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	Eridu
	Kish
	Lagash
	Nippur
	Shuruppak
	Sippar
	Ur
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Sumeria's City of...

Nippur

General Urbs

The mounds of Nufar are among the most extensive in all [Iraq], rivaling in this respect the famous ruins of Babylon… The main mass of hills or mounds is about a mile in circumference… and small outlying mounds occur at the distance of a couple of miles from the main group. The latter represents the ancient city within the walls. This is divided into two almost equal parts by a deep depression, called by the natives Shatt-en-Nil, or canal of the Nil, running through the mounds from northwest to southeast, and representing an ancient ship canal, which left the Euphrates at Babylon, about sixty miles to the northwest, and on which lay some of the most important cities of the country.

p. 105, John Peters, Chapter IV General Results [of the Nippur Excavation], 1897

Nippur (Sumerian Nibru, Akkadian Nibbur) was, for thousands of years, the religious center of Mesopotamia. It was the place where Enlil, the supreme god of the Sumerian pantheon, created mankind. Although never the capital of any kingdom, Nippur retained great political importance due to the temples located there, and the religious nature of the city kept it from most of the recurrent patterns of devastation that accompanied the constant warfare of the region.

The city was founded around 5000 BCE and remained continuously inhabited until it was abandoned around 800 CE. It remained a religious city to the end. At the time of its abandonment it had a Muslim population, with a minority of Jews and Christians. The latter included a Christian Bishop, which may have remained as late as the 12th century CE; the Jewish settlement may have existed as early as the first exile period.

The presence of the scribes inherent as part of the presence of the priesthood and related government structures probably meant the city had a higher than usual literacy level, which in turn provided the archaeological record with thousands of Sumerian and Akkadian documents written on clay tablets. Some of these tablets contain the oldest versions of literary works, such as the Gilgamesh Epic and the Creation Story, while others hold administrative, legal, medical and business records, and school texts.

Inscriptions of Lugal-zagesi and Lugal-kigub-nidudu, respectively kings of Uruk and Ur, as well as of other early pre-Semitic rulers, on door-sockets and stone vases, show the veneration in which the ancient shrine was then held. The importance attached to possession of the city provided a certain stamp of legitimacy, which is why on their votive offerings some of these rulers designate themselves as ensis, or governors.

Nippur covers about a mile by a mile and a half, with the city walls enclosing about 334 acres. One quarter of the land within the walls was occupied by public buildings of one sort or another. The Euphrates River came towards Nippur from the north and ran along the west side of the city. A large canal diverged from the river on the north and flowed from northwest to southeast right through the middle of the city. The city had an extensive irrigation system, something made necessary by the insufficient rainfall.

The religious quarter on the eastern side of the city was designated dur-an-ki, which is Sumerian for "the bond of heaven and earth." Important monuments at Nippur include a series of Early Dynastic temples dedicated to Inanna, the temple of Enlil and the neighbouring ziggurat of the Ur III Period. The temple of Enlil was later converted into a Parthian fortress around 250 CE. Huge walls were erected at the edges of the ancient terrace, the courts of the temple were filled with houses and streets, and the ziggurat itself was built over in a curious cruciform shape and converted into an acropolis for the fortress. Under the succeeding rule of the Sassanids the fortress in its turn fell into decay, and the ancient sanctuary became, to a considerable extent, a mere sepulture. The city was reduced to little more than a village of mud huts sited about the ancient ziggurat.

Nippur was first excavated in 1888 by an excavation sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania. On the staff in that first season was Dr. Robert F. Harper, who a few years later founded Assyriological studies at the University of Chicago. The excavation continued until 1900. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago began digging at Nippur in 1948, and although limited funding during the early seasons forced the field director at the time, Richard C. Haines, to carry out each season as if it were the last, the excavation continued to 2003 when the archaeological work was forced to a halt by looting and war in Iraq. Currently there are guards present, the roof of the excavation house is ready for occupation, and the situation seems to be under control, although over 100 holes were made by looters and much damage may have been done.

The Sumerian flood story is preserved on a six-columned tablet from Nippur, only the lower third of which is preserved. The complete tablet would probably have had 260 lines. The tablet can be dated by its script to the late 17th century BCE. The story inscribed on the tablet deals with the creation of humans and animals, the antediluvian cities and their rulers, and the flood. This clay tablet, now known as the Nippur Tablet, is on display at Frank H. McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee.


The Nippur Expedition
McClung Museum

Shahrbaraz Xerxes