Eridu
Eridu (Cuniform: NUN.KI
Eridu (Cuniform: NUN.KI
Eridu (Cuniform: NUN.KI {{cuneiform {{cuneiform;
SumerianSumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
: eridu
ki;
AkkadianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
:
irîtu) is an ancient
SumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian city in what is now
Tell Abu Shahrain,
Dhi Qar Governorate,
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Eridu was considered the earliest city in southern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, and is one of the oldest cities in the world. Located 12 km southwest of
UrUr was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of
SumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian cities that grew about temples, almost in sight of one another. In Sumerian mythology, Eridu was originally the home of
EnkiEnki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...
, who was considered to have founded the city, later known by the Akkadians as Ea. His temple was called E-Abzu, as Enki was believed to live in
AbzuThe abzu also called engur, literally, ab='ocean' zu='to know' or 'deep' was the name for fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology...
("Deep Ocean"), an aquifer from which all life was believed to stem.
Prominence
Eridu, also transliterated as Eridug, could mean "mighty place" or "guidance place".
In the
Sumerian king listThe Sumerian King List is an ancient manuscript originally recorded in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer from Sumerian and neighboring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths, and the locations of "official" kingship...
, Eridu is named as the city of the first kings. The kinglist continues:
{{bquote|In Eridu,
AlulimAlulim was the first king of Eridu, and the first king of Sumer, according to the Sumerian King List, presumably making him the first recorded king in the world...
became king; he ruled for 28800 years.
Alalngar ruled for 36000 years. 2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years. Then Eridu fell and the kingship was taken to
Bad-tibiraBad-tibira, "Wall of the Copper Worker", or "Fortress of the Smiths", identified as modern Tell al-Madineh, between Ash Shatrah and Tell as-Senkereh in southern Iraq, was an ancient Sumerian city, which appears among antediluvian cities in the Sumerian King List. Its Akkadian name was Dûr-gurgurri...
.}}
The king list gave particularly long rules to the kings who ruled before a great flood occurred, and shows how the center of power progressively moved from the south to the north of the country.
AdapaAdapa was a Babylonian mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story is first attested in the Kassite period .-Roles:...
U-an, elsewhere called the first man, was a half-god, half-man culture hero, called by the title
Abgallu (
ab=water,
gal=big,
lu=man) of Eridu. He was considered to have brought civilization to the city from
DilmunDilmun or Telmun is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations as a trade partner, a source of the metal copper, and an entrepôt of the Mesopotamia-to-Indus Valley Civilization trade route...
(probably Bahrain), and he served Alulim.
In Sumerian mythology, Eridu was the home of the
AbzuThe abzu also called engur, literally, ab='ocean' zu='to know' or 'deep' was the name for fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology...
temple of the god
EnkiEnki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...
, the Sumerian counterpart of the
AkkadThe Akkadian Empire was an empire centered in the city of Akkad and its surrounding region in Mesopotamia....
ian water-god Ea. Like all the Sumerian and Babylonian gods, Enki/Ea began as a local god, who came to share, according to the later cosmology, with
AnuIn Sumerian mythology, Anu was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, Consort of Antu, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. It was believed that he had the power to judge those who had committed crimes, and that he had created the stars as...
and
EnlilElizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members...
, the rule of the cosmos. His kingdom was the waters that surrounded the world and lay below it (Sumerian
ab=water;
zu=far).
The stories of
InannaInanna, also spelled Inana is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare....
, goddess of
UrukUruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Uruk gave its name to the Uruk...
, describe how she had to go to Eridu in order to receive the gifts of civilization. At first Enki, the god of Eridu attempted to retrieve these sources of his power, but later willingly accepted that Uruk now was the centre of the land. This seems to be a mythical reference to the transfer of power northward, mentioned above.
Babylonian texts also talk of the creation of Eridu by the god
MardukMarduk was the Babylonian name of a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi , started to...
as the first city, "the holy city, the dwelling of their [the other gods] delight".
In the court of
AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, special physicians trained in the ancient lore of Eridu, far to the south, foretold the course of sickness from signs and portents on the patient's body, and offered the appropriate incantations and magical resources as cures.
History
According to the Sumerian kinglist Eridu was the first city in the world. The opening line reads,
-
-
- "[nam]-lugal an-ta èd-dè-a-ba
- [eri]duki nam-lugal-la"
-
-
- "When kingship from heaven was lowered,
- the kingship was in Eridu."
In Sumerian mythology, it was said to be one of the five cities built before the Deluge occurred. Eridu appears to be the earliest settlement in the region, founded ca. 5400 BC, close to the Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
near the mouth of the EuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
River. Because of accumulation of silt at the shoreline over the millennia, the remains of Eridu are now some distance from the gulf at Abu Shahrain in IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
According to Gwendolyn Leick, Eridu was formed at the confluence of three separate ecosystems, supporting three distinct lifestyles, that came to an agreement about access to fresh water in a desert environment. The oldest agrarian settlement seems to have been based upon intensive subsistence irrigation agriculture derived from the SamarraSāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
culture to the north, characterised by the building of canals, and mud-brick buildings. The fisher-hunter cultures of the Arabian littoral were responsible for the extensive middens along the Arabian shoreline, and may have been the original SumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ians. They seem to have dwelt in reed huts. The third culture that contributed to the building of Eridu was the nomadic SemiticIn linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
pastoralists of herds of sheep and goats living in tents in semi-desert areas. All three cultures seem implicated in the earliest levels of the city. The urban settlement was centered on an impressive temple complex built of mudbrick, within a small depression that allowed water to accumulate.
Kate Fielden reports "The earliest village settlement (c.5000 BC) had grown into a substantial city of mudbrick and reed houses by c.2900 BC, covering 8-10 ha (20-25 acres). By c.2050 BC the city had declined; there is little evidence of occupation after that date. Eighteen superimposed mudbrick temples at the site underlie the unfinished ZigguratZiggurats were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels.Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near...
of Amar-SinAmar-Sin was the third ruler of the Ur III Dynasty. He succeeded his father Shulgi .Year-names are known for all 9 years of his reign...
(c.2047–2039 BC). The finding of extensive deposits of fishbones associated with the earliest levels also shows a continuity of the AbzuThe abzu also called engur, literally, ab='ocean' zu='to know' or 'deep' was the name for fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology...
cult associated later with EnkiEnki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...
and EaEnki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...
. This apparent continuity of occupation and religious observance at Eridu provide convincing evidence for the indigenous origin of Sumerian civilization.
Eridu was abandoned for long periods, before it was finally deserted and allowed to fall into ruin in the 6th century BCE. The encroachment of neighbouring sand dunes, and the rise of a saline water table, set early limits to its agricultural base so in its later Neo-Babylonian development, Eridu was rebuilt as a purely temple site, in honour of its earliest history.
Possible location of Tower of Babel
The Egyptologist David RohlNew Chronology is the term used to describe an alternative Chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History in 1995...
, has conjectured that Eridu, to the south of Ur, was the original BabelBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
and site of the Tower of BabelThe Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where...
, rather than the later city of BabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
, for several reasons:
- The ziggurat
Ziggurats were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels.Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near...
ruins of Eridu are far larger and older than any others, and seem to best match the Biblical description of the unfinished Tower of Babel.
- One name of Eridu in cuneiform logograms was pronounced "NUN.KI" ("the Mighty Place") in Sumerian, but much later the same "NUN.KI" was understood to mean the city of Babylon.
- The much later Greek version of the King-list by Berossus
Berossus was a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk and astronomer writing in Greek, who was active at the beginning of the 3rd century BC...
(c. 200 BC) reads "Babylon" in place of "Eridu" in the earlier versions, as the name of the oldest city where "the kingship was lowered from Heaven".
- Rohl et al. further equate Biblical Nimrod
Nimrod means "Hunter"; was a Biblical Mesopotamian king mentioned in the Table of Nations; an eponym for the city of Nimrud.Nimrod can also refer to any of the following:*Nimród Antal, a director...
, said to have built Erech (Uruk) and Babel, with the name EnmerkarEnmerkar, according to the Sumerian king list, was the builder of Uruk in Sumer, and was said to have reigned for "420 years" ....
(-KAR meaning "hunter") of the king-list and other legends, who is said to have built temples both in his capital of Uruk and in Eridu.
Other scholars have discussed at length a number of additional correspondences between the names of "Babylon" and "Eridu". Historical tablets state that Sargon of AkkadSargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great "the Great King" , was an Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 23rd and 22nd centuries BC. The founder of the Dynasty of Akkad, Sargon reigned in the last quarter of the third millennium BC...
(ca. 2300 BC) dug up the original "Babylon" and rebuilt it near AkkadThe Akkadian Empire was an empire centered in the city of Akkad and its surrounding region in Mesopotamia....
, though some scholars suspect this may in fact refer to the much later king Sargon IISargon II was an Assyrian king. Sargon II became co-regent with Shalmaneser V in 722 BC, and became the sole ruler of the kingdom of Assyria in 722 BC after the death of Shalmaneser V. It is not clear whether he was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III or a usurper unrelated to the royal family...
.
Architecture
The urban nucleus of Eridu was EnkiEnki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...
's temple, called House of the Aquifer (CuneiformCuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
: {{cuneiform|𒂍}}{{cuneiform|𒍪}} {{cuneiform|𒀊}}, E2.ZU.AB; SumerianSumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
: e2É is the Sumerian word or symbol for house or temple, written ideographically with the cuneiform sign .The Sumerian term É.GAL denoted a city's main building....
-abzu; AkkadianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
: bītu apsû), which in later history was called House of the Waters (Cuniform: {{cuneiform|𒂍}}{{cuneiform|𒇉}}, E2.LAGAB×HAL; SumerianSumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
: e2É is the Sumerian word or symbol for house or temple, written ideographically with the cuneiform sign .The Sumerian term É.GAL denoted a city's main building....
-engur; AkkadianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
: bītu engurru). The name refers to Enki's realm. His consort Ninhursanga had a nearby temple at UbaidThe Ubaid period is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The tell of al-`Ubaid west of nearby Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate has given its name to the prehistoric Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic culture, which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain of southern...
.
In the Neo-Sumerian period a ziggurat was built over the remains of previous temples by Ur-Nammu.
House of the Aquifer
| Level | Date | Period | Size (m) | Note |
| XVIII |
5300 |
- |
3×0.3 |
sleeper walls |
| XVII |
5300–5000 |
- |
2.8×2.8 |
first cella |
| XVI |
5300–5000 |
Early Ubaid |
3.5×3.5 |
|
| XV |
5000–4500 |
Early Ubaid |
7.3×8.4 |
|
| XIV |
5000–4500 |
Early Ubaid |
- |
no structure found |
| XIII |
5000–4500 |
Early Ubaid |
- |
no structure found |
| XII |
5000–4500 |
Early Ubaid |
- |
no structure found |
| XI |
4500–4000 |
Ubaid |
4.5×12.6 |
first platform |
| X |
4500–4000 |
Ubaid |
5×13 |
|
| IX |
4500–4000 |
Ubaid |
4×10 |
|
| VIII |
4500–4000 |
Ubaid |
18×11 |
|
| VII |
4000–3800 |
Ubaid |
17×12 |
|
| VI |
4000–3800 |
Ubaid |
22×9 |
|
| V |
3800–3500 |
Early Uruk |
- |
only platform remains |
| IV |
3800–3500 |
Early Uruk |
- |
only platform remains |
| III |
3800–3500 |
Early Uruk |
- |
only platform remains |
| II |
3500–3200 |
Early Uruk |
- |
only platform remains |
| I |
3200 |
Early Uruk |
- |
only platform remains |
Archaeology
The site at Tell abu Shahrain, near Basra, was initially excavated by JE Taylor in 1855, R. Campbell Thompson in 1918, and H.R. HallDr Henry Reginald Holland Hall MBE, FBA, FSA was an English Egyptologist and historian. In life, he was normally referred to as Harry Reginald Hall.-Early life:...
in 1919. Excavation there resumed from 1946 to 1949 under Fuad Safar and Seton LloydSeton Howard Frederick Lloyd, CBE , was an English archaeologist. He was President of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, Director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara , Professor of Western Asiatic Archaeology in the Institute of Archaeology, University of London...
of the Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities and Heritage. These archaeologicalArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
investigations showed that, according to Oppenheim, "eventually the entire south lapsed into stagnation, abandoning the political initiative to the rulers of the northern cities," and the city was abandoned in 600 BC.
Aside from Enmerkar of Uruk (as mentioned in the Aratta epics), several later historical Sumerian kings are said in inscriptions found here to have worked on or renewed the e-abzu temple, including EliliElulu is listed as the third king of the first dynasty of Ur on the Sumerian king list, which states he reigned for 25 years.One early inscription for an "Elulu , king of Ur" was found at nearby Eridu, stating that this king had built up the abzu ziggurat for Enki...
of Ur; Ur-NammuUr-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule...
, ShulgiShulgi of Urim was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2029 BCE–1982 BCE...
and Amar-SinAmar-Sin was the third ruler of the Ur III Dynasty. He succeeded his father Shulgi .Year-names are known for all 9 years of his reign...
of Ur-III, and Nur-AdadNur-Adad ruled the ancient Near East city-stateof Larsa from 1801 BC to 1785 BC. He was a contemporary of Sumu-la-El of Babylon....
of LarsaLarsa was an important city of ancient Sumer, the center of the cult of the sun god Utu. It lies some 25 km southeast of Uruk in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate, near the east bank of the Shatt-en-Nil canal at the site of the modern settlement Tell as-Senkereh or Sankarah.-History:According to...
.