E'edena (temple of Ištar as Bēlet-Sippar at Sippar)

Sippar

E'edena was a minor temple at Sippar dedicated to the goddess Ištar as Bēlet-Sippar ("Lady of Sippar"). It was rebuilt by Nabopolassar (r. 625–605 BC), the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Names and Spellings

The Sumerian ceremonial name of this temple at Sippar means "House of the Steppe."

Known Builders

Building History

An Akkadian inscription of Nabopolassar written on a clay cylinder records that the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire had E'edena rebuilt and lavishly decorated. The relevant passage in that text reads:

At that time, I built anew E'edena, the temple where she can relax, for the Divine Lady of Sippar — the exalted princess, my lady — and made (it) as bright as day.

No further information about the project are known from presently-extant inscriptions.

Archaeological Remains

E'edena has not yet been identified in the archaeological record. It is unclear if the temple was an independent, freestanding structure or a (complex of) rooms in Ebabbar.

Further Reading

Banner image: satellite image of Sipper (left); plan of Ebabbar and Ekunankuga (center); and photo from the excavations of the library at Sippar in March 1989 (right). Plan adapted from L. De Meyer Tell ed-Dēr 3: Sounding at Abū Ḥabbah (Sippar), plan B. Excavation photograph by Jean-Luc Manaud/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

, Jamie Novotny & Joshua Meynell

, Jamie Novotny & Joshua Meynell, 'E'edena (temple of Ištar as Bēlet-Sippar at Sippar)', Babylonian Temples and Monumental Architecture online (BTMAo), The BTMAo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, [http://oracc.org/btmao/Sippar/E'edena/]

 
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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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