Emešara (a shrine in Ezida at Borsippa)

Emešara is mentioned in a fragmentarily-preserved passage of an Akkadian inscription of the late Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (r. 668–ca. 631 BC) recording the decoration of some of Ezida's principal rooms and gateways. It is described as a "seat" (Akkadian šubtu) of a god or goddess, but the name of the deity to whom it belonged is no longer preserved.

Names and Spellings

The Sumerian ceremonial name this part of Ezida means "House of the Mes of the Universe."

Written Forms: e₂-me-šar₂-ra.

Known Builders

Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911–612 BC)

Ashurbanipal (r. 668–ca. 631 BC)

Building History

Ashurbanipal, Assyria's last great king, fashioned a reddish gold threshold (Akkadian askuppu) for Emešara, the seat of one of the gods and goddesses residing in Ezida. That decorative element, which was cast from fifty minas (ca. 25 kg/55 lbs) of metal, was commissioned sometime after mid-648 BC and before 638 BC, while Kandalānu (r. 647–627 BC) was the king of Babylon.

Archaeological Remains

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

Banner image: photograph of the remains of Ezida and Eurmeiminanki taken ca. 2002 (left); woodcut from "Pleasant Hours: A Monthly Journal of Home Reading and Sunday Teaching; Volume III" published by the Church of England's National Society's Depository, London, in 1863 (center); areal photograph of the ruins of Ezida and Eurmeiminanki taken in 1928 (right). Images from Getty Images.

Jamie Novotny

Jamie Novotny, 'Emešara (a shrine in Ezida at Borsippa)', Babylonian Temples and Monumental Architecture online (BTMAo), The BTMAo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, [http://oracc.org/btmao/Borsippa/TemplesandZiggurat/Ezida/RoomsandGates/Emeshara/]

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.