Eamaškuga (temple of Ningal at Kissik)

During the reign of Babylon's last native king, Nabonidus (r. 555–539 BC), work was undertaken on rebuilding Eamaškuga, the temple of the goddess Ningal. This temple is presumably the same religious building Eamašku, which was dedicated to the goddess Inanna in the Sumerian literary composition Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld.

Names and Spellings

This temple went by the Sumerian ceremonial name Eamaškuga, which means "House, Pure Sheepfold."

Written Forms: e₂-amaš-ku₃: e₂-amaš-ku₃-ga.

Hand-drawn facsimile of the relevant passage of the Akkadian inscription of Nabonidus preserved on IM 055296 that records his rebuilding of Eamaškuga. Image cropped from H.W.F. Saggs, "A Cylinder from Tell al Lahm," Sumer 13 (1957) pl. 2.

Known Builders

Neo-Babylonian (ca. 625–539 BC)

Nabonidus (r. 555–539 BC)

Building History

A damaged, two-column clay cylinder with an Akkadian inscription of Nabonidus records that that Neo-Babylonian king had Eamaškuga rebuilt since it was old and dilapidated. The relevant passage of that text reads:

At that time, (with regard to) Eamaškuga, the temple of the goddess Ningal — the pure lady of everything — the pure sheepfold that is inside the city Kissik, which a long time ago had become weak (and) whose walls had buckled, [I removed] its [buckled] walls that had become weak [and (then)] I examined (and) [checked its original] foundation(s) and (thereby) secu[red its brickwork] on top of [its original foundation(s).

Due to the inscription's poor state of preservation, no information about Nabonidus' roofing and decoration of that temple are known.

Archaeological Remains

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

Further Reading

George, A.R. 1993. House Most High. The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia (Mesopotamian Civilizations 5), Winona Lake, p. 68 nos. 60–61.

Banner image: satellite image of Tell al-Laḥm.

Jamie Novotny & Joshua Meynell

Jamie Novotny & Joshua Meynell, 'Eamaškuga (temple of Ningal at Kissik)', Babylonian Temples and Monumental Architecture online (BTMAo), The BTMAo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, [http://oracc.org/btmao/Kissik/Eamashkuga/]

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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