Sippar-Amnanum
Sippar-Amnanum is located in Iraq
Sippar-Amnanum
Shown within Iraq
Alternative nameTell ed-Der
LocationBaghdad Governorate, Iraq
Coordinates33°05′57″N 44°17′50″E / 33.09917°N 44.29722°E / 33.09917; 44.29722
Typesettlement
History
PeriodsBronze Age, Iron Age
Site notes
Excavation dates1878-80, 1941, 1968-1988
ArchaeologistsHormuzd Rassam, Taha Baqir, L. De Meyer, M. H. Gasche
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

Sippar-Amnanum (modern Tell ed-Der in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Near Eastern tell (hill city) about 70 kilometers north of Babylon, 6 kilometers northeast of Sippar and about 26 kilometers southwest of modern Baghdad. Occupation dates back to the days of the Akkadian Empire and later the Ur III period but most of the development was during the Old Babylonian period. Early archaeologists referred to the site as "Der" or Dair".

History

Sippar-Amnanum was the sister city (or suburb in some eyes) of Sippar. Though occupied from the Akkadian Period, little is known of its history before the Old Babylonian period.[1] Soundings have shown that occupation extends to 4 meters below the surface with the current water table at 2 meters making excavation of earlier occupation difficult. The oldest excavated layer of Level IV, dating from the Ur III period, of which foundations are apparent.[2][3]

The chief deity of Sippar-Amnanum was Annunitum, a warlike aspect of Ishtar favored by the Akkadians. She is the daughter of Enlil. According to the Sippar Cylinder of Nabonidus the temple Eulmash of Anunitu (Amnanum) was rebuilt by that Neo-Babylonian king. The cylinder also reports that the temple had earlier been built by Shagarakti-Shuriash (c, 1245–1233 BC, a king of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon, Nabonidus having found one of the original foundation Kassite foundation cylinders. Presumably the temple had been destroyed in the interim by Shutruk-Nakhkhunte of Elam when he destroyed Sippar.[4]

Note that there is some confusion on the city's name since Sîn-kāšid, a king of Uruk, refers to himself in an inscription as "King of the Amnanum", where Amnanum is thought to be a tribal group.[5]

Archaeology

Babylonia at the time of Hammurabi, c. 1792-1750 BC

The site covers around 51 hectares with an east and west tell divided by an ancient canal bed. Spippar-Amnanum was surrounded by a 3 kilometer large defensive wall much of which still remains. Tell ed-Der, along with Sippar, was excavated by Hormuzd Rassam between 1878 and 1880.[6] Most of the tablets ended up in the British Museum. As was often the case in the early days of archaeology, excavation records were not made, particularly find spots. This makes it occasionally difficult to tell which tablets came from Sippar-Amnanum as opposed to Sippar.[7] More Tell ed-Der tablets were purchased from locals by E. A. Wallis Budge while he was in the region after brief attempts to dig there in 1891.[8]

A sounding was conducted there between 1940 and 1941 by the Directorate General of Antiquities of the Iraqi Government under the direction of Taha Baqir.[9] Among their finds were the archives of Anum-pisha and Iku-pish (dating to the time of Bablonian rulers Sumu-abum and Sumu-la-El).[10]Three hundred broken cuneiform tablets from the Old Babylonian period were found.[11] Since the site is relatively close to Baghdad, it was a popular target for illegal excavations.[12] More recently, Tell ed-Der was excavated in a number of seasons between 1968 and 1988 by the Belgian Archaeological Expedition to Iraq led by L. De Meyer and M. H. Gasche. [13][14] [15][16][17]

The "House of Ur-Utu" was excavated in the mid 1970s. This residence, of the kalamahhum-priest (lamentation priest) of Annunitum, held around 2500 cuneiform tablets and tablet fragments forming a household archive spanning several centuries. Of these 204 were of Ur-Utu (and his father Inanna-mansum).[18] The destruction of the house by fire helped preserve the tablets.[19][20] Most of the tablets were contemporary with the reigns of Ammisaduqa and Ammi-ditana of the First Babylonian dynasty.[21][22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mahmood, Lina, "Two Cities of Sippar: Tell Abu-Habbah and Tell ed-Der", Masters Dissertation, The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY, 2006
  2. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq 1973-74", Iraq, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 56–67, 1975
  3. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1976", Iraq, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 300–20, 1977
  4. ↑ Schaudig, Hanspeter, "Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros’ des Großen samt den in ihrem Umfeld entstandenen Tendenzschriften: Textausgabe und Grammatik", Alter Orient und Altes Testament 256. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2001
  5. ↑ Foster, Benjamin R., and Elizabeth E. Payne, "Cuneiform Tablets from Mount Holyoke College", Orientalia, vol. 81, no. 4, pp. 277–317, 2012
  6. ↑ 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.]", New York : Eston & Mains, 1897
  7. ↑ Anne Goddeeris, "Economy and Society in Northern Babylonia in the Early Old Babylonian Period", Peeters Publishers, 2002, ISBN 90-429-1123-9
  8. ↑ Budge, E. A. W., and e. al., "By Nile and Tigris: A narrative of Journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on Behalf of the British Museum between the Years 1886-1913", Vol. 1 London: John Murray, 1920
  9. ↑ Baqir, T., Mustafa, M., "Iraq Government Sounding at Der", Sumer, Vol 1, pp. 37-54, 1945
  10. ↑ de Boer, Rients, "The Ikun-pisa Letter Archive from Tell ed-Der: IPLA", Vol. 131. ISD LLC, 2021 ISBN 9789042943162
  11. ↑ Khalid al-A'dami, "Old Babylonian Letters from ed-Der", Sumer, vol. 23, pp. 151-165 and plates 1-17, 1967
  12. ↑ 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
  13. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq 1972-73", Iraq, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 188–204, 1973
  14. ↑ Gasche Hermann and Paepe Roland De Meyer Léon, "Tell ed-der I: rapport préliminaire sur la première campagne (février 1970) / Voorlopig verslag over de eerste campagne", Leuven, 1971
  15. ↑ L. de Meyer, "La sixieme campagne de fouilles a Tell ed-Deir", Sumer, vol. 32, pp. 161-165, 1974
  16. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1979-80", Iraq, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 167–98, 1981
  17. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq 1973-74", Iraq, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 56–67, 1975
  18. ↑ Janssen, Caroline, "Address Behaviour in Eight Unpublished ana bēlīja Letters from the Late Old Babylonian Ur-Utu Archive: Close Relatives Through a Distant Mirror?", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 108, no. 2, pp. 149-166, 2018
  19. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq 1975", Iraq, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 65–79, 1976
  20. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1977-78", Iraq, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 141–81, 1979
  21. ↑ Karel Van Lerberghe and Gabriella Voet, "Sippar-Amnanum The Ur-Utu Archive", (Mesopotamian History and Environment, Series III, Texts, 1), Ghent, The University of Ghent, 1991
  22. ↑ Michel Tanret, "Sippar-Amnănum : the Ur-Utu archive / Tome 2, Per aspera ad astra : l'apprentissage du cunéiforme à Sippar-Amnănum pendant la période", Université de Gand, Gand, 2002

Further reading

  • As, Abram van, "Technological Research of Palaeo- and Meso-Babylonian Pottery from Tell ed-Der - First Report", Akkadica 47, pp. 24-25 ,1986
  • De Graef, Katrien., "An Account of the Redistribution of Land to Soldiers in Late Old Babylonian Sippar-Amnānum", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 141–78, 2002
  • Dekiere, L., "La généaologie d’Ur-Utu, gala.mah à Sippar-Amnanum", in H. Gasche, M. Tanret, C. Janssen and A. Degraeve (eds), Cinquante-deux réflexions sur le Proche-Orient ancien offertes en homage à Léon de Meyer (Mesopotamian History and Environment, Occasional Publications, 2), Leuven, Peeters, 125–141, 1994
  • Dietz Otto Edzard, Altbabylonische Rechts-und Wirtschaftsurkunden aus Tell ed-Der im Iraq Museum, Baghdad, Bayerischen Akademie, 1970
  • Gohde, Hildegard, "Zwei altbabylonische Siegelabrollungen aus Tell ed-Der: Identifizierung von zwei weiblichen Gottheiten", in O. Loretz, K.A. Metzler and H. Schaudig (eds.), Ex Mesopotamia et Syria Lux: Festschrift fur Manfried Dietrich zu seinem 65. Geburtstag (AOAT 281), Munster: Ugarit-Verlag, pp. 159-168, 2002
  • Rivkah Harris, Ancient Sippar: A Demographic Study of an Old Babylonian City (1894-1595 B.C.), Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch-Historisch Instituut te Istanbul, 1975
  • Janssen, C., H. Gasche, and Tanret, M., "Du chantier à la tablette: Ur-Utu et l’histoire de sa maison à Sippar-Amnanum", in H. Gasche, M. Tanret, C. Janssen and A. Degraeve (eds), Cinquante-deux réflexions sur le Proche-Orient ancien offertes en homage à Léon de Meyer (Mesopotamian History and Environment, Occasional Publications, 2), Leuven, Peeters, 91–123. 1994
  • Leemans, W. F., "Les Tablettes Des Fouilles Iraqiennes de Tell Ed-Dēr", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 195–204, 1978
  • L. De Meyer et al., Tell ed-Der: La vie en Babylonie il y a 4000 ans, Archeologia, no. 195, pp. 8–25, 1984
  • L. De Meyer, Tell ed-Der, Tome II, Peeters, 1978, ISBN 2-8017-0097-5
  • L. De Meyer, Tell ed-Der, Tome III, Peeters, 1980, ISBN 2-8017-0160-2
  • L. De Meyer, Tell ed-Der, Tome IV, Peeters, 1984, ISBN 90-6831-027-5
  • de Meyer, L., and H. Gasche, "Rapport des activites archeologiques en Iraq Fouilles de Tell ed-Deir 1970" Sumer 26, pp. 105-108, 1970
  • Tanret, Michel, "Tanret, Michel. "The works and the days... On scribal activity in old babylonian Sippar-Amnānum", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 98, pp. 33–62, 2004
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