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Ezida: The Temple of Nabu

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

David Oates
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Extract

The complex of buildings described in this article lies on the east side of the citadel of Nimrud, close to the south-east corner. It is bounded on the east by the citadel wall, on the north by the street leading up from the gate of Shalmaneser III, and on the west by a second street dividing it from the Burnt Palace (Pl. I). A building on its southern side, in the angle of the fortifications, was investigated by Layard, who refers to it on his plan as “The Palace of the Grandson of Esarhaddon”; his excavations were hampered by the presence of a considerable post-Assyrian cemetery and he exposed only a small part of the uppermost of the sequence of buildings on this site. Our investigations have so far touched only the outer face of its north wall, which fronted on the south wing of the Nabu Temple, but this has sufficed to show that the site was continuously occupied throughout the life of the Nabu Temple, although the buildings upon it had no connection with the Temple area; hence it is of importance only as a limiting factor in the layout of the Temple itself. It is, however, clear that the south-east corner was always, with the exception of the Ziggurrat, the highest point in the citadel, and the considerable slope, represented by a drop of some five metres in ground level from the southern boundary of the site to the street of Shalmaneser III on the north, undoubtedly influenced successive architects in planning its development.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , Spring 1957 , pp. 26 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1957

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References

page 26 note 1 Cf. plan and section, Iraq XVIII, Pt. 1, Pls. II and VIII.

page 26 note 2 Layard, , Nineveh and its Remains, II, 38 Google Scholar; Nineveh and Babylon, p. 655 and plan opp. p. 653. The evidence for this ascription is not clear.

page 26 note 3 The comparatively frequent occurrence of prehistoric sherds in this area suggests that an eminence on the river terrace may have attracted pre-Assyrian settlers.

page 26 note 4 Rassam, H., Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, 9–10 Google Scholar; Smith, George, Assyrian Discoveries, 74 Google Scholar; cf. Gadd, C. J., The Stones of Assyria, 150–51Google Scholar.

page 27 note 1 Oates, D. and Reid, J. H., “The Burnt Palace and the Nabu Temple, 1955”, Iraq XVIII, Pt. 1, pp. 22–39 Google Scholar.

page 27 note 2 As at Khorsabad, Frankfort, H., “Oriental Institute Discoveries in Iraq, 1933–34”, Communications of the Oriental Institute of Chicago, No . 19, 89 Google Scholar. The presence of a second altar at the entrance of the shrine of Nabu is probably indicated by a square stone base, with a circular groove in its upper surface, set in the pavement on the axis of the shrine.

page 28 note 1 H. Rassam and George Smith, loc. cit. (p. 26, n. 4); and Gadd, C. J., The Stones of Assyria, 229 Google Scholar.

page 28 note 2 L.A.R., 183.

page 28 note 3 Rassam, H., Asshur, 11 Google Scholar. The position of the obelisk is marked on a plan by Boutcher, published by Gadd, , The Stones of Assyria, app. p. 252 Google Scholar. Text: L.A.R., 253.

page 28 note 4 This appears to be a slightly different version the inscription on the two statues, see p. 29, n. 3.

page 28 note 5 For a description of the constructional methods employed in this building, see Iraq XVIII, Pt. I, 34–37 Google Scholar.

page 29 note 1 Gadd, , The Stones of Assyria, pl. 8, 1 Google Scholar.

page 29 note 2 Rassam, , Asshur, 9–10 Google Scholar.

page 29 note 3 L.A.R., I, 264 Google Scholar.

page 30 note 1 Iraq, XVIII, Pt. 1, Pl. VIII.

page 31 note 1 See p. 26, n. 2.

page 32 note 1 Iraq, XVIII, Pt. 1, 24–25 Google Scholar.

page 32 note 2 Frankfort, , Oriental Institute Communications, Chicago, No. 19, fig. 92Google Scholar.

page 32 note 3 L.A.R., II, 72 Google Scholar.

page 32 note 4 Frankfort, , Oriental Institute Communications, Chicago, No 19, fig. 96Google Scholar.

page 33 note 1 Layard, , Nineveb and its Remains, II, 466 Google Scholar.

page 34 note 1 Waterman, , Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire, 1, Letter 65Google Scholar.

page 34 note 2 Waterman, op. cit., Letter 113.

page 34 note 3 Waterman, op. cit., Letter 366.

page 35 note 1 Olmstead, , History of Assyria, 371–72Google Scholar.

page 36 note 1 Aššur-bani-pal, in an unpublished prism fragment (ND 5541) found in room NT 12 in 1955, claims to have rebuilt the Temple of Nabu, but this probably refers merely to repairs to the vails and roof. I am indebted to Dr. J. Laessøe for this information.

page 36 note 2 Iraq, XVIII, Pt. 1, 29 Google Scholar.

page 38 note 1 A note on this coin is published on p. 10 of this volume.

page 38 note 2 Xenophon, , Anabasis, Book III, 4 Google Scholar; commented on by Mallowan, M. E. L., Iraq, XVI, Pt. 1, 112–13Google Scholar.