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37-462: Despite the fact that thousands of cuneiform clay tablets have been recovered at the site, relatively little is known about the history of Sippar. In the Sumerian king list a king of Sippar, En-men-dur-ana , is listed as one of the early pre-dynastic rulers of the region but has not yet turned up in the epigraphic records. While pottery finds indicate that the site of Sippar was in use as early as

74-581: A great reservoir in the neighbourhood. Pliny ( Natural History 6.30.123) mentions a sect of Chaldeans called the Hippareni . It is often assumed that this name refers to Sippar (especially because the other two schools mentioned seem to be named after cities as well: the Orcheni after Uruk , and the Borsippeni after Borsippa ), but this is not universally accepted. Sippar has been suggested as

111-538: A library with about 400 cuneiform tablets, which had been stored in 10 ranks of 17cm by 30cm niches in 4 rows. The tablets included copies of earlier inscriptions dating back to the Akkadian Empire and contemporary texts as late as the reign of Cambyses II . Few of the tablets were published at the time due to conditions in Iraq. With conditions improving, they are now being published. After 2000, they were joined by

148-478: A new site contour map and excavation in the Old Babylonian area in the north where two buildings were uncovered. About 100 Old Babylonian period cuneiform tablets were found. Subsequently, the team worked in an Old Babylonian residential area where terracotta plaques and figurines, and cuneiform tablets were found. The tablets were from the reign of Immerum, Buntahun-ila, and Samsu-iluna. Focus then shifted to

185-468: A sophisticated accounting system. In this cultural region, tablets were never fired deliberately as the clay was recycled on an annual basis. However, some of the tablets were "fired" as a result of uncontrolled fires in the buildings where they were stored. The rest, remain tablets of unfired clay and are therefore extremely fragile. For this reason, some institutions are investigating the possibility of firing them now to aid in their preservation. Writing

222-753: A writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform , throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age . Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed ( reed pen ). Once written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air, remaining fragile. Later, these unfired clay tablets could be soaked in water and recycled into new clean tablets. Other tablets, once written, were either deliberately fired in hot kilns , or inadvertently fired when buildings were burnt down by accident or during conflict, making them hard and durable. Collections of these clay documents made up

259-569: Is known as pictograms . Pictograms are symbols that express a pictorial concept, a logogram , as the meaning of the word. Early writing also began in Ancient Egypt using hieroglyphs . Early hieroglyphs and some of the modern Chinese characters are other examples of pictographs. The Sumerians later shifted their writing to Cuneiform, defined as "Wedge writing" in Latin, which added phonetic symbols, syllabograms . Text on clay tablets took

296-610: The British Museum , are being studied to this day. As was often the case in the early days of archaeology, excavation records were not made, particularly find spots. This makes it difficult to tell which tablets came from Sippar-Amnanum as opposed to Sippar. Other tablets from Sippar were bought on the open market during that time and ended up at places like the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania . Since

333-585: The German Archaeological Institute . In total, the effort continued in 24 seasons until 2002. The following list should not be considered complete: "Then Larak fell and the kingship was taken to Sippar." "1 king; he ruled for 21,000 years. Then Sippar fell and the kingship was taken to Shuruppak ." Clay tablet In the Ancient Near East , clay tablets ( Akkadian ṭuppu(m) 𒁾 ) were used as

370-773: The Uruk period , substantial occupation occurred only in the Early Dynastic and Akkadian Empire periods of the 3rd millennium BC, the Old Babylonian and Kassite periods of the 2nd millennium BC, and the Neo-Babylonian times of the 1st millennium BC. Lesser levels of use continued into the time of the Achaemenid , Seleucid and Parthian Empires . Sippar was the cult site of the sun god (Sumerian Utu , Akkadian Shamash ), along with his consort Aya , and

407-426: The 1st millennium BCE. Tablets on Babylonian astronomical records (such as Enuma Anu Enlil and MUL.APIN ) date back to around 1800 BCE. Tablets discussing astronomical records continue through around 75 CE. Late Babylonian tablets at the British Museum refer to appearances of Halley's Comet in 164 BCE and 87 BCE. Battle of Carchemish The Battle of Carchemish was fought around 605 BC between

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444-706: The Assyrians moved their capital to Harran . When Harran was captured by the alliance in 609 BC, ending the Assyrian Empire, remnants of the Assyrian army joined Carchemish , a city under Egyptian rule, on the Euphrates . Egypt, a former vassal of Assyria, was allied with Assyrian King Ashur-uballit II and marched in 609 BC to his aid against the Babylonians. The Egyptian army of Pharaoh Necho II

481-523: The Egyptian army withdrew before him. He accomplished their defeat, decisively. As for the rest of the Egyptian army which had escaped from the defeat so quickly that no weapon had reached them, in the district of Hamath , the Babylonian troops overtook and defeated them so that not a single man escaped to his own country. At that time, Nebuchadnezzar conquered the whole area of Hamath." The battle

518-623: The Neo-Babylonian remains. Tens of thousands of tablets were recovered including the Tablet of Shamash in the Temple of Shamash / Utu . Most of the tablets were Neo-Babylonian . The temple had been mentioned as early as the 18th year of Samsu-iluna of Babylon, who reported restoring "Ebabbar, the temple of Szamasz in Sippar", along with the city's ziggurat . The tablets, which ended up in

555-765: The Shamash temple E-babbara. After the Battle of Opis in September 539 BC Sippar surrendered to the Achaemenid Empire , followed soon after by the fall of the Neo-Babylonian empire. Xisuthros , the "Chaldean Noah" in Sumerian mythology, is said by Berossus to have buried the records of the antediluvian world here—possibly because the name of Sippar was supposed to be connected with sipru , "a writing". And according to Abydenus , Nebuchadnezzar II excavated

592-529: The Shamash temple area. In the northeast, Old Babylonian, part of the site, a 30 meter by 5 meter deep sounding was excavated. The sounding found 4 Old Babylonian levels, 2 Akkadian Empire levels, and 3 Early Dynastic levels ( with plano-convex mud brick construction). In 1986, while clearing spoil from the Rassam excavation in the E-Babbar temple, a room was discovered which Rassam had not noticed. It contained

629-609: The armies of Egypt allied with the remnants of the army of the former Assyrian Empire against the armies of Babylonia , allied with the Medes , and Scythians . This was while Nebuchadnezzar II was commander-in-chief and Nabopolassar was still king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar became king a few weeks after this battle. When the Assyrian capital, Nineveh , was overrun by the Medes, Scythians, Babylonians and their allies in 612 BC,

666-417: The city-states of " Kutha , TiWA, Sippar, Kazallu , Kiritab, [Api]ak and GN" as well as "Amorite [hi]ghlanders" revolted against Akkadian Empire ruler Naram-Sin of Akkad . The rebellion was joined by the city of Borsippa , among others. The revolt was crushed. During early Babylonian dynasties, Sippar was the production center of wool. The Code of Hammurabi stele was probably erected at Sippar. Shamash

703-407: The clay tablet. Some of the recipes were stew, which was made with goat, garlic, onions and sour milk. By the end of the 3rd Millennium BCE, (2200–2000 BCE), even the "short story" was first attempted, as independent scribes entered into the philosophical arena, with stories like: " Debate between bird and fish ", and other topics, ( List of Sumerian debates ). Communication grew faster as now there

740-428: The clay; the clay tablets themselves came in a variety of colors such as bone white, chocolate, and charcoal. Pictographs then began to appear on clay tablets around 4000 BCE, and after the later development of Sumerian cuneiform writing, a more sophisticated partial syllabic script evolved that by around 2500 BCE was capable of recording the vernacular, the everyday speech of the common people. Sumerians used what

777-508: The combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces were destroyed. Assyria ceased to exist as an independent power, and Egypt retreated and was no longer a significant force in the Ancient Near East . Babylonia reached its economic peak after 605 BC. The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle , now housed in the British Museum , claims that Nebuchadnezzar "crossed the river to go against the Egyptian army which lay in Karchemiš. They fought with each other and

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814-546: The first archives. They were at the root of the first libraries . Tens of thousands of written tablets, including many fragments, have been found in the Middle East. Surviving tablet-based documents from the Minoan / Mycenaean civilizations, are mainly those which were used for accounting. Tablets serving as labels with the impression of the side of a wicker basket on the back, and tablets showing yearly summaries, suggest

851-407: The forms of myths, fables, essays, hymns, proverbs, epic poetry, business records, laws, plants, and animals. What these clay tablets allowed was for individuals to record who and what was significant. An example of these great stories was Epic of Gilgamesh . This story would tell of the great flood that destroyed Sumer. Remedies and recipes that would have been unknown were then possible because of

888-511: The home of his temple E -babbara ( 𒂍 𒌓𒌓𒊏, means "white house") where the Cruciform Monument of Manishtushu was found. Mamu , the daughter of Shamash, also had a temple in Sippar as did the goddesses Nin-Isina, Ninḫegal, Ninkarrak , and Tašmētum. In the later part of the 3rd millennium BC, a large coalition of city-states led by Iphur-Kis of Kish (Sumer) and Amar-Girid of Uruk , joined by Enlil-nizu of Nippur , and including

925-550: The location of the Biblical Sepharvaim in the Old Testament , which alludes to the two parts of the city in its dual form. Tell Abu Habba, measuring over 1 square kilometer was first excavated by Hormuzd Rassam (referring to the site as Aboo-Habba) between 1880 and 1881 for the British Museum in a dig that lasted 18 months. Rassam excavated only down to the Old Babylonian levels and was focused mainly on

962-474: The lord of the land of Elam. When the god Inshushinak gave me the order, I defeated Sippar. I took the stele of Naram-Sin and carried it off, bringing it to the land of Elam. For Inshushinak, my god, I set it as an offering." In the succeeding Late Bronze Age collapse period, in the reign of Neo-Babylonian ruler Adad-apla-iddina (c. 1064–1043 BC) the Shamash cult center along with all the other temples in Sippar were destroyed by Suteans and cult symbol of Shamash

999-523: The site is relatively close to Baghdad , it was a popular target for illegal excavations. In 1894, Sippar was worked briefly by Jean-Vincent Scheil . The tablets recovered, mainly Old Babylonian, went to the Istanbul Museum . In 1927 archaeologists Walter Andrae and Julius Jordan visited, and mapped, the site. In modern times, the site was worked, mainly soundings, by a Belgian team led by H. Gasche from 1972 to 1973. They determined that Sippar

1036-452: The tablet were carbon dated ) to before 4000 BCE, and possibly dating from as long ago as 5500 BCE, but their interpretation remains controversial because the tablets were fired in a furnace and the properties of the carbon changed accordingly. Fragments of tablets containing the Epic of Gilgamesh dating to 1800–1600 BCE have been discovered. A full version has been found on tablets dated to

1073-539: The trade of sheep, grain, and bread loaves, where transactions were recorded with clay tokens. These, initially very small clay tokens, were continually used all the way from the pre-historic Mesopotamia period, 9000 BCE, to the start of the historic period around 3000 BCE, when the use of writing for recording was widely adopted. The clay tablet was thus being used by scribes to record events happening during their time. Tools that these scribes used were styluses with sharp triangular tips, making it easy to leave markings on

1110-620: The wall again in his 43rd year. His successor in Babylon, Samsu-iluna worked on Sippar's wall in his 1st year. The city walls, being typically made of mud bricks, required much attention. The city then came under the control of the Kassite dynasty . In the final years of that dynasty the Elamite ruler Shutruk-Nakhunte (c. 1184 to 1155 BC) captured Sippar. It was held by the Elamites until it

1147-508: Was a way to get messages across just like mail. Important and private clay tablets were coated with an extra layer of clay, that no one else would read it. This means of communicating was used for over 3000 years in fifteen different languages. Sumerians, Babylonians and Eblaites all had their own clay tablet libraries. The Tărtăria tablets , the Danubian civilization , may be still older, having been dated by indirect method (bones found near

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1184-567: Was delayed at Megiddo by the forces of King Josiah of Judah . Josiah was killed, and his army was defeated at the Battle of Megiddo. The Egyptians and the Assyrians together crossed the Euphrates and laid siege to Harran, which they failed to retake. They then retreated to northwestern Assyria in what is now northeastern Syria . The Egyptians met the full might of the Babylonian and Median army led by Nebuchadnezzar II at Carchemish, where

1221-534: Was lost. In the early 1st millennium BC, Sippar came under Neo-Assyrian control. After the final defeat of the Neo-Assyrians by the Neo-Babylonians at the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC text report that a number of Egyptian and Assyrian prisoners were brought to Sippar as chattel. Records of Neo-Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) and Nabonidos (556-539 BC) record that they repaired

1258-522: Was not as we see it today. In Mesopotamia, writing began as simple counting marks, sometimes alongside a non-arbitrary sign, in the form of a simple image, pressed into clay tokens or less commonly cut into wood, stone or pots. In that way, the exact number of goods involved in a transaction could be recorded. This convention began when people developed agriculture and settled into permanent communities that were centered on increasingly large and organized trading marketplaces. These marketplaces were purposed for

1295-512: Was protected by a wall, partially for flood protection, extending 1200 meters by 800 meters, cutting a trench across it. A tablet of Samsu-iluna was found showing the wall dated back to at least Old Babylonian period though ground water prevented deeper excavation. Iraqi archaeologists from the College of Arts at the University of Baghdad , led by Walid al-Jadir with Farouk al-Rawi, have excavated at Tell Abu Habbah starting in 1978. Work began with

1332-411: Was taken by the Neo-Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar I about 1120 BC. Shutruk-Nakhunte carried back statues from the Shamash temple to Susa adding his own inscription to a stele of the Akkadian Empire ruler Naram-Sin : "I am Shutruk-Nahhunte, son of Hallutush-Inshushinak, beloved servant of the god Inshushinak , king of Anshan and Susa, who has enlarged the kingdom, who takes care of the lands of Elam,

1369-446: Was the god of justice, and he is depicted handing authority to the king in the image at the top of the stele. By the end of the 19th century BC, Sippar was producing some of the finest Old Babylonian cylinder seals. In his 29th year of reign, Sumu-la-El of Babylon reported building the city wall of Sippar. Some years later Hammurabi of Babylon reported laying the foundations of the city wall of Sippar in his 23rd year and worked on

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