THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
starting-point of the road across the desert to Egypt
and Africa, a route early provided with wells; (4)
just a little below where the Shatt-
3. Ur. al-Kahr, the continuation of the Shatt-
al-Nil, entered the Euphrates, thus giving access to central Babylonia; (5) a little above the Shatt-al-Hai, which gave it a waterway to the Tigris. Besides these great advantages as a commercial site, Ur was the locus of a pilgrim shrine. It was also at times the center of political movements, and gave several dynasties to the land. As the home of Sin, with his celebrated temple E-gishshirgal, " House of Great Light," and as the home of the goddess Nin-gal, its religious significance was hardly less than its commercial importance.
Larsa, the Ellasar of Gen. xiv, the modern Senkereh, was situated 15 miles e. of Erech, probably on the Shatt-al-Nil. It was a home of the sun-god whose temple took its Semitic name, Bit-Shamash, Sumerian E-babar, " House of Light," from the
god himself. This temple, built or
4. Larsa. restored by Ur-gur and Dungi, was
restored by other kings at frequent intervals. Not much is known of the city except that it was the head of a small state and was the last city to submit to Hammurabi when he unified the country, c. 2250 B.C.
Erech, Sumerian Unu or Unug, " Seat," Semitic Uruk or Arku, the modern Warka and the Greek Orchoe, probably the home of the Archevites of Ezra iv, 9, was situated between the Shatt-al-Nil and the Euphrates, 30 miles n. of Ur. The ruins are about six miles in circumference, indicating a large population. Erech was Sumerian in origin, one of the most sacred of Babylonian cities from early times, and continued to stand high in the esteem of the people. The two goddesses, Ishtar and Nana or Nina or Anunit, had their seat there
in the two temples E-ulmash, " House
5. Erech. of the Oracle," and E-Ana, " House of
Heaven." Besides the two temples Erech had the seven-staged ziggurat E-zipar-irnina. It was a walled city, intersected by canals, and has yielded to the spade of the excavator evidences of the activities of early kings of the Ur dynasty, Dungi and Ur-Bau. It was a seat of learning also, the source of part of the library of Asshurbanipal, the locus of the Gilgamesh epic and of a creation story, the place of abode of the wailing priestesses of Ishtar who celebrated the Ishtar-Tammuz episode. It was therefore rich in those possessions which were dearest to the Babylonians. Later it fell into decay and was used as a necropolis.
Shirpurla, the modern Telloh, was situated east of Erech. In the opinion of modern scholars it
was originally two cities, Shirpurla
6. Shir- and Lagash. It was the home of purla and two celebrated kings, Ur-Bau and
Lagash. Gudea. The fish-goddess Nina had a home there, and the temple of Nin-sungir was also located in the place. It may have been the Babylonian Nineveh. Its inscriptions are wholly in Sumerian, and the ceremonies at the founding of temples are best known from discoveries made at this city
Isin or Nisin is one of the lost cities, its site not yet having been recovered or at least identified. It was in all probability a
7. Isin or little north of the middle of the line Nisin. joining Erech and Shirpurla. It contained the ziggurat-temple E-kharsag-
kalama, " Mountain of the World," belonging to Ishtar-Nina.
Girsu is another of the lost cities; possibly the
modern Tell-Id covers it. At any rate its location
is sought a few miles northeast of
8. Girsu. Erech. It was very early a seat
of government but was soon dwarfed by its more prosperous neighbors, abandoned, and then lost to sight.
Nippur, the modern Niffar (35 m. s.e. of Babylon), revered in ancient times as the home of En-lil, the earliest Bel of Babylonia, and the locus of his great temple E-kur, " Mountain House," was on the Shatt-al-Nil which ran through the city. It is the site of the epoch-making excavations of the University of Pennsylvania through which more of light on early conditions has come than from
any other single source. It con- 9. Nippur, tained the chief sanctuary of the land
in the early and middle period, and its possession was always coveted by the rulers because of the prestige which accrued, but its prestige was purely religious. Kings of the north and of the south and of united Babylonia vied in doing honor to its god, placing there votive offerings to Bel. Even after Babylon had attained its predominance and Marduk had seized the position and attached the name of Bel, the Sumerian En-lil still received his meed of worship. The topography of Nippur has been investigated by the help of a native map dated about 3000 B.C. found on the site (cf. C. S. Fisher, Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, part 1, Philadelphia, 1905). Ur, Erech, and Nippur remained for millenniums the triad of most holy cities of the land.
North of Babylon and Borsippa are Kish and Cutha, a few miles apart and related to each other as were Borsippa and Babylon. Cutha is repre^ sented by the modern Tell-Ibrahim (15 m. s.e. from Sippar and the same distance n.e. from Babylon). It was the seat of the god Nergal and the site of his temple E-shidlam, " House of Shadow." Its
neighbor Kish, possibly the modern
10. Kish Al-Ohaimer, appears in the records
and Cutha. belonging to the very dawn of history.
Not improbably, it was one of the early seats of the Semitic settlers. Its king Lugalzaggisi in the fifth pre-Christian millennium claimed dominion from the " Lower Sea " (Persian Gulf) to the " Upper Sea " (Mediterranean or Lake Van?), and it was again prominent in the time of Hammurabi, who had a palace there, and built the ziggurat called E-mitiursag, " House of Warrior's Adornment."
Akkad and Sippar must also be treated together, for it is believed that they were not two but one. Akkad, Sumerian Agade, was the city of Sargon I and the capital in his time of the region of Akkad (the Sumerian Uri), and is mentioned Gen. x, 1. Sippar was almost certainly a dual city, located