Uruk-The Mother of All Cities

When we ____________________ about the ____________________ world we ____________________ to think of rare and ____________________ artefacts or the ____________________ remains of epic ____________________ . But these are just the ____________________ shells that got left ____________________ when the tide of ____________________ turned . The living ____________________ the ____________________ that once ____________________ these shells were ____________________ if ever static or stately . They were ____________________ chaotic and always ____________________ to spin out of ____________________ , because ____________________ is based on an ____________________ ____________________ that strangers can live ____________________ in dense ____________________ settings forging new ____________________ that replace the ties of ____________________ clan or ____________________ . It's an ____________________ we're ____________________ coming to terms with ____________________ . But one of the ____________________ ways to ____________________ the challenges is to ____________________ at how our ____________________ tackled them the ____________________ time ____________________ . In Baghdad people ____________________ all too well just how ____________________ civilisation is and how ____________________ . The ancient Greeks ____________________ that the ____________________ for all ____________________ societies was Eunomia , ____________________ order . Lose that and you're in ____________________ of losing ____________________ . Today ____________________ and ____________________ Iraqis are ____________________ to put ____________________ together the ____________________ order that ____________________ regime ____________________ and civil ____________________ tore apart . They ____________________ with the ____________________ that things will be ____________________ one day . It's a tall order but not an ____________________ one . In this part of the world it's a ____________________ that's been played out again and again from the time of the ____________________ first cities , which ____________________ in this region some ____________________ ____________________ ago . So here it is : ____________________ the mother of all ____________________ . Nowadays as you can ____________________ it's quite ____________________ to get to . But I'm ____________________ I did . Athens Rome ____________________ London ____________________ New York . If you ____________________ the family ____________________ of all these ____________________ cities they'd all ____________________ back here to this dry and ____________________ corner of southern Iraq . Nowadays there's not much to ____________________ . But years ago this was ____________________ to 40 . 000 or ____________________ 50 , 000 people . A ____________________ density ____________________ in human history . In the ____________________ of ____________________ Uruk was built by Gilgamesh two thirds god one third ____________________ . The great epic ____________________ The Legend of Gilgamesh ____________________ a proud ____________________ of his city . ____________________ up pace the walls of Uruk ____________________ the ____________________ terrace and examine the ____________________ . Is not the ____________________ made of ____________________ brick ? And did not the ____________________ sages lay its foundations ? Three and a ____________________ square miles is the ____________________ of Uruk . In fact if anything The ____________________ of Gilgamesh ____________________ things . The walls that surrounded Uruk were nearly 10 ____________________ in length enclosing an area of six square kilometers . Now just to ____________________ you a ____________________ of comparison ____________________ Athens at its ____________________ was no more than ____________________ square kilometers . And even ____________________ Rome was little more than ____________________ . So by the ____________________ of the ____________________ world these first ____________________ were neither ____________________ nor ____________________ . Right from the very ____________________ they were big ____________________ .