Uruk, the kingdom of the great king Gilgamesh, located in modern-day Warka, Samawah. Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, the first written words started right here, setting the standard for intellectual waves that shaped the world as we know it. The site is protected under UNESCO, my visit was made possible with the help of the Iraqi National Museum while conducting academic research. To say the experience was surreal is an understatement. It’s difficult to put into words the feeling you get setting foot into a land older than you can ever imagine, a land that offered wonders to the human race and its prosperity. Seeing ancient artifacts and structures on site, ziggurat, temples, complex passageways and water systems, cuneiform letterings and mosaic pieces laying around you, beautiful tones of blue brick to inspire, remnants of great empires and ancestors leave you speechless. You could even see traces of the path a Euphrates channel once took before changing courses. The ruins are a mere drop in the ocean of what this city once was, however, it deteriorated due to the extended periods of time and the nature of the materials used back then, leaving behind an aura of our great history for us to glorify.
