Ur Kaśdim or Ur of the Chaldees (אוּר כַּשְׂדִים) is the town in the Hebrew Bible and related literature where Abraham (origin. Abram Gen. 17.5) may have been born. The traditional site of Abraham's birth is in the vicinity of Edessa — both Islamic tradition, and classical Jewish authorities such as Maimonides and Josephus, had placed Ur Kaśdim at various northern Mesopotamian sites such as Urkesh, Urartu, Urfa, or Kutha. However, in 1927 Leonard Woolley identified Ur Kaśdim with the Sumerian city of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, which was under the rule of the Chaldeans; and this identification remains popular today.