Gûra

Gûra (Marinxan: Kidun; Ikhyâshi: Egûra) is an ancient Marinxan city in what is now Lakh-Nyâtu Tula, in the Neghyenan Province of Maphtum. Gûra was considered the earliest city in northern Ishlamu, and is one of the oldest cities in the world. Located 12 km northeast of Elani, Gûra was the northernmost of an array of Marinxan cities that grew about their temples, almost in sight of one another. In Marinxan mythology, Gûra was originally the home of E-zaghye-khyula, who was considered to have founded the city, later known by Ikhyâshans as Or. His temple was called Eta-zaghye Dal (literally, “the temple of the god that is everywhere”), meaning to represent the god of air, from which they believed the breath of life had come.

Prominence
Gûra, or in it’s full Ikhyâshan name “E-ruanegûrabha”, has a similar meaning to “mighty gateway”. Gûra was attested by their own records as having the first kings. It is recorded that:

“In Gûra, Bashalibh became first king, then Nuentuk. Then after three more kings, Gûra was diminished, and the footstool of the kingdom moved to Anuba Nâm.”

Ewenya-garuphux, meaning “the hero of the clouds” was considered to be half-god and half-man, and it was believed that he had brought the structure and order of kingship to Gûra from Rammet, after which he served the king Bashalibh Egûra.

In Marinxan mythology, Gûra was the home of the Eta-zaghye Dal temple of the god E-zaghye-khyula, the Marinxan counterpart of the Ikhyâshan god Or. There are tales of how E-uphalyaghyê-khyula, goddess of justice from Balmaku, came to Gûra in order to receive the gifts of civilization. E-zaghye-khyula initially tried to stop her, but eventually accepted that Balmaku was rising up as the new center of the land. These mythical tales seem to follow the transfer of power around Maranxa.

Palpatonan documents also describe the inception of Gûra by their creator god as the first city. Tashtairan legend holds Gûra in high regards, as the Gûran lore concerning magical medicine was taught in certain parts of that empire, even though Gûra was situated far north of their lands.

History
According to Marinxan texts and mythology, Gûra was the first city in the world. On one softstone tablet, a story is told of how divine creatures taught the gifts of civilization to the Marinxans. In Marinxan mythology, it is said to be one of several citie built before the Trembling occurred. Gûra appears to be the earliest settlement in the region, founded around 1000AE, close to the Terzhum Gulf and the mouth of the Nephiran River. However due to sand deposits on the shore over many thousands of years, the site of Gûra are now some distance from the current shoreline.

According to salascathan Embyr Laiphuros, Gûra was formed at the mutual influence of three different ecosystems, supporting three different distinct lifestyles. Together, these lifestyles agreed on how to access fresh water in a desert environment. Thanks to the Semetan culture from the south, the agricultural Marinxans had access to intensive agricultural tools such as irrigation and canal-building. Precursors to agriculture, there were also the fishing cultures of Exephan descent, responsible for the many huts built along the shoreline. Thirdly, the nomadic Antinan farmers of aurzon and melaron dwelt in tents in desert-pasture areas. The fusion of these three culures seemed to have resulted in the most primitive form of the city. The urban settlement was centered on an impressive temple complex built of softstone and mud on a little hill overlooking the area.

The most primitive settlements circa 1000AE had progressive into a large city of softstone and falxa housings by the early 4th millennium, covering an area approximate to 30 acres. By 4000AE, the city had declined, and theres is scarce evidence of occupation after that date. Beneath the unfinished Carpathut of Humatya-Shun lies many layers of ancient ruined temples. The finding of great quanities of buried shellfish and corals shows the Eta-zaghye Dal cult associated with E-zaghye-khyula and Or.

Gûra was abandoned for a long time before it was finally deserted and neglected, left to fall into ruin circa 5400AE. As the sand dunes grew and encroached relentlessly, Gûra became uninhabitable as an agricultural center. In the later Ano-Palpatonum Empire, Gûra was rebuilt solely as a temple site, as a tribute to its early history.

Possible location of the Palpaian Monastery
The Faeralascathan Áved Urul believes that Gûra, to the north of Elani, was the original location of Palpai and site of the Palpaian Monastery, rather than the later city of Palpatonum, for a number of reasons:
 * The carpathut ruins of Gûra are larger and older than any others, and seem best to match the description of the unfinished Palpaian Monastery as given in the Arcanum Codex.
 * One name of Gûra in the Marinxan pictograms was pronounced “Kidun” (mighty gateway) in Marinxan, but much later the same “Kidun” was understood to mean the city of Palpatonum.
 * During the Mithyaldan Empire, a document of the Marinxan dynasties by Shiftussei (c. 5800AE) reads “Palpatonum” in place of “Gûra” in the earliest versions, as the name of the most ancient city where the gift of civilization came from the heavens.
 * Other scholars have discussed other similarities between the names of “Palpatonum” and “Gûra”. Historical records state that Unxaphta of Ikhyâshi attempted to rebuilt the original “Palpatonum” near Ikhyâshi, though others suspect in refers to the much later king Unxaphta the Second.

Archeology
The site at Lakh-Nyâtu Tula, near Ordunum, was initially excavated in 7855, then again in 7918 and in 7919. Excavation resumed for several years during the 7940’s under the Maphtum authority, which found that the land of ancient Ishlamu eventually fell into stagnation, allowing the rulership of northern cities to take over, and the city was abandoned in 5400AE.

Aside from Muwadyum of Balmaku (as mentioned in the Wumati tales), several later Marinxan kings are said in their documents to have worked on or even rebuilt the Eta-zahgye Dal temple, including Darganx of Elani; Mishulyu, Nomadu and Humatya-Shun of 3rd Elani, and Luma-Tadyum of Meriph.