After the Šamaš-šuma-ukīn rebellion was suppressed in 648, Ashurbanipal renovated, rebuilt, or repaired Edimgalkalama ("House, Great Bond of the Land"), the temple of the god Anu rabû, perhaps since it had sustained damage during that bloody, four-year war.[144] After the construction of its brick superstructure, which was said to have been "raised as high as a mountain," was completed, sometime before Abu (V) 645,[145] Ashurbanipal had its interior decorated and adorned with metal-plated objects and had its divine occupants (Anu rabû, Šarrat-Dēr, and Mār-bīti) placed once again on their daises.[146]
[144] Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 p. 217 Asb. 10 (Prism T) iii 15–17; and p. 304 Asb. 23 (IIT) lines 73–75; and in the present volume Asb. 265 lines 1´–3´a. Work on the temple is also recorded in the historical-literary text written on K 2632 (Bauer, Asb. p. 76 and pls. 23–24 iii 17–20). For information about Edimgalkalama, see George, House Most High p. 76 no. 166; and Frahm, Studies Parpola pp. 51–64.
[145] The inclusion of the completion of Edimgalkalama in the prologue of Asb. 10 (Prism T: Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 pp. 209–221, specifically p. 217 iii 15–17) seems to indicate that construction on that sacred building had come to an end. K 1729 (ex. 2) is the earliest dated copy of that inscription and it was inscribed on 6-V-645 (eponymy of Nabû-šar-aḫḫēšu). On the date of that post-canonical eponym, see Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 p. 32.
[146] Asb. 23 (IIT) lines 74–75 (Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 p. 304) record that Ashurbanipal had Great Anu's (Ištarān's) musukkannu-wood seat (šubtu) clad with silver (kaspu) and that he had had another item made from silver and reddish gold (ḫurāṣu ruššû). The inscription is not sufficiently preserved to be able to determine what that item might have been.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Dēr', 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/Der/]