I have been helping my son with his school report on Mesopotamia and was looking for some satellite pics from Google. I knew that the great ziggurat from Ur was still standing. Via Wikipedia, I got the coordinates and was able to get a nice overhead of the ancient city, really one of the first big cities and the source of the first great kingdom of Sumeria (Abraham, father of Israel is also from Ur, hmmm).
Well, from the pic, I saw an air base just south of it and revisted the news for any discussion on the ancient stuff from Iraq. It is sad that Iraq is considered the cradle of civilization and the lawlessness down there puts all these antiquities at risk.
But, on a nice note, that cognects with me in different ways, the Americans at the base just next to Ur (it was an old Iraqi base) have organized a marathon that runs around the ziggurat. And, it’s not just any marathon, but the Patriot’s Day Boston Marathon.
Personal cognections: Marathon – check; ran one last August and hope to run the Boston one some day. Ur – check; I have always had a facination with Sumeria, indeed my first corporate domain name was Edubba, which is sumerian for ‘house of tablets (I wrote the brief Wikipedia entry). Boston – check; lived there for many years, my kids were born there, and I love the place.
Just thought I’d share that. 🙂
Link: DenverPost.com – SPORTS.
In addition to the 150 marathoners, 150 four-person relay teams competed as well. The out-and- back course turned around near the 4,000-year-old Ziggurat of Ur, a temple tower dating to ancient Mesopotamia.
