Ur's ziggurat has been rebuilt with modern brick stamped by a modern ruler, echoing a very old local custom of kings putting their names on the building material itself.
A stepped tower for the moon god
The Great Ziggurat of Ur, built by Ur-Nammu around the twenty-first century BCE, was dedicated to the moon god Nanna, also called Sin, and its lower levels have been partially reconstructed in modern times, including a restoration project carried out under Saddam Hussein's government that used bricks stamped with his name, a modern echo of the ancient Mesopotamian practice of rulers inscribing their own names into foundation and facing bricks to record their patronage.
A city tradition ties to Abraham
Ur is traditionally identified with Ur of the Chaldees, named in the biblical account of Genesis as the birthplace of Abraham, a connection that has drawn religious pilgrimage and interest to the site independent of its separate significance as a major Sumerian archaeological centre, though the specific historical identification remains a matter of tradition rather than direct archaeological confirmation.
As this entry's companion article covers
Enheduanna, the priestess-poet whose surviving work makes her the earliest named author in recorded history, and the mass burials found in the site's royal tombs, are addressed directly in this entry's companion article rather than repeated here.