Kisurra

Kisurra
Kisurra Location in Iraq
Coordinates: 31°50′17″N 45°28′50″E / 31.83806°N 45.48056°E

Kisurra (modern Tell Abu Hatab, Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian city situated on the west bank of the Euphrates, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of Shuruppak. The cities name has been described as meaning the "place of spinning" and also as "boundary-ditch". Kisurra's main deity was Ninurta. Later, Ishara's main Mesopotamian cult centre was at Kisurra, although she is also thought to have been worshipped across a wide area amongst Syrians, Canaanites, and Hittites.^[1]

History

Kisurra was established ca. 2700 BC, during the Sumerian Early Dynastic II period. The southern end of the Isinnitum Canal was joined back into the Euphrates at Kisurra.^[2] The city lasted as a center for commerce and transport through the Akkadian and part of the Babylonian Empires, until cuneiform texts and excavation show a decline during the time of Hammurabi (c.1800 BCE).^[3]

Kings of Kisurra

• Itur-Šamaš c.2138 BCE built the 'gate of Hadi-el', the wall of Kisurra.^[4]
• Manabaltiel c.2123 BCE
• In 2113 BCE the city of Kisurra lost its independence under the suzerainty of the Kings of the City Ur
• Šarrasyurrm c.2108 BCE
• Ubaya c2093 BCE
• Zikrum c2078 BCE
• In the year 2048 BCE King Bur-Sin of Ur removed the King of Kisurra
• Ibbi-Šamaš 2030-2013 BCE
• King Ur Nammu of Ur removes King Ibbi-Šamaš from the throne in 2013 BCE ^[5]

Archaeology

German archaeologists, beginning with Robert Koldewey in 1902, have found many cuneiform tablets from Tell Abu Hatab.^[6][7][8]

See also

Cities of the Ancient Near East

Notes

1. Isara
2. Sumerian Waterways
3. Rogers, Robert William (1915) A History of Babylonia and Assyria. The Abingdon Press p435
4. NETBible: Babylon
5. Zimmerer, Neil (2003) The Chronology of Genesis: A Complete History of the Nefilim. Adventures Unlimited Press ISBN 1-931882-22-3 p30
6. Walter Andrae, Die Umgebung von Fara und Abu Hatab, Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft, no. 16 , pp. 24-30, 1903
7. Walter Andrae, Ausgrabungen in Fara und Abu Hatab. Bericht über die Zeit vom 15. August 1902 bis 10. Januar 1903, Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft, no. 17, pp. 4-35, 1903
8. E. Heinrich, Fara: Ergebmisse der Ausgrabungen der Deustchen Orient Gesellschaft in Fara und Abu Hatab 1902/03, J.C. Hinrichs, 1931

Further reading

• Anne Goddeeris, Tablets from Kisurra in the collections of The British Museum, Harrasowitz, 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-06064-6
• Anne Goddeeris, The Economic Basis of the Local Palace of Kisurra, Zeitschrift für Assyrologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 97, issue 1, pp. 47–85, 2007
• Burkhart Kienast, Die altbabylonischen Briefe und Urkunden aus Kisurra, Steiner, 1978, ISBN 3-515-02592-8
• E. J. Banks, Impressions from the Excavations by the Germans at Fara and Abu Hatab, Biblical World, vol. 24, pp. 138–146, 1904

External links

• Old Babylonian text Corpus at Freiburger Altorientalische studies - in german
• Kisurra related Year Names at CDLI

Coordinates: 31°50′17″N 45°28′50″E / 31.83806°N 45.48056°E