rB• & אוׄרB•

Urbi & Orbi

omnium urbis et orbis Ecclesiarum mater et caput

orb (plural orbs)

1. A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star
2. One of the azure transparent spheres conceived by the ancients to be inclosed one within another, and to carry the heavenly bodies in their revolutions
3. (architecture) A structural motif or finial in the shape of a sphere
4. An orbit of a heavenly body 
5. (rare) The time period of an orbit 
6. (poetic) The eye, seen as a luminous and spherical entity 
7. (poetic) Any revolving circular body, such as a wheel 
8. (rare) A sphere of action. 
9. A globus cruciger; a ceremonial sphere used to represent royal or imperial power
10. A translucent sphere appearing in flash photography (Orb (optics))
11. (military) A body of soldiers drawn up in a circle, as for defence, especially infantry to repel cavalry.

The name 𒋀𒀊𒆠 URIM₅^KI for "Country of Ur"

𒂍𒋼𒅎𒅍 é-temen-ní-gùru "Etemenniguru", meaning "temple whose foundation creates aura"

Ur (/ʊər/; Sumerian: Urim; Sumerian Cuneiform: 𒌶𒆠 URI₅^KI, 𒋀𒀕𒆠 URIM₂^KI or 𒋀𒀊𒆠 URIM₅^KI; Akkadian: 𒋀𒀕𒆠, romanized: Uru; Arabic: أُوْر‎, romanized: ʾūr; Hebrew: אוּר‎, romanized: ʾūr) was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern "Tell el-Muqayyar" (Arabic: تل ٱلْمُقَيَّر‎) in south Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Although Ur was once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the city is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 kilometres (9.9 miles) from Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq. The city dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BCE and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesannepada.

The city's patron deity was Nanna (in Akkadian, Sin), the Sumerian and Akkadian moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name, UNUG^KI, literally "the abode (UNUG) of Nanna". The site is marked by the partially restored ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC (short chronology), during the reign of Ur-Nammu and was reconstructed in the 6th century BC by Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. The ruins cover an area of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) northwest to southeast by 800 metres (2,600 ft) northeast to southwest and rise up to about 20 metres (66 ft) above the present plain level.

Sumer and Elam c. 2350 BCE