Editing Nippur (section)

== History ==
Nippur never enjoyed political hegemony in its own right, but its control was crucial, as it was considered capable of conferring the overall "kingship" on monarchs from other city-states. It was distinctively a sacred city, important from the possession of the famous [[Ekur]] temple of Enlil. [[Ninurta]], son of Enlil, also had his main [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]] center, the [[E (temple)|E-]]shumesha temple, in the city-state.<ref>{{citation|last=Robson|first=Eleanor|date=2015|title=Ninurta, god of victory|url=http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/nimrud/ancientkalhu/thepeople/ninurta/index.html|website=Nimrud: Materialities of Assyrian Knowledge Production|publisher=Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, UK Higher Education Academy}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last1=Black|first1=Jeremy|first2=Anthony|last2=Green|title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary|location=Austin, Texas|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1992|isbn=0714117056|page=142}}</ref>

According to the ''Tummal Chronicle'', [[Enmebaragesi]], an early ruler of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], was the first to build up
this temple.<ref>[[Jean-Jacques Glassner]], Mesopotamian Chronicles, Brill Academic, 2005, {{ISBN|90-04-13084-5}}</ref>
His influence over Nippur has also been detected archaeologically. The ''Chronicle'' lists successive early Sumerian rulers who kept up intermittent ceremonies at the temple: [[Aga of Kish]], son of Enmebaragesi; [[Mesannepada]] of [[Ur]]; his son Meskiang-nunna; [[Gilgamesh]] of [[Uruk]]; his son [[Ur-Nungal]]; Nanni of Ur and his son Meskiang-nanna. It also indicates that the practice was revived in the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III period]] by [[Ur-Nammu]] of Ur, and continued until [[Ibbi-Sin]] appointed Enmegalana high priest in Uruk (c. 1950&nbsp;BC).

Inscriptions of [[Lugal-Zage-Si]] and Lugal-kigub-nidudu, kings of [[Uruk]] and [[Ur]] respectively, and of other early rulers, on door-sockets and stone vases, show the veneration in which the ancient shrine was then held, and the importance attached to its possession, as giving a certain stamp of legitimacy. On their votive offerings, some of these rulers designate themselves as ''[[Ensí|ensis]]'', or governors.

[[File:Indus Civilisation Carnelian bead with white design, ca. 2900–2350 BC Found in Nippur, Mesopotamian (detail).jpg|upright|thumb|[[Indus Civilisation]] [[carnelian]] bead with white design, ca. 2900–2350 BC. Found in Nippur. An example of early [[Indus-Mesopotamia relations]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Indus carnelian bead found in Nippur Mesopotamia |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/324872 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>]]

===Akkadian, Ur III, and Old Babylonian periods===

[[File:Incised plaque, Nippur.jpg|thumb|Incised devotional plaque, Nippur.]]
[[File:Nippur vase of Lugalzagesi.jpg|thumb|The vase of [[Lugalzagesi]], found in Nippur.]]
Late in the 3rd millennium BC, Nippur was conquered and occupied by the rulers of [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]], or Agade, and numerous votive objects of [[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon]], [[Rimush]], and [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]] testify to the veneration in which they also held this sanctuary. Naram-Sin rebuilt both the [[Ekur]] temple and the 17.5 meter wide city walls. One of the few instances of Nippur being recorded as having its own ruler comes from a tablet depicting a revolt of several Mesopotamian cities against Naram-Sin, including Nippur under ''Amar-enlila''. The tablet goes on to relate that Naram-Sin defeated these rebel cities in nine battles, and brought them back under his control. The Weidner tablet (ABC 19) suggests that the Akkadian Empire fell as divine retribution, because of Sargon's initiating the transfer of "holy city" status from Nippur to Babylon.

[[File:Hammurabi's Babylonia 1.svg|300px|left|thumb|[[Babylonia]] in the time of [[Hammurabi]].]]
This Akkadian occupation was succeeded by occupation during the [[Ur-III|third dynasty of Ur]], and the constructions of [[Ur-Nammu]], the great builder of temples, are superimposed immediately upon those of Naram-Sin. Ur-Nammu gave the temple its final characteristic form. Partly razing the constructions of his predecessors, he erected a terrace of bricks, some 12&nbsp;m high, covering a space of about 32,000&nbsp;m{{sup|2}}. Near the northwestern edge, towards the western corner, he built a [[ziggurat]] of three stages of dry brick, faced with kiln-fired bricks laid in bitumen. On the summit stood, as at Ur and Eridu, a small chamber, the special shrine or abode of the god. Access to the stages of the ziggurat, from the court beneath, was by an inclined plane on the south-east side. To the north-east of the ziggurat stood, apparently, the House of Bel, and in the courts below the ziggurat stood various other buildings, shrines, treasure chambers, and the like. The whole structure was oriented with the corners toward the cardinal points of the compass.

Ur-Nammu also rebuilt the walls of the city on the line of Naram-Sin's walls. The restoration of the general features of the temple of this, and the immediately succeeding periods, has been greatly facilitated by the discovery of a sketch map on a fragment of a [[clay tablet]]. This sketch map represents a quarter of the city to the east of the [[Shatt en-Nil|Shatt-en-Nil]] canal. This quarter was enclosed within its own walls, a city within a city, forming an irregular square, with sides roughly 820&nbsp;m long, separated from the other quarters, and from the country to the north and east, by canals on all sides, with broad quays along the walls. A smaller canal divided this quarter of the city itself into two parts. In the south-eastern part, in the middle of its southeast side, stood the temple, while in the northwest part, along the Shatt-en-Nil, two great storehouses are indicated. The temple proper, according to this plan, consisted of an outer and inner court, each covering approximately {{cvt|8|acres|m2}}, surrounded by double walls, with a ziggurat on the north-western edge of the latter.

Ur III ruler [[Shu-Sin]], after destroying [[Šimānum]], as noted in a year name, settled the prisoners of that war near Nippur he founded called Šimānum (sometimes called E-Šu-Suen). This practice for disposition of prisoners continued into the first millennium.<ref>Steinkeller, Piotr, "Corvée Labor in Ur III Times", From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.: Proceedings of the International Conference on Neo-Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22–24 July 2010, edited by Steven J. Garfinkle and Manuel Molina, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 347-424, 2013</ref>

The temple continued to be built upon or rebuilt by kings of various succeeding dynasties, as shown by bricks and votive objects bearing the inscriptions of the kings of various dynasties of Ur and [[Isin]]. It seems to have suffered severely in some manner at or about the time the [[Elamites]] invaded, as shown by broken fragments of statuary, votive vases, and the like, from that period. [[Rim-Sin I]], the king of [[Larsa]], styles himself "shepherd of the land of Nippur". With the establishment of the Babylonian empire, under [[Hammurabi]], early in the 2nd millennium BC, the religious, as well as the political center of influence, was transferred to Babylon, [[Marduk]] became lord of the pantheon, many of Enlil's attributes were transferred to him, and Ekur, Enlil's temple, was to some extent neglected.<ref>Jonathan S. Tenney, "The Elevation of Marduk Revisited: Festivals and Sacrifices at Nippur during the High Kassite Period", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 68, pp. 153–80, 2016</ref>

The city was taken by Ilī-ma-ilu, the first ruler of the [[First Sealand dynasty]] in about the 29th year of the reign of Samsu-iluna, ruler of Babylon. It was retaken by Abī-ešuḫ by his 5th year, after he damned the Tigris river.<ref>Béranger, Marine, "Dur-Abi-ešuh and the Abandonment of Nippur During the Late Old Babylonian Period: A Historical Survey", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 75.1, pp. 27-47, 2023</ref><ref>Boivin, Odette, "A political history of the Sealand kingdom", The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 86-125, 2018</ref>

===Kassite through Sassanid periods===
Under the succeeding [[Kassites|Kassite]] dynasty, shortly after the middle of the 2nd millennium, Ekur was restored once more to its former splendor, several monarchs of that dynasty built upon and adorned it, and thousands of inscriptions, dating from the time of those rulers, have been discovered in its archives. A new temple within Ekur, the Ekurigibarra, was built by [[Kurigalzu I]] (c. 1375 BC).<ref>Bartelmus, A. (2010): Restoring the past. A historical analysis of the royal temple building inscriptions from the
Kassite Period, Kaskal 7, 143–171.</ref> After the middle of the 12th century BC follows another long period of comparative neglect due to the river Euphrates changing its course, but with the waters return and the conquest of Babylonia by the Assyrian king [[Sargon II]], at the close of the 8th century BC, we meet again with building inscriptions, and under [[Ashurbanipal]], about the middle of the 7th century BC, we find Ekur restored with a splendour greater than ever before, the ziggurat of that period being 58 by 39&nbsp;m.<ref>[https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/Publications/SAOC/saoc71.pdf Mark Altaweel and Carrie Hritz, Assyrians in Nippur], pp. 41-62 in Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 71, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2021 {{ISBN|978-1-61491-063-3}}</ref><ref>Cole, S. W., "Nippur in Late Assyrian Times (c. 755–612 BC).", State Archives of Assyria Studies, vol. 4, Helsinki, 1996 {{ISBN|9514572866}}</ref> After the fall of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] Ekur appears to have gradually fallen into decay, until finally, in the [[Seleucid]] period, the ancient temple was turned into a fortress ({{langx|grc|Νιππούρ}}, ''Nippoúr''). 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 curiously built over in a cruciform shape, and converted into an [[acropolis]] for the fortress. This fortress was occupied and further built upon until the close of the [[Parthia]]n period, about 250 AD; but under the succeeding rule of the [[Sassanid dynasty|Sassanid]]s it in its turn fell into decay.

===Islamic abandonment===
Nippur remained inhabited in Islamic times, and is mentioned by early Muslim geographers under the name of Niffar. It lay on the Nahr an-Nars canal, believed to have been built by Narses. By the late 800s, though, geographers no longer mentioned it, which indicates that the city had gone into decline by that time.<ref>Adams 236</ref> This was part of a broader decline in settlements throughout Iraq, especially in the south, as decaying infrastructure and political violence resulted in large areas being completely abandoned.<ref>Adams 215-225</ref> However, Nippur remained the seat of an Assyrian [[Church of the East]] [[Christianity|Christian]] [[bishopric]] until the late 900s, when the bishopric was transferred to the city of [[Nil, Iraq|Nil]], further northwest. Nippur itself may have remained occupied even later, since ceramics found among the ruins display underglaze [[Sgraffito|sgraffiato]] drawings, which were not used much prior to the end of the 10th century. By the time of [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]] in the early 1200s, Nippur had been definitively abandoned, although Yaqut still recognized its ruins as the site of a famous place.<ref>Adams 236-237</ref>

On the upper surface of these mounds was found a considerable Jewish town, dating from about the beginning of the Arabic period onward to the 10th century AD, in the houses of which were large numbers of [[Aramaic]] [[incantation bowls]].<ref>[https://archive.org/download/aramaicincantati00montuoft/aramaicincantati00montuoft.pdf] Montgomery, James A., "Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur", Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum, 1913</ref> Jewish names, appearing in the Persian documents discovered at Nippur, show, however, that Jewish settlement at that city dates in fact from a much earlier period.<ref>Michael David Coogan, Life in the Diaspora: Jews at Nippur in the Fifth Century B.C., The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 6-12 (Mar., 1974)</ref>