Tarbiṣu
Figure 8. Satellite image of Tarbiṣu showing the ruins of Egallammes, the temple of the god Nergal.
Just as his grandfather Sennacherib had done before him, Ashurbanipal devoted attention to Egallammes ("Palace, Warrior of the Netherworld"), the temple of Nergal at Tarbiṣu (modern Sherif Khan).[80] Unlike Sennacherib, who had the temple completely rebuilt,[81] Ashurbanipal seems to have only decorated (parts) of Egallammes.[82] At the very start of his reign, during his accession year or early in his first year as king (Kislīmu [IX] 669–early 668), divine emblems (šurīnu) were set up in a (principal) gateway of the temple, and, on at least two different occasions, once before 648 and once shortly after the defeat of the Elamite ruler Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III) in 646; inscribed and metal(-plated) lion-headed eagles (anzû) were placed in a prominent entrance, perhaps flanking one of the gates of the ante-cella (bīt papāḫi), as that was a typical location for these types of apotropaic gateway guardians.[83] Ashurbanipal had other objects made or refurbished for Nergal's temple, but the building accounts of those inscriptions are either completely broken away or too fragmentarily preserved to be certain of what they actually record.[84] If Ashurbanipal rebuilt, repaired, or renovated Egallammes' mud-brick structure while he was king, he does not mention it. Given that he was on the throne from IX-669 to at least III-631, Ashurbanipal surely must have given some attention to the temple's aging brickwork, even if it was only for minor repairs not worthy of being recorded in official inscriptions.
Notes
[80] George, House Most High p. 127 no. 805.
[81] Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/2 pp. 25–26 and pp. 292–303 Sennacherib 213–216.
[82] Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 p. 104 no. 5 (Prism I) ii 1´, p. 114 no. 6 (Prism C) i 62´–64´, pp. 139–140 no. 7 (Prism Kh) i 35´–38´, p. 217 no. 10 (Prism T) ii 25–28, and p. 304 no. 23 (IIT) line 76; and, in this volume, no. 185 (L3) line 9, no. 198 rev. 12´–13´, and no. 199 rev. 8´–13´.
[83] One cannot rule out the possibility that Ashurbanipal had only one pair of lion-headed eagles (anzû) commissioned for Egallammes since the statues bearing an inscription commemorating the defeat of Ummanaldašu (text no. 199 rev. 8´–13´) might have replaced the gateway guardians that had been stationed in the temple prior to V-8-648 (the earliest certain references to anzû-birds in this temple of Nergal). At the same time, one cannot exclude the possibility that more than one pair of lion-headed eagles were stationed in Tarbiṣu's principal temple.
[84] For example, text no. 198 rev. 12´–13´, which might have something to do with Nergal's cult image, or at least an item closely associated with his cult statue.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Tarbiṣu', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2022 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/RINAP52Introduction/BuildingActivitiesinAssyria/Tarbisu/]