During his third decade as king, while Kandalānu sat on the throne of Babylon, Ashurbanipal had Emeslam ("House, Warrior of the Netherworld"), the temple of the god Nergal at Cutha, built anew "from its foundations to its crenellations."[140] That sacred building, according to preserved inscriptions, was in a woeful state of repair. Not only was its brick superstructure old, its foundations were out of alignment. In an auspicious month and on a propitious day, Ashurbanipal's workmen relaid Emeslam's foundations on their correct (divinely-sanctioned) positions, together with the appropriate accompanying foundation deposits. The new temple was built in accordance with the craft of the brick-god Kulla and with crushed pieces of aromatics ceremoniously mixed into (some of) the bricks.[141] The structure was adorned with a variety of woods (musukkannu-wood, KA-wood, ebony, boxwood, ḫilēpu-wood, and UMBIN-wood); its roof was made from long beams of cedar that had been imported from Mount Sirāra and Mount Lebanon in the Levant; and its doors were made from white cedar (liāru). In a gateway near Nergal's cella, Ashurbanipal stationed (metal-plated and inscribed) statues of lion-headed eagles (anzû).[142] As for when this work was carried out, it appears to have begun after Susa was looted and destroyed in 646, when the Assyrians brought back from the Elamite religious capital a statue of the goddess Nanāya, along with numerous other royal and divine objects looted from Babylonia (including Cutha) or sent there as bribes by former kings of Babylon, including his own brother Šamaš-šuma-ukīn. The project was probably completed sometime between 642 and 640.[143]
[140] Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 p. 267 Asb. 12 (Prism H) i 13´b–25´; p. 291 Asb. 21 line 10´b–12´a; p. 294 Asb. 22 i 14´b–21´; and p. 303 Asb. 23 (IIT) lines 61b–63; and Jeffers and Novotny, RINAP 5/2 pp. 347–348 Asb. 227 (Nergal-Laṣ Inscription) rev. 18–29; p. 352 Asb. 228 (Nergal-Laṣ Inscription) rev. 27–28; p. 356 Asb. 229 v 1´´–3´´; and p. 357 Asb. 230 rev. i´ 2´–6´. For a brief study of Emeslam, see George, House Most High pp. 126–127 no. 802.
[141] Ashurbanipal claims that the bricks were fashioned in molds made from ebony and musukkannu-wood.
[142] There were statues of lion-headed eagles stationed in a gateway of Emeslam's cella (papāḫu) since the reign of the Ur III king Šulgi (2094–2047). See Frayne, RIME 3/2 p. 135 E3/2.1.2.26 rev. i 13´–14´.
[143] Susa was destroyed during Ashurbanipal's second war with Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), sometime before 1-IX-646 since the Assyrian king claims to have made the statue of Nanāya that he had found in that city enter its "rightful" place in Uruk on the first of Kislīmu (IX); see the section Uruk below for more details, as well as Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 pp. 23–25 (for the Assyrian campaigns against the Elamite king Ummanaldašu). When items from Emeslam were returned to Cutha from Susa, probably on Ashurbanipal's return march home in 646 from Susa via Uruk, the Assyrian king might have seen the condition that Nergal's temple was in and decided to have it rebuilt and refurbished.
The date of completion is based on the proposed date of composition for Asb. 22, which is likely the earliest presently-attested inscription of Ashurbanipal recording work on Nergal's temple at Cutha; for details, see Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 p. 293.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Cutha', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2023 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/RINAP53Introduction/BuildinginBabylonia/Cutha/]