Uruk Uruk (URUUNUG , Sumerian:Akkadian:uruk Greek:toponym 'unug', is modern Warka (Arabic:Al Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient Nil canal, some 30As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq. The modern name Iraq is thought to be derived from the name Uruk. At its height c 2900 BCE, Uruk probably had 50,000–80,000 residents living in 62 of walled area; the largest city in the world at the time.