Kamah and Kanamtila (gates in Ezida at Borsippa)

Ezida's gates Kamah and Kanamtila are known from Akkadian inscriptions of the late Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (r. 668–631 BC) and the Neo-Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604–562 BC).

Names and Spellings

The Sumerian names of these two gates of Ezida mean "Exalted Gate" (Kamah) and "Gate of Life" (Kanamtila).

Written Forms: ka₂-mah; ka₂-nam-ti-la.

Known Builders

Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911–612 BC)

Ashurbanipal (r. 668–ca. 631 BC)

Neo-Babylonian (ca. 625–539 BC)

Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604–562 BC)

Building History

Assyria's last great king, Ashurbanipal, records that he had silver(-plated) pirkus (meaning uncertain for this Akkadian word) set up in Kamah and Kanamtila. The relevant passage of an Akkadian inscription written on a clay prism discovered at Babylon reads as follows:

In (the gates) Kamah and Kanamtila, for the processional way of his exalted rulership, I made the foundations of two shiny silver pirkus, whose weight is six talents each, as firm as a mountain.

This work took place sometime after mid-648 BC and before 639 BC, while Kandalānu (r. 647–627 BC) was the king of Babylon.

Kamah is mentioned in an Akkadian inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II, the second and longest-reigning king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, written on a breccia paving stone that once lined Nabû's Processional Way. In connection with the work on the Processional Way (Akkadian mašdahu), the flooring of Kamah was repaved.

Archaeological Remains

Although several gateways of Ezida and its surrounding temple complex have been excavated, Kamah and Kanamtila have not been securely identified in the archaeological record.

Further Reading

Koldewey, R. 1911. Die Tempel von Babylon und Borsippa (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 15), Leipzig, pp. 50–59.
Unger, E. 1932. "Barsippa," Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 1/6, p. 417 §§56c–d.

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, 'Kamah and Kanamtila (gates 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/Kamah/]

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-.
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