Ancient Sumerian city on the Persian Gulf.
Although it was the chief seaport of Sumer and Babylonia and was located on the Euphrates River near the city of Ur , siltation has since moved the coastline southward and the city's remains are now some 120 mi (200 km) inland, in modern Iraq. It was revered as the oldest city in Sumer, and its patron god was Enki ( Ea ). Founded on sand dunes с 5th millennium BC, its ruins show the sequence of the preliterate Ubaid civilization, with a long succession of superimposed temples portraying the development of an elaborate mud-brick architecture. It was occupied until с 600 BC.