Shuruppak

Shuruppak (Template:Langx Template:Transliteration, SU.KUR.RU^ki, "the healing place"), modern Tell Fara, was an ancient Sumerian city situated about 55 kilometres (35 mi) south of Nippur and 30 kilometers north of ancient Uruk on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq's Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate. Shuruppak was dedicated to Ninlil, also called Sud, the goddess of grain and the air.<ref name="Jacobsen1987">Template:Cite book</ref> The Early Dynastic IIIa period is also sometimes called the Fara period. Not to be confused with the Levantine archaeological site Tell el-Far'ah (South).

"Shuruppak" is sometimes also the name of a king of the city, legendary survivor of the Flood, and supposed author of the Instructions of Shuruppak".

History

File:Sumerian account of silver for the govenor (background removed).png

Summary account of silver for the governor written in Sumerian Cuneiform on a clay tablet. From Shuruppak, Iraq, circa 2500 BC. British Museum, London.

Jemdet Nasr period

The earliest excavated levels at Shuruppak date to the Jemdet Nasr period about 3000 BC. Several objects made of arsenical copper were found in Shuruppak/Fara dating to the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 2900 BC). Similar objects were also found at Tepe Gawra (levels XII-VIII).<ref>Daniel T. Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization: The Material Foundations. Cornell University Press, 1997 Template:ISBN p167</ref>

Early Dynastic II

The city rose in importance and size, exceeding 40 hectares(0.4km²), during the Early Dynastic period.

In the Sumerian King List is a ruler, Ubara-Tutu, the last ruler "before the flood". In some versions he is followed by a son, Ziusudra.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In later versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a man named Utnapishtim, son of Ubara-Tutu, is noted to be king of Shuruppak. This portion of Gilgamesh is thought to have been taken from another literary composition, the Myth of Atrahasis.<ref>Maureen Gallery Kovacs, "TABLET XI", The Epic of Gilgamesh, edited by, Redwood City: Stanford University Press, pp. 95-108, 1989</ref>

Early Dynastic III

The city expanded to its greatest extent at the end of the Early Dynastic III period (2600 BC to 2350 BC) when it covered about 100 hectares.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Cuneiform tablets from the Early Dynastic III period show a thriving, military oriented economy with links to cities throughout the region.<ref>Jacobsen, Thorkild and Moran, William L., "Early Political Development in Mesopotamia", Toward the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture, Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, pp. 132-156, 1970</ref> It has been proposed that Fara was part of a "hexapolis" with Lagash, Nippur, Uruk, Adab, and Umma, possibly under the leadership of Kish.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Pomponio, Francesco & Visicato Giuseppe, "Early Dynastic Administrative Tablets of Šuruppak", Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientalo di Napoli, 1994</ref> It has been proposed that in the Early Dynastic IIIa period Shuruppak had passed from the control of Kish to that of Uruk and was part of joint military operations against Kish (with Adab, Nippur, Lagaš, Umma) under the leadership of Uruk.<ref>Steinkeller, Piotr, "A Campaign of Southern City-States against Kiš as Documented in the ED IIIa Sources from Šuruppak (Fara)", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 76.1, pp. 3-26, 2024</ref>

Akkadian period

In the Akkadian Period (Template:Circa 2334–2154 BC), Shuruppak was ruled by a governor holding the title patesi. Like most cities on the Euphrates, it declined during the Akkadian Empire.<ref>Marchetti, Nicolò, Al-Hussainy, Abbas, Benati, Giacomo, Luglio, Giampaolo, Scazzosi, Giulia, Valeri, Marco and Zaina, Federico, "The Rise of Urbanized Landscapes in Mesopotamia: The QADIS Integrated Survey Results and the Interpretation of Multi-Layered Historical Landscapes", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 109, no. 2, pp. 214-237, 2019</ref> A clay cone from the Akkadian Empire period found at Shurappak read "Dada, governor of Suruppak: Hala-adda, gover[nor] of Suruppak, his son, laid the ... of the city gate of the goddess Sud".<ref name="Frayne1993" >Template:Cite book</ref>

Governors: Dada; Hala-adda;

Ur III period

During Ur III period (c. 2112-2004 BC), the city was ruled by a governors (ensi₂) appointed by Ur. One is known to be Ur-nigar, son of Shulgi, first rulers of Ur III. One of the tablets found at the site is dated by a year name to the beginning of the reign of Shu-Sin, next to last ruler of Ur III.<ref>Sharlach, Tonia, "Princely Employments in the Reign of Shulgi", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-68, 2022</ref> A few governors of Shurappak under the Ur III Empire are known from contemporary epigraphic remains, Ku-Nanna, Lugal-hedu, Ur-nigin-gar, and Ur-Ninkura.<ref>Frayne, Douglas, "Table III: List of Ur III Period Governors", Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. xli-xliv, 1997</ref> In much later literary compositions several purported rulers are mentioned.

Middle Bronze I

In the 2020s BC, the Ur III Empire was hit by a major drought. It is thought to have been abandoned shortly around 2000 BC.

A Isin-Larsa cylinder seal and several pottery plaques which may date to early in the second millennium BC were found at the site.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Surface finds are predominantly Early Dynastic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the 2nd year of Enlil-bani (Template:Circa 1860–1837 BC), ruler of Isin, a sage of Nippur is recorded as leaving an herbal medicine at Shurappak.<ref>Rochberg, Francesca, "The Babylonians and the Rational: Reasoning in Cuneiform Scribal Scholarship", In the Wake of the Compendia: Infrastructural Contexts and the Licensing of Empiricism in Ancient and Medieval Mesopotamia, edited by J. Cale Johnson, Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 209-246, 2015</ref>

Flood Myth

The report of the 1930s excavation mentions a layer of flood deposits at the end of the Jemdet Nasr period at Shuruppak. Shuruppak in Mesopotamian legend is one of the "antediluvian" cities and the home of King Utnapishtim, who survives the flood by making a boat beforehand. Schmidt wrote that the flood story of the Bible,<ref name=":0" />

seems to be based on a very real event or a series of such, as suggested by the existence at Ur, at Kish, and now at Fara, of inundation deposits, which accumulated on top of human inhabitation. There is finally “the Noah story,” which may possibly symbolize the survival of the Sumerian culture and the end of the Elamite Jemdet Nasr culture.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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{{#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 }} The deposit is like that deposited by river avulsions, a process that was common in the Tigris–Euphrates river system.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=HalloSimpson>Template:Cite book</ref>

Archaeology

File:List of titles of different occupations, clay tablet from Shuruppak, Southern Mesopotamia, Iraq, on display in the Pergamon Museum.jpg

List of titles of different occupations, clay tablet from Shuruppak, Iraq. 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BCE. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin

Tell Fara extends about a kilometer from north to south. The total area is about 120 hectares, with about 35 hectares of the mound being more than three meters above the surrounding plain, with a maximum of 9 meters. The site consists of two mounds, one larger than the other, separated by an old canal bed as well as a lower town. It was visited by William Loftus in 1850.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Hermann Volrath Hilprecht conducted a brief survey in 1900.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He found "copper goatheads; a copper, pre-Sargonid sword; a lamp in the shape of a bird; a very archaic seal cylinder; a number of pre-Sargonid tablets, and 60 incised plates of mother of pearl".<ref name=":0"/>

It was first excavated between 1902 and 1903 by Walter Andrae, Robert Koldewey and Friedrich Delitzsch of the German Oriental Society for eight months. They used a new "modern" system which involved excavating trenches 8 feet wide and 5 feet deep every few yards running across the entire width of the larger mound. If a building wall was found in a trench it was further explored. Preliminary identification of the site as Suruppak came from a Ur III period clay nail which mentioned "Haladda, son of Dada, the patesi of Shuruppak (written SU.KUR.RU^ki) repaired the ADUS of the Great Gate of the god Shuruppak (written ^dSU.KUR.RU-da)". Among other finds, 847 cuneiform tablets and 133 tablet fragments of Early Dynastic III period were collected, which ended up in the Berlin Museum and the Istanbul Museum. They included administrative, legal, lexical, and literary texts. Over 100 of the tablets dealt with the disbursement of rations to workers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> About a thousand Early Dynastic clay sealings and fragments (used to secure doors and containers) were also found. Most from cylinder seals but 19 were from stamp seals.<ref>R.J.Matthews, "Fragments of Officialdom from Fara", Iraq, vol. 53, pp. 1–15, 1991</ref> In 1903 the site was visited by Edgar James Banks who was excavating at the site of Adab, a four-hour walk to the north. Banks took photographs of the German trenches and noted a 20 foot in diameter well, constructed with plano-convex bricks, in the center of the larger mound as well as an arched sewer, similarly constructed. The latter was where tablets were found. Banks also noted that the smaller mound held a cemetery.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:Bill of sale Louvre AO3765.jpg

Bill of sale Louvre AO3765

In 1926 it was visited by Raymond P, Dougherty during his archaeological survey of the region.<ref>Dougherty, Raymond P, "An Archæological Survey in Southern Babylonia I", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 23, pp. 15–28, 1926</ref> In March and April 1931, a joint team of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the University of Pennsylvania excavated Shuruppak for a further six week season, with Erich Schmidt as director and with epigraphist Samuel Noah Kramer being prompted by reports of illicit excavations in the area. They were able to stratify the major occupation levels as Jemdat Nasr (Fara I), Early Dynastic (Fara II), and Ur III empire (Fara III). There was an "inundation event" between Fara I and Fara II.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The excavation recovered 96 tablets and fragments—mostly from pre-Sargonic times—biconvex, and unbaked. The tablets included reference to Shuruppak enabling confirmation of the sites original name.<ref name="Martin1975" >Martin, Harriet P., "The Tablets of Shuruppak", in Le temple et le culte, Compte rendu de la vingtième Recontre Assyriologique Internationale, Leiden, pp. 173-182, 1975</ref>

File:Pig-shaped rattle from Shuruppak, Iraq. Baked clay. Early Dynastic period, 2500-2350 BCE. Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany.jpg

Pig-shaped rattle from Shuruppak, Iraq. Baked clay. Early Dynastic period, 2500-2350 BCE. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin

In 1973, a three-day surface survey of the site was conducted by Harriet P. Martin. Consisting mainly of pottery shard collection, the survey confirmed that Shuruppak dates at least as early as the Jemdet Nasr period, expanded greatly in the Early Dynastic period, and was also an element of the Akkadian Empire and the Third Dynasty of Ur.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

A surface survey and a full magnetometer survey of the site was completed was conducted between 2016 and 2018 by a team from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich led by Adelheid Otto and Berthold Einwag. The initial work was under the regional QADIS survey.<ref>Marchetti, N., Einwag, B., Al-Hussainy, A., Luglio, G., Marchesi, G., Otto, A., Scazzosi, G., Leoni, E., Valeri, M. and Zaina, F., "QADIS. The Iraqi-Italian 2016 Survey Season in the South-Eastern Region of Qadisiyah", Sumer 63, pp. 63−92, 2017</ref> A drone was used to create a digital elevation model of the site.<ref>Otto, A., & Einwag, B., "The survey at Fara - Šuruppak 2016-2018", In Otto, A., Herles, M., Kaniuth, K., Korn, L., & Heidenreich, A. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Vol. 2. Wiesbaden, pp. 293–306. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2020</ref> The researchers found thousands of robber holes left by looters which had disturbed surface in many places, with the top several meters of the main mound destroyed.<ref name="Otto2018" >Otto, A., Einwag, B., Al-Hussainy, A., Jawdat, J.A.H., Fink, C. and Maaß, H., "Destruction and Looting of Archaeological Sites between Fāra / Šuruppak and Išān Bahrīyāt / Isin: Damage Assessment during the Fara Regional Survey Project FARSUP", Sumer 64, pp. 35−48, 2018</ref> They were able to use remains of the 900 meter long trench left by excavators in 1902 and 1903 to orient old excavation documents and aerial mapping with their geomagnetic results. Part of the site was inaccessible because of the spoil heaps from the excavations. A city wall was found (in Area A), which had been missed in the past.<ref name="Otto2018" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> A harbor and quay were also found.<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref>

List of rulers

The following list should not be considered complete:

#	Depiction	Ruler	Succession	Epithet	Template:Abbr dates	Notes
Early Dynastic I period (Template:Circa)
Predynastic Sumer (Template:Circa)
"Then Sippar fell and the kingship was taken to Shuruppak."{{#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 }}
1st	File:Lista Reale Sumerica.jpg	Ubara-Tutu 𒂬𒁺𒁺	Son of En-men-dur-ana (?)		Uncertain, Template:Reign (18,600 years)	Said on the Sumerian King List (SKL) to have held the title of, "King" of not just Shuruppak; but, to have held the "Kingship" over all of Sumer He has been compared with the Biblical patriarch Methuselah Historicity uncertain
"1 king; he ruled for 18,600 years. In 5 cities 8 kings; they ruled for 241,200 years. Then the flood swept over. After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish."{{#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 }}
2nd	File:Instructions of Shurrupak, Sumerian proverb collection, c. 2400 BC - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC07114.JPG	Ziusudra 𒍣𒌓𒋤𒁺	Son of Ubara-Tutu (?)		Uncertain, Template:Reign (36,000 years)	Known from the Instructions of Shuruppak and SKL He has been compared with Atra-Hasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah Historicity uncertain

See also

• List of cities of the ancient Near East
• Instructions of Shuruppak

Further reading

• Andrae, W., "Aus einem Berichte W. Andrae's über seineExkursion von Fara nach den südbabylonischen Ruinenstätten(TellǏd, Jǒcha und Hamam)", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft,16, pp. 16–24, 1902 (in German)
• Andrae, W., "Die Umgebung von Fara und Abu Hatab (Fara,Bismaja, Abu Hatab, Hˇetime, Dschidr und Juba’i)", Mitteilungen derDeutschen Orient-Gesellschaft,16, pp. 24–30, 1902 (in German)
• Andrae, W., "Ausgrabungen in Fara und Abu Hatab. Bericht über dieZeit vom 15. August 1902 bis 10. Januar 1903", Mitteilungen derDeutschen Orient-Gesellschaft,17, pp. 4–35, 1903 (in German)
• Cavigneaux, A., "Deux noveaux contrats de Fāra", in I. Arkhipov – L. Kogan – N. Koslova (eds), The Third Millennium. Studies in Early Mesopotamia and Syria in Honor of Walter Sommerfeld and Manfred Krebernik (Cuneiform Monographs 50), Leiden, pp. 240–258, 2020
• Template:Cite book
• [1] Anton Deimel, "Die Inschriften von Fara, Vol. II: Schultexte aus Fara", Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Wissenschaftliche Ver6ffentlichungen, Vol. XLIII, Leipzig, 1923
• Anton Deimel, "Die Inschriften von Fara, Vol. III: Wirtschaftstexte aus Fara", Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Berlin. Wissenschaftliche Ver6ffentlichungen, Vol. XLV, Leipzig, 1924
• Edzard, D. O., "Fara und Abu Salabih. Die 'Wirtschaftstexte'", ZA 66, pp. 156–195, 1976
• Edzard, D. O., "Die Archive von Šuruppag (FĀRA): Umfang und Grenzen der Auswertbarkeit", in E. Lipiñski, State and Temple Economy in the Ancient Near East. Vol. 1. OLA 5, Leuven: Department Oriëntalistiek, pp. 153–169, 1979
• Foster, B., "Shuruppak and the Sumerian City State", in L. Kogan, N. Kosolova et al. (eds.), Babel and Bibel 2. Memoriae Igor M. Diakonoff Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pp. 71–88, 2005
• [2] Gori, Fiammetta, "Numeracy in early syro-mesopotamia. A study of accounting practices from Fāra to Ebla", University of Verona Disertation, 2024
• Jabbar, Sattar A., "Excavations of German archaeological Expeditions In Al-Qadisiyah Governorate/Iraq (Isin, Tell Fara, Tell Abu Hatab)", Al-Qadisiyah Journal For Humanities Sciences 22.1, pp. 285–301, 2019
• R. Jestin, "Tablettes sumériennes de Shuruppak conserves au Musée de Stamboul" Paris, 1937
• Jestin, R., "Nouvelles tablettes sumériennes de Suruppak au musée d'Istanbul", Paris, 1957
• Koldewey, R., "Acht Briefe Dr. Koldewey's (teilweise im Auszug)(Babylon, Fara und Abu Hatab)", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft,15, pp. 6–24, 1902 (in German)
• Koldewey, R., "Auszug aus fünf Briefen Dr. Koldewey's (Babylon,Fara und Abu Hatab)", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft,16, pp. 8–15, 1902 (in German)
• Krebernik, M., "Die Texte aus Fāra und Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ", In: J. Bauer, R. K. Englund and M. Krebernik (eds.), Mesopotamien. Späturuk-Zeit und Frühdynastische Zeit. OBO 160/1 (Freiburg–Göttingen), pp. 235−427, 1998
• Krebernik, Manfred, "Prä-Fara-zeitliche Texte aus Fara", Babel und Bibel 8: Studies in Sumerian Language and Literature: Festschrift Joachim Krecher, edited by Natalia Koslova, E. Vizirova and Gabor Zólyomi, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 327–382, 2014
• Lambert, Maurice, "Quatres nouveaux contrats de l’époque de Shuruppak", in: Manfred Lurker (ed.), Beiträge zu Geschichte, Kultur und Religion des Alten Orients, In memoriam Eckhard Unger, Baden-Baden, pp. 27–40, 1971
• M. Lambert, "La Periode pr6sargonique, la vie economique a Shuruppak", Sumer 9, pp. 202–205, 1953
• H. P. Martin et al., "The Fara Tablets in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology", Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2001 Template:ISBN
• Nöldeke, A., "Die Rückkehr unserer Expedition aus Fara", Mitteilun-gen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft,17, pp. 35–44, 1903 (in German)
• Pomponio, Francesco, "Notes on the Fara Texts", Orientalia 53.1, pp. 1–18, 1984
• Sallaberger, W., "Fara Notes, 1: Administrative lists identified as dub bar and dub gibil", NABU 2022/2, pp. 98–99, 2022
• Steinkeller, Piotr, "A Campaign of Southern City-States against Kiš as Documented in the ED IIIa Sources from Šuruppak (Fara)", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 76.1, pp. 3–26, 2024
• Steible, H. and Yildiz, F., "Wirtschaftstexte aus Fara II", WVDOG 143, Wiesbaden, 2015
• Steible, H. – Yıldız, F., "Kupfer an ein Herdenmat in Šuruppak?", in Ö. Tunca – D. Deheselle (eds), Tablettes et images aux pays de Sumer et Akkad. Mélanges offerts à Monsieur H. Limet, Liège, pp. 149–159, 1996
• Steible, H. – Yıldız, F., "Lapislazuli-Zuteilungen an die “Prominenz” von Šuruppak", in S. Graziani (ed.), Studi sul Vicino Oriente Antico dedicati alla memoria di Luigi Cagni, Napoli, pp. 985–1031, 2000
• G. Visicato, "The Bureaucracy of Shuruppak : Administrative Centres, Central Offices, Intermediate Structures and Hierarchies in the Economic Documentation of Fara", Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995
• Visicato, Giuseppe, "Some Aspects of the Administrative Organization of Fara", Orientalia, vol. 61, no. 2, pp. 94–99, 1992
• Visicato, G. – Westenholz, A., "A New Fara Contract", SEL 19, pp. 1–4, 2002
• Wencel, M. M., "New radiocarbon dates from southern Mesopotamia (Fara and Ur)", Iraq, 80, pp. 251–261, 2018

External links

• FARA Regional Survey Project (FARSUP)
• E Schmidt 1931 excavtion video at Archive.org
• Aramco article on Samuel Kramer
• Photographs from the University of Pennsylvania expedition to Fara