Editing Sippar (section)

==Archaeology==
{{multiple image
 | image1 = Si427o.jpg
 | alt1 = Si.427 Obverse
 | image2 = Si427r.jpg
 | alt2 = Si.427 Reverse
 | footer = Si.427, a tablet excavated in Sippar in 1894, depicting a [[Surveying|land survey]]. A mathematical text dealing with the surface area of a field divided into 11 pieces.<ref name="Mansfield">{{cite journal |last1=Mansfield |first1=Daniel F. |title=Perpendicular Lines and Diagonal Triples in Old Babylonian Surveying |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |date=January 2020 |volume=72 |pages=87–99 |doi=10.1086/709309|s2cid=224837017 |url=http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:68848/bin16fb5d68-9860-41b7-8096-eabad4b204c8?view=true&xy=01|hdl=1959.4/unsworks_68848 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Beek1973">{{cite book
 |last=Beek
 |first=Martinus Adrianus
 |date=1973
 |title=Symbolae Biblicae Et Mesopotamicae [[Frans de Liagre Böhl|Francisco Mario Theodoro de Liagre Böhl]] Dedicatae
 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]
 |page=379
}}</ref>
}}
[[File:Clay cone Sippar Louvre AO3277.jpg|thumb|Hammurabi clay cone from Sippar at Louvre]]
Tell Abu Habba, measuring over 1 square kilometer was first excavated by [[Hormuzd Rassam]] (referring to the site as Aboo-Habba) between 1880 and 1881 for the British Museum in a dig that lasted 18 months. Rassam excavated only down to the Old Babylonian levels and was focused mainly on the Neo-Babylonian remains.<ref>[https://archive.org/download/asshurlandofnimr00rass/asshurlandofnimr00rass.pdf]Hormuzd Rassam, "Asshur and the Land of Nimrod: Being an Account of the Discoveries Made in the Ancient Ruins of Nineveh, Asshur, Sepharvaim, Calah, [etc.]...", Curts & Jennings, 1897</ref> Tens of thousands of tablets were recovered including the [[Tablet of Shamash]] in the Temple of [[Shamash]]/[[Utu]]. Most of the tablets were [[Neo-Babylonian]].<ref>Leichty, E., "Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum. Volume VI: Tablets from Sippar 1", London, 1986</ref><ref>Leichty, E. and A. K. Grayson, "Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum Volume VII: Tablets from Sippar 2", London, 1987</ref><ref>Erie Leichty et al., Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum Volume VII: Tablets from Sippar 3, British Museum Publications, 1988, {{ISBN|0-7141-1124-4}}</ref> The temple had been mentioned as early as the 18th year of [[Samsu-iluna]] of Babylon, who reported restoring "Ebabbar, the temple of Szamasz in Sippar", along with the city's [[ziggurat]].

The tablets, which ended up in the [[British Museum]], are being studied to this day. As was often the case in the early days of archaeology, excavation records were not made, particularly find spots. This makes it difficult to tell which tablets came from Sippar-Amnanum as opposed to Sippar.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goddeeris|first=Anne|title=Economy and society in northern Babylonia in the early old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1800 BC)|date=2002|publisher=Peeters|isbn=90-429-1123-9|location=Leuven|oclc=50207588}}</ref> Other tablets from Sippar were bought on the open market during that time and ended up at places like the British Museum and the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref>[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160738291.pdf]Hermann Ranke, Babylonian Legal and Business Documents from the Time of the First Dynasty of Babylon; Chiefly from Sippar, University of Pennsylvania, 1906 (reprinted by Nabu Press {{ISBN|1-144-69277-6}})</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lerberghe|first=Karel van|title=Old Babylonian legal and administrative texts from Philadelphia|date=1986|publisher=Departement Oriëntalistiek|others=Marten Stol, Gabriela Voet|isbn=90-6831-063-1|location=Leuven|oclc=18962321}}</ref> Since the site is relatively close to [[Baghdad]], it was a popular target for illegal excavations.<ref>E. A. Budge, "By Nile and Tigris: A Narrative of Journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on Behalf of the British Museum Between the Years 1886 and 1913", John Murray, 1920</ref>

In 1894, Sippar was worked briefly by [[Jean-Vincent Scheil]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/unesaisondefouil00sche/page/1/mode/1up]V. Scheil, "Une Saison de fouilles a Sippar", Le Caire, 1902</ref> The tablets recovered, mainly Old Babylonian, went to the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|Istanbul Museum]].<ref>[https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/20211AuOrAdaliFrahm.pdf]Adalı, Selim Ferruh, and Frahm Eckart, "The Slave-Girl's Child: A" Literary" Fragment from the Istanbul Sippar Archive", Aula Orientalis, pp. 5-17, 2021</ref> In 1927 archaeologists [[Walter Andrae]] and [[Julius Jordan]] visited, and mapped, the site.<ref>Andrae, W., and J. Jordan, "Abu Habbah: Sippar", Iraq, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 51–59, 1934</ref> In modern times, the site was worked, mainly soundings, by a Belgian team led by H. Gasche from 1972 to 1973.<ref>"Excavations in Iraq 1972-73", Iraq, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 188–204, 1973</ref> They determined that Sippar was protected by a wall, partially for flood protection, extending 1200 meters by 800 meters, cutting a trench across it. A tablet of Samsu-iluna was found showing the wall dated back to at least Old Babylonian period though ground water prevented deeper excavation.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tell ed-Dēr : sounding at Abū Ḥabbah (Sippar)|date=1980|publisher=Peeters|others=Leon de Meyer|isbn=2-8017-0160-2|location=Leeuven|oclc=8165805}}</ref>

[[File:Old Babylonian Cylinder Seal, formerly in the Charterhouse Collection 04.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Old Babylonian [[Cylinder Seal]], [[hematite]]. The king makes an animal offering to [[Shamash]]. The style of this seal suggests that it originated from a workshop in Sippar<ref>Al-Gailani Werr, L., "Studies in the chronology and regional style of Old Babylonian Cylinder Seals", Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, vol. 23, 1988</ref>]]
Iraqi archaeologists from the College of Arts at the [[University of Baghdad]], led by Walid al-Jadir with Farouk al-Rawi, have excavated at Tell Abu Habbah starting in 1978. Work began with a new site contour map and excavation in the Old Babylonian area in the north where two buildings were uncovered. About 100 Old Babylonian period cuneiform tablets were found.<ref>"Excavations in Iraq, 1977-78", Iraq, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 141–81, 1979</ref> Subsequently, the team worked in an Old Babylonian residential area where terracotta plaques and figurines, and cuneiform tablets were found. The tablets were from the reign of Immerum, Buntahun-ila, and Samsu-iluna. Focus then shifted to the Shamash temple area.<ref>"Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82", Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983</ref><ref>[https://findit.library.yale.edu/images_layout/view?parentoid=15763289&increment=130]Lamia al-Gailani and Walid al-Jadir, Seal Impressions from Sippar, Sumer, vol. 37, pp. 129-144, 1981</ref> In the northeast, Old Babylonian, part of the site, a 30 meter by 5 meter deep sounding was excavated. The sounding found 4 Old Babylonian levels, 2 [[Akkadian Empire]] levels, and 3 Early Dynastic levels ( with plano-convex [[Mudbrick|mud brick]] construction).<ref>"Excavations in Iraq, 1983-84", Iraq, vol. 47, pp. 215–39, 1985</ref><ref>Jadir, W. al- and Abdullah, Z. R., "Preliminary Results of the University of Baghdad Excavation of Sippar (Abu Habbah), Seasons 1978-1983", Sumer 39, pp. 97–122, 1983 (in Arabic)</ref> In 1986, while clearing spoil from the Rassam excavation in the E-Babbar temple, a room was discovered which Rassam had not noticed. It contained a library with about 400 cuneiform tablets, which had been stored in 10 ranks of 17cm by 30cm niches in 4 rows. The tablets included copies of earlier inscriptions dating back to the Akkadian Empire and contemporary texts as late as the reign of [[Cambyses II]].<ref>"Excavations in Iraq 1985-86", Iraq, vol. 49, pp. 231–51, 1987</ref><ref>"Excavations in Iraq 1987-88", Iraq, vol. 51, pp. 249–65, 1989</ref> Few of the tablets were published at the time due to conditions in Iraq. With conditions improving, they are now being published.<ref>Fadhil, Anmar Abdulillah, and Enrique Jiménez, "Literary Texts from the Sippar Library I: Two Babylonian Classics", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 109.2, pp. 155-176, 2019</ref><ref>Fadhil, Anmar Abdulillah, and Enrique Jiménez, "Literary Texts from the Sippar Library II: The Epic of Creation", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 111.2, pp. 191-230, 2021</ref><ref>Fadhil, Anmar Abdulillah, and Enrique Jiménez, "Literary Texts from the Sippar Library III:‘Eriš šummi’, a Syncretistic Hymn to Marduk", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 112.2, pp. 229-274, 2022</ref><ref>Fadhil, Anmar Abdulillah, and Enrique Jiménez, "Literary Texts from the Sippar Library IV: A “Macranthropic” Hymn to Ninurta", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 113.2, pp. 193-215, 2023</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Al-Rawi|first=Farouk N. H.|title=Old Babylonian texts from private houses at Abu Habbah ancient Sippir : Baghdad University excavations|date=2000|publisher=NABU|others=Stephanie Dalley|isbn=1-897750-07-2|location=London|oclc=47677571}}</ref><ref>W. al-Jadir and Z. Rajib, "Archaeological Results from the Eighth Season at Sippar", Sumer, vol. 46,
pp. 69-90, 1990 (in Arabic)</ref> After 2000, they were joined by the [[German Archaeological Institute]]. In total, the effort continued in 24 seasons until 2002.<ref>Al-Rawi, Farouk Ν. H., "A New Old Babylonian Date List from Sippir with Year Names of Apil-Sin and Sîn-muballiț", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 83, no. 1, pp. 22-30, 1993</ref><ref>Abdulillah Fadhil et al., "Ausgrabungen in Sippar (Tell Abu Habbah). Vorbericht über die Grabungsergebnisse der 24. Kampagne 2002", in Baghdader Mitteilungen (BaM) 36, pp. 157-224, 2005</ref><ref>Abdulillah Fadhil et. el., "Sippar - Results of prospecting 2004/24", Sumer, vol. LII, no. 1&2, pp. 294-357, 2004</ref>