Eridu

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox ancient site Eridu (Template:Langx; Sumerian: eridug^ki; Akkadian: irîtu) was a Sumerian city located at Tell Abu Shahrain (Template:Langx), also Abu Shahrein or Tell Abu Shahrayn, an archaeological site in Lower Mesopotamia. It is located in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, near the modern city of Basra. Eridu is traditionally considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia based on the Sumerian King List. Located 24 kilometers south-southwest of the ancient site of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew around temples, almost in sight of one another. The city gods of Eridu were Enki and his consort Damkina. Enki, later known as Ea, was considered to have founded the city. His temple was called E-Abzu, as Enki was believed to live in Abzu, an aquifer from which all life was thought to stem. According to Sumerian temple hymns, another name for the temple of Ea/Enki was called Esira (Esirra).

"... The temple is constructed with gold and lapis lazuli, Its foundation on the nether-sea (apsu) is filled in. By the river of Sippar (Euphrates) it stands. O Apsu pure place of propriety, Esira, may thy king stand within thee. ..."<ref>Langdon, Review of "Campbell Thompson, R 'The British Museum excavations at Abu Shahrain in Mesopotamia in 1918', 1920", S. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 4, pp. 621–25, 1922</ref><ref>Langdon, S., "Two Sumerian Hymns from Eridu and Nippur", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 161–86, 1923</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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At nearby Ur there was a temple of Ishtar of Eridu (built by Lagash's ruler Ur-Baba) and a sanctuary of Inanna of Eridu (built by Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu). Ur-Nammu also recorded building a temple of Ishtar of Eridu at Ur which is assumed to have been a rebuild.<ref>Clayden, Tim, "Kassite housing at Ur: the dates of the EM, YC, XNCF, AH and KPS houses", Iraq, vol. 76, pp. 19–64, 2014</ref><ref>Radau, Hugo, "Letters to Cassite Kings from the Temple Archives of Nippur", Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1908</ref>

One of the religious quarters of Babylon, containing the temple called the Esagila as well as the temple of Annunitum, among others, was also named Eridu.<ref>Gurney, O. R., "The Fifth Tablet of ‘The Topography of Babylon’", Iraq, vol. 36, no. 1/2, pp. 39–52, 1974</ref>

Archaeology

File:Eridu Context Map.jpg

Eridu context Template:Circa

Eridu is located on a natural hill in a basin approximately 15 miles long and 20 feet deep, which is separated from the Euphrates by a sandstone ridge called the Hazem.<ref name="Taylor1855" /> This basin, the As Sulaybiyat Depression (formerly: Khor en-Nejeif), becomes a seasonal lake (Arabic: Sebkha) during the rainy season from November to April.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> During this period, it is filled by the discharge of the Wadi Khanega. Adjacent to eastern edge of the seasonal lake are the Hammar Marshes.

In the 3rd Millennium BC a canal, Id-edin-Eriduga (NUN)^ki "the canal of the Eridug plain", connected Eridu to the Euphrates river, which later shifted its course. The path of the canal is marked by several low tells with 2nd Millennium BC surface pottery and later burials.<ref>Thorkild Jacobsen, "The Waters of Ur", Toward the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture, Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, pp. 231-244, 1970</ref> The site contains 8 mounds:<ref name="Safar1981" >[1] Safar, Fuad et al., "Eridu", Baghdad: Ministry of Culture and Information, 1981</ref>

• Mound 1 - Abū Šahrain, 580 meters x 540 meters in area NW to WE, 25 meters in height, Enki Temple, Ur III Ziggurat (É-u₆-nir) Sacred Area, Early Dynastic plano-convex bricks found, Ubaid Period cemetery
• Mound 2 – 350 meters x 350 meters in area, 4.3 meters in height, 1 kilometer N of Abū Šahrain, Early Dynastic Palace, remnants of city wall built with plano-convex bricks
• Mound 3 - 300 × 150 meters in area, 2.5 meters high, 2.2 kilometers SSW of Abū Šahrain, Isin-Larsa pottery found
• Mound 4 - 600 × 300 meters in area, 2.5 kilometers SW of Abū Šahrain, Kassite pottery found
• Mound 5 - 500 × 300 meters in area, 3 meters high, 1.5 kilometers SE of Abū Šahrain, Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods
• Mound 6 - 300 × 200 meters in area, 2 meters high, 2.5 kilometers SW of Abū Šahrain
• Mound 7 - 400 × 200 meters in area, 1.5 meters high, 3 kilometers E of Abū Šahrai
• Mound 8 - Usalla, flat area, 8 kilometers NW of Abū Šahrain, Hajj Mohammed and later Ubaid

File:Ziggurat at Eridu (30809118442).jpg

Ziggurat at Eridu

The site was initially excavated by John George Taylor, the British Vice-counsel at Basra, in 1855.<ref name="Taylor1855" >[2] J. E. Taylor, "Notes on Abu Shahrein and Tell el Lahm", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 15, pp. 404–415, 1855</ref> Among the finds were inscribed bricks enabling the identification of the site as Eridu.<ref>Hilprecht, H. V., "First Successful Attempts In Babylonia", Explorations in Bible Lands During the 19th Century, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 138-186, 2004</ref> Excavation on the main tell next occurred by R. Campbell Thompson from April 10 until May 8 in 1918, and H. R. Hall from April 21 until May 8 in 1919, who also conducted a survey in the area around the tell.<ref>Hall, H. R., "Recent Excavations of the British Museum at Tell el-Mukayyar (Ur ‘of the Chaldees’), Tell Abu Shahrein (Eridu), and Tell el-Ma‘abed or Tell el-‘Obeid, near Ur", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries 32, pp. 22–44, 1920</ref><ref>Campbell Thompson, "The British Museum Excavations at Abu Shahrain in Mesopotamia in 1918", Archaeologia 70, pp. 101-44, 1920</ref><ref>H. R. Hall, "Notes on the Excavations of 1919 at Muqayyar, el-‘Obeid, and Abu Shahrein", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 56, Centenary Supplement, pp. 103–115, 1924</ref><ref>Hall, H. R., "The Excavations of 1919 at Ur, el-’Obeid, and Eridu, and the History of Early Babylonia", Man 25, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, pp. 1–7, 1925</ref><ref>Hall, H. R., "Ur and Eridu: The British Museum Excavations of 1919", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 9, pp. 177–95, 1923</ref><ref>Hall, H.R., "A Season's Work at Ur, Al-ʻUbaid, Abu Shahrain (Eridu) and Elsewhere. Being an Unofficial Account of the British Museum Archaeological Mission to Babylonia, 1919", London, 1930</ref> An interesting find by Hall was a piece of manufactured blue glass which he dated to Template:Circa. The blue color was achieved with cobalt, long before this technique emerged in Egypt.<ref>Garner, Harry, "An Early Piece of Glass from Eridu", Iraq, vol. 18, no. 2, 1956, pp. 147–49, 1956 {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref>

This lump of glass is currently dated to the twenty-first century BC or even earlier, and is considered as perhaps the earliest such glass object in the world in the History of glass. It was produced during the Akkadian Empire or the early Ur III period.<ref>Gonca Dardeniz, Julian Henderson and Martin Roe 2022, Primary Evidence for Glassmaking in Late Bronze Age Alalakh/Tell Atchana (Amuq Valley, Turkey). Journal of Glass Studies, 2022, Vol. 64 (2022), pp. 11-32. Corning Museum of Glass. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/48703400</ref>

File:Eridu mound4c.8.png

E-abzu temple of Eridu

Excavation there resumed from 1946 to 1949 under Fuad Safar and Seton Lloyd of the Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities and Heritage. Among the finds were a Ubaid period terracotta boat model, complete with a socket amidship for a mast and hole for stays and rudder, bevel-rimmed bowls, and a "lizard type" figurine like those found in a sounding under the Royal Cemetery of Ur. Soundings in the cemetery showed it to have about 1000 graves, all from the end of the Ubaid period (Temple levels VI and VII).<ref name="Safar1947" >[3] al Asil, Naji and Lloyd, Seton and Safar, Fuad, "Eridu", Sumer, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 84–111, July 1947</ref><ref>[4] Lloyd, Seton and Safar, Fuad, "Eridu. A Preliminary Communication on the Second Season’s Excavations. 1947-1948.", Sumer, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 115–127, September 1948</ref><ref>Fuad Safar, "The Third Season's Excavation at Eridu", Sumer, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 159–174, 1949 (In Arabic.)</ref><ref>[5] Fuad Safar, "ERIDU A Preliminary Report on the Third Season's Excavation at Eridu, 1948-1949", Sumer, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 27–38, 1950</ref><ref>Lloyd, Seton, "Abu Shahrein: A Memorandum", Iraq 36, pp. 129–38, 1974</ref> They found a sequence of 17 Ubaid Period superseding temples and an Ubaid Period graveyard with 1000 graves of mud-brick boxes oriented to the southeast. The temple began as a 2 meter by 3 meter mud brick square with a niche. At Level XI it was rebuilt and eventually reached its final tripartite form in Level VI. In Ur III times a 300 square meter platform was constructed as a base for a ziggurat.<ref>Laneri, Nicola, "From High to Low: Reflections about the Emplacement of Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia", Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean: Spaces, Mobilities, Imaginaries, edited by Corinne Bonnet, Thomas Galoppin, Elodie Guillon, Max Luaces, Asuman Lätzer-Lasar, Sylvain Lebreton, Fabio Porzia, Jörg Rüpke and Emiliano Rubens Urciuoli, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 371-386, 2022</ref> These archaeological investigations showed that, according to A. Leo Oppenheim, "eventually the entire south lapsed into stagnation, abandoning the political initiative to the rulers of the northern cities", probably as a result of increasing salinity produced by continuous irrigation, and the city was abandoned in 600 BC.<ref>[6] A. Leo Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964, revised in 1977</ref> In 1990 the site was visited by A. M. T. Moore who found two areas of surface pottery kilns not noted by the earlier excavators.<ref>Moore, A. M. T., "Pottery Kiln Sites at al ’Ubaid and Eridu", Iraq, vol. 64, pp. 69–77, 2002, {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref>

In October 2014 Franco D’Agostino visited the site in preparation for the coming resumption of excavation, noting a number of inscribed Amar-Sin brick fragments on the surface.<ref>D’Agostino, Franco, "The Eridu Project (AMEr) and a Singular Brick-Inscription of Amar- Suena from Abū Šahrain", The First Ninety Years: A Sumerian Celebration in Honor of Miguel Civil, edited by Lluís Feliu, Fumi Karahashi and Gonzalo Rubio, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 70–79, 2017</ref> In 2019, excavations at Eridu were resumed by a joint Italian, French, and Iraqi effort which included the University of Rome La Sapienza and the University of Strasbourg.<ref>Franco D'Agostino, Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel, and Philippe Quénet, The first campaign at Eridu, April 2019 (Project AMEr), pp. 65–90, Rivista degli studi orientali : XCIII, 1/2, 2020</ref><ref>[7] Ramazzotti, Marco, "The Iraqi-Italian Archaeological Mission at The Seven Mounds of Eridu (AMEr)", The Iraqi-Italian Archaeological Mission at The Seven Mounds of Eridu (AMEr), pp. 3-29, 2015</ref><ref>Rendu Loisel, Anne-Caroline. "Another brick (-stamp) in the wall: few remarks on Amar-Suena's bricks in Eridu", Oriens antiquus: rivista di studi sul Vicino Oriente Antico e il Mediterraneo orientale: II, pp. 81-98, 2020</ref> Work has included producing new detail topographic and photogrammetric maps and is mainly focused on the Ubaid period cemetery and its associated Ubaid residential area.<ref>[8] Brienza, Emanuele, "Smart tools for archaeological survey in different frameworks and contexts: approaches, analysis, results", Acta IMEKO 13.3, pp. 1-11, 2024</ref>

Artifacts

File:Eridu temple 7.png

Large buildings, implying centralized government, started to be made. Eridu Temple, final Ubaid period

In March 2006, Giovanni Pettinato and S. Chiod from Rome's La Sapienza University claimed to have discovered 500 Early Dynastic historical and literary cuneiform tablets on the surface at Eridu "disturbed by an explosion". The tablets were said to be from 2600 to 2100 BC (rulers Eannatum to Amar-Sin) and be part of a library. A team was sent to the site by Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage which found no tablets, only stamped bricks from Eridu and surrounding sites such as Ur. Nor was there a permit to excavate at the site issued to anyone.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Curtis, John et al., "An Assessment of Archaeological Sites in June 2008: An Iraqi-British Project", Iraq, vol. 70, pp. 215–237, 2008</ref> At this point Pettinato stated that they had actually found 70 inscribed bricks. This turned out to be stamped bricks used to build the modern Eridu dig-house. The dig-house had been built using bricks from the demolished Leonard Woolley’s expedition house at Ur (clearly spelled out in the 1981 Iraqi excavation report to avoid confusion to future archaeologists.<ref>Pettinato, Giovanni, "Eridu Texts", Time and History in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Barcelona, July 26th-30th, 2010, edited by Lluis Feliu, J. Llop, A. Millet Albà and Joaquin Sanmartín, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 799-802, 2013</ref> Most of the bricks in question were returned to Ur in 1962 for use in restoration efforts.<ref name="Safar1981" />

Architecture

Temple and ziggurat

The urban nucleus of Eridu was Enki's temple, called House of the Aquifer (Cuneiform: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Template:Transliteration; Sumerian: Template:Transliteration; Akkadian: Template:Transliteration), which in later history was called House of the Waters (Cuneiform: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Template:Transliteration; Sumerian: e₂-engur; Akkadian: bītu engurru). The name refers to Enki's realm.<ref>Green, Margaret Whitney, "Eridu in Sumerian Literature", Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 1975</ref> His consort Ninhursag had a nearby temple at Ubaid.<ref>P. Delougaz, A Short Investigation of the Temple at Al-'Ubaid, Iraq, vol. 5, pp. 1-11, 1938</ref>

During the Ur III period Ur-Nammu had a ziggurat built over the remains of previous temples.

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 Elili of Ur; Ur-Nammu, Shulgi and Amar-Sin of Ur-III, and Nur-Adad of Larsa.<ref>AR George, "House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia", Eisenbrauns, 2003 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Fabrizio Serra ed., "A new foundation clay-nail of Nūr-Adad from Eridu", Oriens antiquus : rivista di studi sul Vicino Oriente Antico e il Mediterraneo orientale : I, pp. 191-196, 2019</ref>

Level	Date (BC)	Period	Size (m)	Note
XVIII	5300	-	3×0.3	Sleeper walls
XVII	5300–5000	-	2.8×2.8	First cella
XVI	5300–4500	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

Lament for Eridu

The fall of early Mesopotamia cities and empires was typically believed to be the result of falling out of favor with the gods. A genre called City Laments developed during the Isin-Larsa period, of which the Lament for Ur is the most famous. These laments had a number of sections (kirugu) of which only fragments have been recovered. The Lament for Eridu describes the fall of that city.<ref>Green, M. W., "The Eridu Lament.", JCS 30, pp. 127–67, 1978</ref><ref>Ilan Peled, "A New Manuscript of the Lament for Eridu", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 67, pp. 39–43, 2015 {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref>

"Its king stayed outside his city as if it were an alien city. He wept bitter tears. Father Enki stayed outside his city as if it were an alien city. He wept bitter tears. For the sake of his harmed city, he wept bitter tears. Its lady, like a flying bird, left her city. The mother of E-maḫ, holy Damgalnuna, left her city. The divine powers of the city of holiest divine powers were overturned. The divine powers of the rites of the greatest divine powers were altered. In Eridug everything was reduced to ruin, was wrought with confusion."<ref>The lament for Eridug ETSCL</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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History

File:Painted pottery vessel (jug or ewer). From Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain), Iraq. 3500-2800 BCE. Iraq Museum, Baghdad.jpg

Painted pottery vessel from Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain), Iraq. 3500-2800 BCE. Iraq Museum, Baghdad

Eridu is one of the earliest settlements in the region, founded [[6th millennium BC|Template:Circa]] during the early Ubaid period, at that time close to the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Euphrates, although in modern times it is about 90 miles inland. Excavation has shown that the city was founded on a virgin sand dune site with no previous habitation. According to the excavators, construction of the Ur III ziggurat and associated buildings was preceded by the destruction of preceding construction and its use as leveling fill so no remains from that time were found. At a small mound 1 kilometer north of Eridu two Early Dynastic III palaces were found, with an enclosure wall. The palaces measured 45 meters by 65 meters with 2.6 meter wide walls and were constructed in the standard Early Dynastic period method of plano-convex bricks laid in a herringbone fashion.<ref name="Safar1947"/>

File:Bowl MET DP104228 (cropped).jpg

Bowl excavated in the Ubaid Cemetery at Eridu (Grave 134)

With possible breaks in occupation in the Early Dynastic III and Akkadian Empire periods, the city was inhabited until the Neo-Babylonian Empire, though in later times it was primarily a cultic site.

File:Bowl MET DP104229.jpg

Bowl; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 6.99 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the Ubaid period the site extended out to an area of about 12 hectares (about 30 acres). Twelve neolithic clay tokens, the precursor to Proto-cuneiform, were found in the Ubaid levels of the site.<ref>Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. Before writing: From counting to cuneiform, Vol. II, University of Texas Press, 1992</ref><ref>Overmann, Karenleigh A., The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, Table 9.2, pp. 169-170, 2019</ref><ref>[9] Wright, H. T., "Appendix: The Southern Margins of Sumer. Archaeological Survey of the Area of Eridu and Ur", In: R. M. Adams (ed.), The Heartland of Cities: Survey of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Flood Plain of the Euphrates (Chicago-London), pp. 295–345, 1981</ref> Eighteen superimposed mudbrick temples at the site underlie the unfinished ziggurat of Amar-Sin (c. 2047–2039 BC). Levels XIX to VI were from the Ubaid period and Levels V to I were dated to the Uruk period.<ref>Quenet, Philippe, "Eridu: Note on the Decoration of the Uruk ‘Temples.’", Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: Vol. 2: Field Reports. Islamic Archaeology, edited by Adelheid Otto et al., 1st ed., Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 341–48, 2020</ref> Significant habitation was found from the Uruk period with "non-secular" buildings being found in soundings. Uruk finds included decorative terracotta cones topped with copper, copper nails topped with gold, a pair of basalt stone lion statues, columns several meters in diameter coated with cones and gypsum, and extensive Uruk period pottery.<ref>[10] Lloyd, S., "Uruk Pottery: A Comparative Study in relation to recent Finds at Eridu", Sumer, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 39–51, 1948</ref><ref>Van Buren, E. Douglas, "Excavations at Eridu", Orientalia, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 115–19, 1948</ref><ref>Becker, A., "Uruk Kleinfunde I", Stein. Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka Endberichte 6, Mainz, 1993</ref><ref>[11] al-Soof A.B., "Uruk Pottery from Eridu, Ur, and al-Ubaid", Sumer, vol. 20, no. 1-2, pp. 17–22, 1973</ref> Occupation increased in the Early Dynastic period with a monumental 100 meter by 100 meter palace being constructed.<ref>Adams, Robert McCormick, "The Evolution of Urban Society: Early Mesopotamia and Prehistoric Mexico", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966</ref> An inscription of Elulu, a ruler of the First Dynasty of Ur (Template:Circa), was found at Eridu.<ref>Sollberger, Edmond, and Jean-Robert Kupper, "Inscriptions royales sumeriennese akkadiennes", Littératures Anciennes du Proche-Orient 3, Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1971</ref> On a statue of the Early Dynastic ruler of Lagash named Entemena (Template:Circa), it reads, "he built Ab-zupasira for Enki, king of Eridu ...",<ref>Schmandt-Besserat, Denise, "Six Votive and Dedicatory Inscriptions", When Writing Met Art: From Symbol to Story, New York, USA: University of Texas Press, pp. 71-86, 2007</ref>

File:Fired clay brick stamped with the name of Amar-Sin, Ur III, from Eridu, currently housed in the British Museum.jpg

Fired clay brick stamped with the name of Amar-Sin, Ur III, from Eridu, currently housed in the British Museum

Eridu was active during the Third Dynasty of Ur (22nd to 21st century BC) and royal building activity is known from inscribed bricks notably those of Ur-Nammu from his ziggurat marked "Ur-Nammu, king of Ur, the one who built the temple of the god Enki in Eridu."<ref>Frayne, Douglas, "Ur-Nammu E3/2.1.1", Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 5-90, 1997</ref> Three Third Dynasty rulers designated Year Names based on the appointment of an en(tu)-priestess (high priestess) of the temple of Enki in Eridu, the highest religious office in the land at that time. In each the first two cases it was also used as the succeeding Year Name.

• Sulgi Year 28 - "Year the szita-priest-who-intercedes-for-Szulgi, the son of Szulgi, the strong man, the king of Ur, the king of the four corners of the universe, was installed as en-priest of Enki in Eridu"
• Amar-Sin Year 8 - "Year (Ennune-kiag-Amar-Sin) Ennune-the beloved (of Amar-Sin, was installed as en-priestess of Enki in Eridu)"
• Ibbi-Sin Year 11 - "Year the szita-priest who prays piously for Ibbi-Sin was chosen by means of the omens as en-priest of Enki in Eridu"

File:Bowl MET DP104227.jpg

Bowl; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art

After the fall of Ur III the site was occupied and active during the Isin-Larsa period (early 2nd Millennium BC) as evidenced by a Year Name of Nur-Adad, ruler of Larsa "Year the temple of Enki in Eridu was built" and prior texts of Isin rulers Ishbi-Erra and Ishme-Dagan showing control over Eridu.<ref>De Graef, Katrien. "Bad Moon Rising: The Changing Fortunes of Early Second-Millennium BCE Ur", Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelåpåphia, July 11–15, 2016, edited by Grant Frame, Joshua Jeffers and Holly Pittman, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 49-88, 2021</ref> Inscribed construction bricks of Nur-Adad have also been found at Eridu.<ref>“RIME 4.02.08.05, Ex. 01 Artifact Entry.” (2006) 2023. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). June 15, 2023. https://cdli.ucla.edu/P345487.</ref> This continued in the Old Babylonian period with Hammurabi stating in his 33rd Year Name "Year Hammu-rabi the king dug the canal (called) 'Hammu-rabi is abundance to the people', the beloved of An and Enlil, established the everlasting waters of plentifulness for Nippur, Eridu, Ur, Larsa, Uruk and Isin, restored Sumer and Akkad which had been scattered, overthrew in battle the army of Mari and Malgium and caused Mari and its territory and the various cities of Subartu to dwell under his authority in friendship"

File:Cup MET ME49 133 5.jpg

Cup; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 8.56 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art

In an inscription of Kurigalzu I (Template:Circa), a ruler of the Kassite dynasty one of his epitaphs is "[he one who ke]eps the sanctuary in Eridu in order".<ref>Oshima, Takayoshi, "Another Attempt at Two Kassite Royal Inscriptions: The Agum-Kakrime Inscription and the Inscription of Kurigalzu the Son of Kadashmanharbe", Babel und Bibel 6, edited by Leonid E. Kogan, N. Koslova, S. Loesov and S. Tishchenko, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 225-268, 2012</ref>

An inscription of the Second Sealand Dynastic ruler Simbar-shipak (c. 1021–1004 BCE) mentions a priest of Eridu.<ref>[12] L.W. King, "Babylonian Boundary Stones and Memorial Tablets in the British Museum (BBSt)", London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1912</ref>

The Neo-Assyrian emperor Sargon II (722–705 BCE) awarded andurāru-status (described as "a periodic reinstatement of goods and persons, alienated because of want, to their original status") to Eridu.<ref>Frazer, Mary and Adalı, Selim Ferruh, "“The just judgements that Ḫammu-rāpi, a former king, rendered”: A New Royal Inscription in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 111, no. 2, pp. 231-262, 2021</ref>

The Neo-Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC) built at Eridu as evidenced by inscribed bricks found there.<ref>BMHBA 94, 17 05 artifact entry (No. P283716). (2005, November 15). Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). https://cdli.ucla.edu/P283716</ref>

Mythology

In some, but not all, versions of the Sumerian King List, Eridu is the first of five cities where kingship was received before a flood came over the land. The list mentions two rulers of Eridu from the Early Dynastic period, Alulim and Alalngar.<ref>G. Marchesi, "The Sumerian King List and the Early History of Mesopotamia", in:ana turri gimilli, studi dedicati alPadre Werner R. Mayer, S.J. da amici e allievi, Vicino Oriente Quader-no5, Rome: Università di Roma, pp. 231–248, 2010</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Verse translation

File:Jar MET ME49 133 13.jpg

Jar; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 15.24 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Sumerian mythology, Eridu was the home of the Abzu temple of the god Enki, the Sumerian counterpart of the Akkadian god Ea, god of deep waters, wisdom and magic. Like all the Sumerian and Babylonian gods, Enki/Ea began as a local god who, according to the later cosmology, came to share the rule of the cosmos with Anu and Enlil. His kingdom was the sweet waters that lay below earth (Sumerian ab=water; zu=far).<ref>Jacobsen, Thorkild, "The Eridu Genesis", Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 100, no. 4, pp. 513–29, 1981</ref> The bright star Canopus was known to the ancient Mesopotamians and represented the city of Eridu in the Three Stars Each Babylonian star catalogues and later around 1100 BC on the MUL.APIN tablets.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Canopus was called MUL.NUN^KI by the Babylonians, which translates as "star of the city of Eridu". From most southern city of Mesopotamia, Eridu, there is a good view to the south, so that about 6000 years ago due to the precession of the Earth's axis the first rising of the star Canopus in Mesopotamia could be observed only from there at the southern meridian at midnight. In the city of Ur this was the case only 60 years later.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In the flood myth tablet<ref>UET 6, 61 + UET 6, 503 + UET 6, 691 (+) UET 6, 701 or CDLI Literary 000357, ex. 003 (P346146)</ref> found in Ur, how Eridu and Alulim were chosen by gods as first city and first priest-king is described in more detail.<ref>Ansky, S., "The Eridu Genesis", The Harps that Once..., edited by David G. Roskies, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 145-150, 1992</ref> The following is the English translation of the tablet:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:Verse translation

File:Cup MET ME49 133 6.jpg

Cup; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 9.53 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Adapa, a man of Eridu, is depicted as an early culture hero. Although earlier tradition, Me-Turan/Tell-Haddad tablet, describes Adapa as postdiluvian ruler of Eridu,<ref>Cavigneaux, Antoine. “Une version Sumérienne de la légende d’Adapa (Textes de Tell Haddad X) : Zeitschrift Für Assyriologie104 (2014): 1–41.</ref> in late tradition, Adapa came to be viewed as Alulim’s vizier,Template:Sfn and he was considered to have brought civilization to the city as the sage of King Alulim.<ref>Brandon, S. G. F., "The Origin of Death in Some Ancient Near Eastern Religions", Religious Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 217–28, 1966</ref><ref>Milstein, Sara J., "The “Magic” of Adapa", Texts and Contexts: The Circulation and Transmission of Cuneiform Texts in Social Space, edited by Paul Delnero and Jacob Lauinger, Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 191-213, 2015</ref>

File:Statue of a standing lion from Eridu, Iraq, c. mid-3rd millennium BCE. Iraq Museum.jpg

Statue of a standing lion from Eridu, Iraq, c. mid-3rd millennium BC

The stories of Inanna, goddess of 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.<ref>Gertrud Farber-Fliigge, "Der Mythos 'Inanna und Enki' unter besonderer Berücksichti-gung der Liste der me", Rome, St Pohl 10, 1973</ref><ref>Alster, Bendt, "On the Interpretation of the Sumerian Myth 'Inanna and Enki'", vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 20-34, 1974</ref>

List of rulers

The following list should not be considered complete:

#	Depiction	Ruler	Succession	Title	Template:Abbr dates	Notes
Early Dynastic I period (Template:Circa)
Predynastic Sumer (Template:Circa)
"After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu."{{#if:Sumerian King List (SKL)|{{#if:|}} — {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries }} {{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
1	File:Lista Reale Sumerica.jpg	Alulim 𒀉𒇻𒅆		King of Sumer King of Eridu	Template:Fl. (28800–67200 years)	Is mentioned in the Weld-Blundell Prism (W-B 44) version of the SKL (this version of the SKL was most likely written temp. of Suen-magir Template:Circa) Said on the SKL to have held the title of, "King" of not just Eridu; but, to have held the "Kingship" over all of Sumer The Uruk List of Kings and Sages (ULKS) version of the SKL pairs him up with an apkallu (an apkallu was a sage in Sumerian literature and religion—the first apkallu was named Adapa and he was paired up with Alulim; additionally, Adapa has been compared with the Biblical figure Adam)
2	File:Initial paragraph about rule of Alulim in Eridu for 28800 years (photograph, transcription and translation).jpg	Alalngar 𒀉𒋭𒃻	Brother of Alulim (?)	King of Sumer King of Eridu	Template:Reign (36000 years)	Historicity uncertain Is mentioned in the Dynastic Chronicle version of the SKL (this version of the SKL was most likely written temp. of Nabonassar Template:Circa) The ULKS (written Template:Circa) pairs him up with an apkallu (Uanduga)
"2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years. Then Eridu fell and the kingship was taken to Bad-tibira."{{#if:SKL|{{#if:|}} — {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries }} {{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
3		Amelon 𒁹𒄠𒈨𒇻𒀭𒈾		King of Sumer King of Eridu	Template:Reign (46800 years)	Historicity uncertain Is mentioned in Berossus’ version of the SKL (the Babyloniaca was written Template:Circa) The ULKS pairs him up with an apkallu (Enmeduga)

See also

• Abzu
• Cities of the Ancient Near East
• Eridu Genesis
• Lake Hammar
• Tepe Gawra

Further reading

• Espak, Peeter, "Was Eridu The First City in Sumerian Mythology", Studia in Honorem Tarmo Kulmar. When Gods Spoke: Researches and Reflections on Religious Artefacts, pp. 53–70, 2015
• Seton Lloyd, "Ur-al 'Ubaid, 'Uqair and Eridu. An Interpretation of Some Evidence from the Flood-Pit", Iraq, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, vol. 22, Ur in Retrospect. In Memory of Sir C. Leonard Woolley, pp. 23–31, (Spring - Autumn, 1960)
• Lloyd, S., "The Oldest City of Sumeria: Establishing the origins of Eridu.", Illustrated London News Sept. 11, pp. 303–5, 1948.
• Joan Oates, "Ur and Eridu: the Prehistory", Iraq, vol. 22, pp. 32–50, 1960
• Joan Oates, "Ur in Retrospect: In Memory of Sir C. Leonard Woolley", pp. 32–50, 1960
• Mahan, Muhammed Seiab. "Topography of Eridu and its defensive fortifications", ISIN Journal 3, pp. 75–94, 2022
• Margueron, Jean, "Notes d’archéologie et d’architecture Orientales: 3: Du Nouveau Concernant Le Palais d’Eridu?", Syria, vol. 60, no. 3/4, pp. 225–31, 1983
• Quenet, Philippe, and Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel, "La campagne du printemps 2022 à Eridu, Irak du Sud", Les Chroniques d'ARCHIMEDE 3, pp. 5–8, 2022
• Reisman, Daniel, "Ninurta’s Journey to Eridu", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 24, no. 1/2, pp. 3–10, 1971
• Van Buren, E. Douglas, "Discoveries at Eridu", Orientalia, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 123–24, 1949
• [13] Yassin, Ali Majeed, "Gully erosion model of the archaeological site of Eridu Ziggurat in the southern plateau of Iraq using RS-GIS technology", Thi Qar Arts Journal 3.41, pp. 1–20, 2023 (in arabic)
• "The Ruins of Eridu, 2400 B. C.", Scientific American, vol. 83, no. 20, pp. 308–308, 1900

External links

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• Eridu object held at the British Museum
• Inana and Enki, The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford UK, JAB, editor: translation
• Iraq launches campaign to secure archaeological sites in Dhi Qar Al-Mashareq 2021-09-24

Language

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