⇒ Ereshkigal: Mesopotamian Queen of the Dead

Diorite statue of King Gudea I (r. c. 2144 – c. 2124 BCE), dedicated to the god Ningishzida, 2120 BCE. Louvre. Gudea (died c. 2124 BC) was a ruler (ensi) of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash in southern Mesopotamia. His reign is dated either to about 2080–2060 BCE (short chronology) or 2144–2124 BCE (middle chronology). He was likely not a native of Lagash but secured his position by marrying Ninalla, the daughter of Ur-Baba, a former ruler of the city. After his death, his son Ur-Ningirsu II succeeded him. Gudea governed during a period when central Sumer was under Gutian control and when the Akkadian king Ishtup-Ilum ruled Mari to the north. His reign marked a golden age for Lagash, which appears to have enjoyed considerable independence from the Gutians, a people originating from the northeastern regions beyond Mesopotamia.

The gold lyre from the Great Death-Pit, Ur of the Chaldees, excavations (1900) Excavations at Ur: A Record of Twelve Years' Work Now in present day Iraq, Ur was a city that rose from the "Mounds of Pitch" half way between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf, ten miles west of the Euphrates. Sir Leonard Woolley documents his experience as leader of the great expedition that carried on without interruption until 1934. Before its closure, this significant archaeological dig on the part of both museums established an image of Ur throughout its four thousand years in existence. Indeed, the excavators unearthed much more than they ever expected. These findings reveal the impressive history of Ur: its beginning, the flood, the Uruk and Jamdat Nasr periods, Al 'Ubaid and the first dynasty of Ur, the Dark Ages, the third dynasty of Ur, the Isin and Larsa periods, the Kassite and Assyrian periods, and finally Nebuchadnezzar and the last days of Ur. Abraham, a descendant of Noah through his son Shem, lived with his family in the city of Ur in Chaldea (today's Iraq).

quadratic formula equation (on right)

(The ad said "summer." I like this better.)