The temple of the Moon uncovered in Ur of the Chaldees, the home of Patriarch Abraham may be between 6,000 and 7,000 years old and is probably the oldest known edifice, according to Dr. George B. Gordon, Director of the University of Pensylvania Museum. The unearthing of the structure was due to the joint efforts of the British Museum and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
The temple was devoted to the worship of the moon, one of the favorite cults of that day and may have been to idolatrous house of worship in which Terah, the father of Abraham attended.
“We have no detailed information about the discovery as yet,” said Dr. Gordon. “We knew that this temple existed. There was a long tradition about it in ancient Babylonic writings. The wall of the oldest part of the building so far discovered was erected in the fifth millenium B. C. E. and was rebuilt or repaired by rulers of Mesopotamia as late as the time of Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B. C. E.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
