Nippur

Attribution:

whereispavel

Key Dates

The site of Nippur was first settled around 5000 BC. Several temples were built there in the middle of the 3rd millenium BC, by which point it had become the centre of worship of the Sumerian storm god Enlil. Nippur fell into decline around the 3rd century AD, and was abandoned by 800 AD.

It was first excavated, briefly in 1851. A fuller project lasted from 1889-1900. The most recent programme began in 1948, and remains ongoing, although fieldwork has been broken-off since 1990 and the Gulf War.

Nuffar

Iraq

Key People

The first person to research Nippur was a British archaeologist, Sir Austen Henry Layard in 1851. Americans have been in charge of excavations there for over 100 years now; first under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, and - since 1948 - under the auspices of the the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Nippur is an extremely important ruined ancient Mesopotamian city, situated in modern Iraq. While never an especially powerful political centre, it was a hugely influential religious centre as the base of the cult of Enlil, the supreme god of the Sumerian pantheon, whom the Mespotamians believed created mankind. It is also one of the most ancient cities in human history, at around 7,000 years old.

During its peak, around 2500 BC, Nippur boasted multiple large temples, government buildings and businesses. Its inhabitants were very literate for the time - over 40,000 inscribed clay Sumerian and Akkadian tablets have been found there, bearing all from epic tales such as the Creation Story to legal documents, medical records and school texts. Powerful trading connections have been revealed in the range of objects originating from such other civilizations as Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, the Indus Valley, and Greece.

Because Nippur was considered such a holy place, it escaped the ravages of war that befell such other cities as Ur, Nineveh and Babylon. It's this that makes it such a well-preserved, important and prolific archaeological site, where American teams have been digging for over 100 years. The Oriental Institute from the University of Chicago has been working at and on Nippur since 1948, although fieldwork has been halted since 1990 and the Gulf War. Some damage is known to have been caused to the site during hostilities, but it has escaped looting.

Currently Nippur is fenced-off, awaiting safe conditions for the resumption of studies there.

Admission Fee

No admission allowed at present.

Related Websites

Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

Images

Put your Flickr photos of this object into the Heritage Key group, and tag them with heritagesite-6930, to see them here!

Location

Nippur Nuffar

Iraq

32° 7' 35.8824" N, 45° 13' 54.2748" E

Google Map