Ziggurat of Nippur (E-kur)
E-kur Ziggurat · Duranki Ziggurat · Nuffar Ziggurat
Early Dynastic to Parthian (3000 BCE–250 CE; ziggurat Ur III – Kassite layers)·Sumerian → Old Babylonian → Kassite → Assyrian·🇮🇶 Qadisiyah Governorate, Nuffar (Nippur), Iraq
About
About Ziggurat of Nippur (E-kur)
Religious capital of Sumer: never politically capital but seat of Enlil, father of gods, whose temple E-kur (Mountain House) dominated canal holy city Nippur. Ziggurat enlarged by Ur-Nammu, Hammurabi and Kassite Kurigalzu: 5 stages? ~38 m high, 58 × 39 m base with baked brick facing and glazed bricks. USA Penn 1889–1900 found temple library with 30,000 tablets including Enlil myth and lexical lists; ongoing Drehem connections.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Consecutive rebuilding phases interaction
Theories
- 01Enlil cult required neutral holy city controlled by whichever dynasty held hegemony – 'posession of Nippur = legitimacy'
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 2112 BCE Ur-Nammu E-kur, rebuilt 1374 BCE Kurigalzu I, Neo-Babylonian restorations
- Period
- Early Dynastic to Parthian (3000 BCE–250 CE; ziggurat Ur III – Kassite layers)
- Culture
- Sumerian → Old Babylonian → Kassite → Assyrian
- Purpose
- Temple platform for Enlil, 'Lord Wind' supreme god
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 2112 BCE Ur-Nammu E-kur, rebuilt 1374 BCE Kurigalzu I, Neo-Babylonian restorations
Initial construction
c. 1230 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
32.1264° N · 45.2334° E · 25 m · 3 mapped features
E-kur Ziggurat platform
ziggurat3-stage ziggurat core
32.1265° N · 45.2334° ETablet Hill mound (scribal school)
moundMound where 30k tablets found (temple school)
32.1270° N · 45.2338° EEnlil Temple court east
templeParvis of Enlil temple at ziggurat foot
32.1262° N · 45.2335° E
Gallery