Sippar-Amnanum

Archaeological site in Iraq

33°05′57″N 44°17′50″E / 33.09917°N 44.29722°E / 33.09917; 44.29722TypesettlementHistoryPeriodsBronze Age, Iron AgeSite notesExcavation dates1878-80, 1941, 1968-1988ArchaeologistsHormuzd Rassam, Taha Baqir, L. De Meyer, M. H. GascheConditionRuinedOwnershipPublicPublic 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] There was also a temple of Shamash in Sippar-Amnanum named Edikuda.^[5]

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.^[6]

Archaeology

The site covers around 51 hectares with an east and west tell divided by an ancient canal bed. Sippar-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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9]

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.^[10] 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).^[11] Three hundred broken cuneiform tablets from the Old Babylonian period were found.^[12] Since the site is relatively close to Baghdad, it was a popular target for illegal excavations.^[13] 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. ^[14]^[15] ^[16]^[17]^[18]

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).^[19] The destruction of the house by fire helped preserve the tablets.^[20]^[21] Most of the tablets were contemporary with the reigns of Ammisaduqa and Ammi-ditana of the First Babylonian dynasty.^[22]^[23]

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
^ "Excavations in Iraq 1973-74", Iraq, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 56–67, 1975
^ "Excavations in Iraq, 1976", Iraq, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 300–20, 1977
^ 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
^ Tanret, Michel, "The seal of the sanga: on the Old Babylonian sangas of Šamaš of Sippar-Jaḫrūrum and Sippar-Amnānum" Vol. 40. Brill, 2010 ISBN 978-9004179585
^ Foster, Benjamin R., and Elizabeth E. Payne, "Cuneiform Tablets from Mount Holyoke College", Orientalia, vol. 81, no. 4, pp. 277–317, 2012
^ [2] 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
^ Anne Goddeeris, "Economy and Society in Northern Babylonia in the Early Old Babylonian Period", Peeters Publishers, 2002, ISBN 90-429-1123-9
^ [3] 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
^ Baqir, T., Mustafa, M., "Iraq Government Sounding at Der", Sumer, Vol 1, pp. 37-54, 1945
^ de Boer, Rients, "The Ikun-pisa Letter Archive from Tell ed-Der: IPLA", Vol. 131. ISD LLC, 2021 ISBN 9789042943162
^ [4] Khalid al-A'dami, "Old Babylonian Letters from ed-Der", Sumer, vol. 23, pp. 151-165 and plates 1-17, 1967
^ 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
^ "Excavations in Iraq 1972-73", Iraq, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 188–204, 1973
^ 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
^ L. de Meyer, "La sixieme campagne de fouilles a Tell ed-Deir", Sumer, vol. 32, pp. 161-165, 1974
^ "Excavations in Iraq, 1979-80", Iraq, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 167–98, 1981
^ "Excavations in Iraq 1973-74", Iraq, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 56–67, 1975
^ 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
^ "Excavations in Iraq 1975", Iraq, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 65–79, 1976
^ "Excavations in Iraq, 1977-78", Iraq, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 141–81, 1979
^ 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
^ 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