G. Herbert Livingstona <\/b><\/p>\n
All that remains of the city of Nippur are three large mounds of debris located about 100 miles south of Baghdad. Its modern name is Naffar, a rare instance of a site abandoned for a thousand years retaining to the present time its ancient name. The mounds rise about 55 ft above the surrounding plains on the east bank of the Euphrates River. The shape of the site is irregular, measuring somewhat less than a mile by a bit more than a mile. The important part of the city covered about 370 acres. The wall surrounding this area has eight, possibly nine, gates.<\/p>\n
Discovering Ancient Nippur<\/b><\/p>\n
In 1887 John P. Peters, of the University of Pennsylvania, took a team of archaeologists to explore Nippur but actual digging began in 1889 and continued off and on until 1890. Several buildings were located, a number of artifacts and inscribed tablets found. It was 1948 before the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago joined in three seasons of excavation that ended in 1952. They concentrated on the ziggurat dedicated to the god Enlil and on the archive found on Tablet Hill. In 1953 the American Schools of Oriental Research and the University of Chicago (Oriental Institute) engaged in excavation for five seasons, ending in 1962. Their work was centered on the North Temple and the Innana Temple. The last ten seasons of excavation were done by the Oriental Institute from 1964 to 1989.<\/p>\n
Mesopotamia: Nippur upper left. Note ancient shoreline reaching to Ur in the time of Abraham<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
Nippur\u2019s History<\/b><\/p>\n
A prehistoric settlement has not been found, but pottery sherds (broken pieces) indicate the presence of people on the site as early as 5500 BC and the probability of a temple existing between 4000 and 3000 BC. The earliest temple mentioned in records was where Enlil the air\/storm god was worshiped.<\/p>\n
Throughout recorded history, Nippur <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1993) p. 28<\/p>\n
continued to be the center of worshiping Enlil and in effect was the \u201choly city\u201d of the area.<\/p>\n
Seemingly the city was never politically independent, being dominated by neighboring cities, kingdoms or empires. Instead, the city was a religious, cultural center for the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, etc.<\/p>\n
The times of prosperity and building activities centered in the reigns of the Semitic ruler Sargon I (2334\u20132279 BC), of the Sumerian Ur-Namu (2113\u20132093 BC), of the Babylonian Hammurabi (1792\u20131750 BC), of the rulers of the Kassite dynasty (ca 1400\u20131250 BC), of the Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal (668\u2013631 BC), of the rulers of the Persian Empire (539\u2013333 BC), of the rulers of the Seleucid portion of the Hellenistic Empire (331-ca 250 BC).<\/p>\n
The site was also occupied by the Parthians of Iran (ca 250 BC-AD 116), again by the Iranians during the Sassanian dynasty (AD 224\u2013652) and by Islamic rulers (ca AD 670\u2013800). It has not been occupied since.<\/p>\n
The Rich Finds<\/b><\/p>\n
Besides the ziggurat and the Inanna Temple, several other temples, a Kassite palace, a massive Parthian fortress, several storehouses, and a number of private dwellings have come to light.<\/p>\n
From the beginning, the archaeologists found inscribed objects and tablets (many as fragments) in abundance. The ancient city was the major scribal center of the lower Mesopotamian Valley, so it is no wonder that early on about 30,000 inscribed items were found in its scribal quarter known as Tablet Hill, dating to the mid 1700\u2019s BC.<\/p>\n
Each succeeding excavation produced more inscriptions, adding up to a total of about 50,000. A collection of inscriptions date from the time of the Kassite kings. A collection of tablets comes from the mid-8th century BC, another from the late 7th century BC, and another from the last part of the 5th century BC, known as the Archive of Murashu. The latest collection dates from the Sassanian dynasty, 3rd to 7th centuries AD.<\/p>\n
Let us look at these collections briefly moving from the latest to the earliest.<\/p>\n
City plan of Nippur based on excavations<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1993) p. 29<\/p>\n
Map of Nippur drawn on clay tablet. Its remarkable accuracy can be seen in the reconstruction on page 28<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
Invaluable Inscriptions<\/b><\/p>\n
The inscriptions from the Sassanian dynasty were produced by Jewish inhabitants of Nippur in three languages: Syriac, Mandaic and a dialect of Aramaic. The inscriptions are on the inside of bowls, some found broken on the surface of the ground, and others intact, turned upside down beneath floors of houses. Each inscription is an incantation against demons and is written in a spiral, starting from the center where there is a sketch of a named evil spirit. Quotations from the Old Testament occur in some of these incantations.<\/p>\n
The Archive of Murashu contains legal documents detailing the business dealings of a single family. Basically, they are concerned with agricultural contracts which regulate the leasing of land and equipment owned by political and religious leaders and used by the common people. Other documents are short-term loans, or lists of rents and taxes. In short, Murashu and his descendents were brokers in the commercial system of the time.<\/p>\n
Tablets from the late 7th century BC reveal that Assyrian troops were in control of Nippur and that the city remained loyal to the Assyrian ruler, though severely ravished during a siege by his enemies.<\/p>\n
Little has been published about the mid-8th century BC archive, but what is known portrays a busy town at Nippur engaged in trade with surrounding tribes.<\/p>\n
A significant item in the archive of the Kassite period is a damaged map (above) of Nippur drawn on a clay tablet. It shows the Euphrates River and part of the north wall, all the west wall, and most of the south wall, but the edge with the east wall is broken off. The layout of this map corresponds well with the walls found by the excavators.<\/p>\n
The bulk of the inscribed objects come from the Hammurabi period, the 18th century BC. Though Babylon became the new capital, and the god Marduk replaced Enlil as the chief deity of the empire, Hammurabi recognized Nippur as the \u201choly city,\u201d functioning as the center of literary and religious activity and influence. Tablet Hill served as the focus of scribal skills and the depository <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1993) p. 30<\/p>\n
of about 30,000 whole, or fragmented tablets.<\/p>\n
This archive at Nippur contains many kinds of documents. Among them may be found: 1) Thousands of texts of an economic nature, giving details of contracts, bills of sale, receipts, inventory, etc.; 2) Legal texts listing laws, the content of court decisions and various governmental records; 3) Correspondence between various officials and between several cities; 4) Inscriptions on statues and monuments of historical value; 5) Sumerian dictionaries and grammars; 6) Medical instructions, usually mixed with magical statements and actions; and most important to this article; 7) Religious texts in the form of myths, hymns, proverbs and epics.<\/p>\n
Though hardly half of the total collection is in the Sumerian language and written in a combination of ideographs and cuneiform signs, such inscriptions make up approxmately 80% of the total Sumerian inscriptions available. They are deposited in the University Museum of Philadelphia, the University of Jena, Germany, and the Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul, Turkey.<\/p>\n
The inscriptions in the first six categories given above, along with tablets discovered at other sites in the Mesopotamian Valley and the Archive of Ebla provide us with background information about the political, economic and religious world of the patriarchs.<\/p>\n
Sumerian Literature<\/b><\/p>\n
One clay tablet is a catalog, the oldest known, of Sumerian religious literature, dating about 2000 BC. The 62 compositions listed are much older than the catalog. The content of many other literary texts are labelled as copies of older texts. Another tablet is called \u201cThe Sumerian King List\u201d (which will be analyzed in a future issue of A&BR<\/i>). This list contains the names of royal cities and kings divided by a brief flood story. The first section of the list allots reigns of thousands of years, most being in six figures. After the flood the reigns of the kings mentioned are much shorter, mostly a few thousand years each. Some of the kings are prominent actors in mythological stories, but also appear on historical inscriptions placing them as kings between 3000\u20132000 BC. In general, this is similar in sequence to the genealogies in Genesis 6, the flood story in Genesis 7\u20138 and the genealogies in Genesis 10, 11:10\u201332 (see pp. 14, 18ff).<\/p>\n
Some compositions in the Nippur archive reveal a glimpse of the Sumerian concept of creation. For instance, \u201cEnlil and Ninlil: The Begetting of Nanna\u201d and \u201cThe Journey of Nanna to Nippur.\u201d Seven other myths provide more insights. Actually, the concept is better described as an evolutionary emergence through reproductive activity, starting with the birth of heaven and earth from a primeval sea and from them all plants and animals.<\/p>\n
Dominant in this process was the god Enlil worshiped at Nippur who was the natural force called Wind. He was regarded as kind when he moved slowly and brought gentle showers, but he was known as a wild warrior when storms brought devastation. His spouse goddess was fertile soil, hence Mother Earth. She had many names, but the one which became most popular was Inanna, the goddess of love and war, represented by the morning and evening stars. There was a temple in her honor at Nippur and she was prominant in many myths.<\/p>\n
There were other deities such as the sun, the moon and many stars, as well as salt water, fresh water, plants and animals. All were powers or objects in nature and all were ruled by a greater, regulative power called fate, which was as much a part of nature as were the various deities. However, men and women developed skills of divination, the most important being astrology, and of magic, which combined, gave them <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 6:1 (Winter 1993) p. 31<\/p>\n
the hope of outwitting the deities. People assumed that by these means they could protect themselves from demons and extract blessings from \u201cgood\u201d deities.<\/p>\n
The tablets of Ebla and Nippur point to the ancient Sumerians of the Mesopotamian Valley as the people who put into writing their belief system and a set of rituals. This world view and its institutions of society became the foundation of religion for all other civilizations of the ancient Near East. The civilization of Egypt developed somewhat separately with its own distinctives, but in essence it was like that of its neighbors.<\/p>\n
The Uniqueness Of Israel<\/b><\/p>\n
There was only one exception<\/i>, the people of Israel whose faith is set forth in the Old Testament. The radical difference between the theology and practice of these people and that of their neighbors is summarized in an excellent way in a recent issue of this magazine (\u201cCreation Stories of the Ancient Near East,\u201d Summer, 1992, p. 86.). I fully agree with the contrasts set forth there.<\/p>\n
The data preserved in the archives of Nippur support the assertion that the God of the Old Testament and His revelations contained therein are unique. The same holds true for the theology of the New Testament.<\/p>\n
For Further Reading:<\/b><\/p>\n
Fisher, C.S.<\/p>\n
1905 Excavations at Nippur<\/i> (Philadelphia: University Press).<\/p>\n
Gibson, M.<\/p>\n
1975 Excavations at Nippur, Eleventh Season<\/i> (Chicago: Oriental Institute).<\/p>\n
1978 Excavations at Nippur, Twelfth Season<\/i> (Chicago: Oriental Institute).<\/p>\n
Hilprecht, H.V.<\/p>\n
1903 Explorations in Bible Lands<\/i> (Philadelphia: University Press).<\/p>\n
McCown, D., Haines, R., and Biggs, R.<\/p>\n
1978 Nippur II<\/i> OIP 97 (Chicago: Oriental Institute).<\/p>\n
McCown, D., Haines, R., and Hansen, D.<\/p>\n
1967 Nippur I<\/i> OIP 78 (Chicago: Oriental Institute).<\/p>\n
Peters, J.P.<\/p>\n
1899 Nippur, or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates<\/i>, vols. 1 and 2 (New York).<\/p>\n
Stone, E.C.<\/p>\n
1987 Nippur Neighborhoods<\/i> SAOC44 (Chicago)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
G. Herbert Livingstona All that remains of the city of Nippur are three large mounds of debris located about 100 miles south of Baghdad. Its modern name is Naffar, a rare instance of a site abandoned for a thousand years retaining to the present time its ancient name. The mounds rise about 55 ft above … Continue reading “THE
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