“Private Chapels” in Southern Mesopotamia at the Beginning of the Second Millennium BC

I deal with the evidence for private cults in southern Mesopotamian houses between the end of the third and the beginning of the second millennium BC. The focus will be mainly on Ur, where several features were singled out and named “private chapels.” Other sites will also be taken into account for comparison. The main idea that some sort of cult ceremony was performed in private houses is not questioned. However, discrepancies in the evidence will be analysed, which might have some meaning for the interpretation of the real nature of these private cults.