UPPER BOOM (iip'pEr room), al ee-yaw', lofty)(2 Kings i:2; Chron. xxviii: it; 2 Chron. ui:9), a room in the upper part of the house, used to receive company, hold feasts, to re tire for meditation and prayer ( Mark xiv.15; Luke xxii:12).
UR (flr), (Heb. 118, oor, light). 1. Ur of the Chaldees was the native place of the family of Abraham, whence he migrated first to Haran and then to Canaan (Gen. xi:28, 31; xv:7; Neh. ix:7).
The home of the nativity of Abraham was long a lost city. The excavations of Mr. Taylor, in 1854, and the discovery by Major Rawlinson of important historical documents, have settled be yond reasonable dispute the location of .13r of the Chaldees. It stood on the right bank of the Euphrates River, on a spot now occupied by the mounds of Mugheir. It was originally a port on the Persian Gulf, but the mounds now represent ing its ancient site stand nearly 150 miles above the mouth of the Euphrates. This great distance between its old site and the present headwaters of the gulf are due, according to geologists, to the abundant deposits of alluvia made by the river during the past four thousand years. The in scriptions discovered give a list of kings who ruled over this territory before Babylon came to prominence, or became a capital. Ur was pre sided over by the moon-god, Sin, who was like wise the patron deity of HARAN. The family of Abram's father, in its migration westward, made an important stop at this city. It was located near the great western bend in the Euphrates and was regarded as one of the chief cities of the north west territory. It stood on the great highway of com merce between the East and the West, and served as a kind of board of trade. Its name, Haran (harrann), means "road," "way." It was also a cosmopolitan city, for to this place came all the nations for gain and trade. (Price, The Monu ments and the 0. T. zd ed., p. 99.)
"The extent of the remains at Mukeyyer, or Mugheir, which, however, have been but imper fectly examined—show that the ancient city was of great size. The inscriptions on clay which have been found there must be ascribed to a date long before B. C. zoom But the question whether Ur of the Chaldees was a city, or, as the Septua gint takes it, simply the territory of the Chal dwans, makes little difference here, since the cuneiform inscriptions agree with Strabo in show ing that the Chaldseans inhabited the southern region of Mesopotamia in which Mukeyyer is sit uated. The inscriptions found at Ur itself have at present been few in number, and belong to a limited period. If the great temple of the moon god, founded in the very beginning of history, and maintained down to the latest times of the Babylonian monarchy, could be fully excavated, or if the city, round the walls of which lies a circle of tombs, could be ransacked for its hidden archaeological treasures, the results would, no doubt, reward the hardest labor." (Basil T. A. Evetts, New Light on the Bib. and The Holy Land, p. 338, 532.) "Wells have been sunk in the mound in places, and enough is known of the general character of the mound to make it certain that it contains quantities of antiquities which go back to the days of its early history. It is unfortunate for the progress of knowledge relating to the past history of the race that excavations on this site cannot be immediately undertaken. The importance of this could scarcely be overrated." (Rogers, His. of Early Bab., p. is.) 2. The father of Eliphal, one of David's "mighty men" (1 Chron. xi:35), B. C. before 1043. A copyist seems to have made two names, Ur and Hepher, out of one, which was perhaps Ahasbai, or some thing similar.