Israel ("Sinai") find a corroboration of their theory in the fact that Abram's original home was the seat of the worship of Sin (comp. Jensen in "Zeitschrift für Assyriologie," xi. 298 et seq.).

E. G. H.