Editing Ur (section)

===Ga’eš===
Based on the archaeology the site of Tell Sakhariya has been proposed as the [[Ur III]] period city of Ga’eš (ga-eš<sup>ki</sup> and ga-eš<sub>5</sub><sup>ki</sup>), site of the Akiti festival of [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna/Sin]], held every year for 11 days in the seventh month of the year and 7 days in the first month of the year. The festival began at Nanna’s temple in Ur and ended in Ga’eš, possibly traveling via a canal.<ref>Falkenstein, A., "akiti-Fest und akiti-Festhaus", R. von Kienle et a!. (eds.), Festschrift Johannes Friedrich. Heidelberg, pp. 147-182, 1959</ref> The temple of Nanna/Sin there was called the Karzida (kar-zi-da) was located at Ga’eš (the names Karzida and Ga’eš appear to have been used interchangeably for the city). The 36th year name  of Ur III ruler [[Shulgi]] read "Year Nanna of Ga’eš was brought into his temple" and the 9th year name of Ur III ruler [[Amar-Sin]] read "Year En-Nanna-Amar-Sin-kiagra, was installed for the third time as en-priestess of Nanna of Ga’eš / of Karzida". Amar-Sin established a [[Giparu]] (nunnery) for the en-priestess of Nanna at Karzida saying "he caused En-aga-zi-ana, his  beloved  priestess (en),  to enter there".<ref>Nett, Seraina, "The Office and Responsibilities of the En Priestess of Nanna: Evidence from Votive Inscriptions and Documentary Texts", Women and Religion in the Ancient Near East and Asia, edited by Nicole Maria Brisch and Fumi Karahashi, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 93-120, 2023</ref> When the en-priestess died she was buried a with "golden crown (aga), which  is followed by five other golden objects".<ref>[https://cdli-gh.github.io/year-names/E_GLOSSARINDEX/R579.htm Ga’eš year names at CDLI]</ref><ref>Sallaberger, W., "Der Kultische Kalender der Ur ril-Zeit Teill", Untersuchungen zur Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archaologie 7/1, Berlin, 1993</ref><ref>Stol, Marten, "Priestesses", Women in the Ancient Near East, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 555-583, 2016</ref> From tablets found at Ur it is known that wrestling competitions were held at Ga’eš reading "for the ‘house of wrestling’ in the Akiti (building), issued in Ga’eš, during the Akiti month" and "100 liters of ordinary beer, the beer for the ‘house of wrestling’ … issued in Ga’eš", for example.<ref>Steinkeller, Piotr, "The Reluctant En of Inana — or the Persona of Gilgameš in the Perspective of Babylonian Political Philosophy", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, vol. 5, no. 1-2, pp. 149-177, 2018</ref> All that is known with certainty about its location is that it lay one days journey from [[Ur]] and was on a canal. A sketch in a 1990's paper concerning the Iturungal Canal placed Ga’eš in a location corresponding to Tell Sakhariya.<ref>Carroue, F., "Etudes de Geographie et de Topographie Sumeriennes III. L'lturungal et le Sud Sumerien", Acta Sumerologica 15, pp. 11-69, 1993</ref> It has been suggested that Ga’eš was mentioned in [[Early Dynastic II]] period administrative texts.<ref>Sallaberger, W., Schrakamp, I., "History and Philology", ARCANE III, Turnhout, 2015</ref> The final textual mention of was from the time of [[Larsa]] ruler [[Sin-Iddinam]] (c. 1849-1843 BC) a cone reading "Sm-i[ddinam], mighty man, [s]on [born] in Ga’eš  provider  of U[r], king of Lars[a], king of the land of S[umer] and Akkad] ...".<ref>Douglas Frayne, "Larsa", Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods, Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press,  pp. 107-322, 1990</ref> Apparently Ga’eš had a gate tower based on a text from [[Drehem]] "1 fattened sheep for the great gate tower in Ga’eš" dating to the reign of Su-Sin.<ref>Owen, David I., "Transliterations, Translations, and Brief Comments", The Nesbit Tablets, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 13-110, 2016</ref>

One of the ''[[Temple Hymns]]'' of [[Enheduanna]], the daughter of [[Sargon of Akkad]] (c. 2334-2279 BC), is dedicated to Ga’eš and the Karzida temple of [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna/Sin]] there.<ref>Helle, Sophus, "The Temple Hymns", Enheduana: The Complete Poems of the World's First Author, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 53-94, 2023</ref>
{{blockquote|text="Shrine, great sanctuary?, founded at a cattle-pen, ‘Small’ city, . . . . of  Suen Karzida, your interior is a . . . . place, your foundation is holy and clean, Shrine, your Gipar is founded in purity, Your door is (of) strong copper, set up at a great place, Cattle-pen (filled with) the lowing (of  the cows), like a young bull you . . . the horn,Your prince, the lord of  heaven, standing in the . . . ., At noon (like the sun) radiating . .  . ., O Karzida, he, Ašimbabbar, has placed the house upon your . . . . has taken his place on your dais. The house of Nanna in Ga’eš"<ref name="Zimansky2021" >Zimansky, Paul, "Was the Karzida of Ur’s Akītu Festival at Tell Sakhariya?", Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia, July 11–15, 2016, edited by Grant Frame, Joshua Jeffers and Holly Pittman, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 525-532, 2021</ref>
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Ga’eš was also mentioned in the Sumerian literary composition [[Lament for Sumer and Ur]]
{{blockquote|text="... Mighty strength was set against the banks of the Id-nuna-Nanna canal. The settlements of the E-danna of Nanna, like substantial cattle-pens, were destroyed. Their refugees, like stampeding goats, were chased (?) by dogs. They destroyed Gaeš like milk poured out to dogs,  and shattered its finely fashioned statues. 'Alas, the destroyed city, my destroyed house,' Its sacred Ĝipar of en priesthood was defiled. Its en priestess was snatched from the Ĝipar and carried off to enemy territory. A lament was raised at the dais that stretches out toward heaven. Its heavenly throne was not set up, was not fit to be crowned (?)."<ref>[https://cdli.earth/artifacts/469682 "CDLI Literary 000380 (Lament for Sumer and Ur) Composite Artifact Entry", (2014) 2024. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), July 15, 2024]</ref><ref>Kröll, N., & Fink, S.,"How to Destroy Sanctity? Some Insights from Sumerian Cuneiform Texts", in The Human and the Divine, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 124-147, 2025</ref>
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And in another composition:
{{blockquote|"O, sanctuary, big chamber built like ? a stall, mighty beaming city of Suen, Karzida, your interior is a powerful place, your foundation is holy and clean. O, sanctuary, your Ĝipar is established in purity, your door is copper, something (very) strong, established in the Underworld. O, cattle-pen, which rai[ses] the horns like a breeding bull, your prince, the lord of heaven standing in ... joy. ... at midday and ... O Karzida, Ašimbabbar, a house has established in your holy space and took (his) residence in your sanctuary!"<ref>[https://iris.uniroma1.it/bitstream/11573/1405325/1/D%27Agostino-Greco_Abu-Tbeirah_2019.pdf] D'Agostino, Franco, and Angela Greco, "Abu Tbeirah. philological and epigraphic point of view", Abu Tbeirah. Excavations I. Area 1. Last Phase and Building A – Phase 1, pp. 465-477, 2019</ref>
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