Edimana (temple of Sîn at Borsippa)

According to two Akkadian inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604–562 BC), there was a temple dedicated to the moon-god Sîn at Borsippa. Edimana, according to one of those texts was inside the Ezida temple complex.

East India House

BM 129397, a large stone tablet that bears a long Akkadian inscription that is now commonly referred to as the "East India House Inscription." The description of Nebuchadnezzar's rebuilding of Edimana is recorded in lines iv 61–65. Image adapted from the British Museum Collection website. Credit: Trustees of the British Museum.

Names and Spellings

This temple at Borsippa went by the Sumerian ceremonial name Edimana, which means "House, Bond of Heaven"; that name is also attested for a sanctuary of Sîn at Ur.

Written Forms: e₂-dim-an-na.

Known Builders

Building History

Nebuchadnezzar II, the son of Nabopolassar (r. 625–605 BC), sponsored many building activities at Borsippa. The rebuilding of Edimana was one of the temples in that city that this Neo-Babylonian king claims to have rebuilt. A text written on a large stone tablet, the so-called "East India House Inscription," records that this temple of the moon-god was located within Ezida's enclosure wall. In another inscription, Nebuchadnezzar states that he rebuilt Edimana (exactly) as it had been in the past. No further details are provided.

Archaeological Remains

Edimana has not yet been positively identified in the archaeological record.

Further Reading

Jamie Novotny

Jamie Novotny, 'Edimana (temple of Sîn at Borsippa)', Babylonian Temples and Monumental Architecture online (BTMAo), The BTMAo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, [http://oracc.org/btmao/Borsippa/TemplesandZiggurat/Edimana/]

 
Back to top ^^
 
BTMAo 2019-. BTMAo is based at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Historisches Seminar (LMU Munich, History Department) - Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East. BTMAo is part of the four-year project Living Among Ruins: The Experience of Urban Abandonment in Babylonia (September 2019 to October 2023), which is funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung as part of the program "Lost Cities. Wahrnehmung von und Leben mit verlassenen Städten in den Kulturen der Welt," coordinated by Martin Zimmermann and Andreas Beyer. Content released under a CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] license, 2007-.
Oracc uses cookies only to collect Google Analytics data. Read more here [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/doc/about/cookies/index.html]; see the stats here [http://www.seethestats.com/site/oracc.museum.upenn.edu]; opt out here.
http://oracc.org/btmao/Borsippa/TemplesandZiggurat/Edimana/