At Ur, the most important cult center of the moon-god in Babylonia,[160] Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, the governor of that city, undertook construction on Sîn's temple Ekišnugal on behalf of the Assyrian king (Ashurbanipal), rather than on that of the king of Babylon (Šamaš-šuma-ukīn).[161] That important official, as far as his inscriptions are preserved, rebuilt and restored Eadgigi ("House of the Counsellor"), the abode of the god Nusku; Eankikuga ("House of Pure Heaven and Netherworld"), the station of the god Kusu; Eanšar, a "royal abode" (of Sîn?); É.AŠ.AN.AMAR (exact reading uncertain), the abode of the god Enlil; Eešbanda ("House Little Chamber"), the abode of the goddess Šuzianna; É.DUB.galekura (exact reading uncertain), the abode of the god Ninimma; Elugalgalgasisa ("House of the King who Lets Counsel Flourish"), the ziggurat; Ešaduga ("House Which Pleases the Heart"), the "abode of Enlilship" (of Sîn?); Etemennigurru ("House, Foundation Clad in Awe-Inspiring Radiance"), the ziggurat terrace; Eušumgalana ("House of the Dragon of Heaven"), the station of the goddess Ninkasi; É...gukuga (name not fully preserved), an abode or seat of the god Ennugi; Gipāru(ku), a sanctuary of the goddess Ningal; and Puḫilituma ("Well That Brings Luxuriance"), a well located in the temple complex. While carrying out the work, Sîn-balāssu-iqbi's workmen found an inscribed brick of the Ur III king Amar-Suena (2046–2038). Sîn-balāssu-iqbi had Nabû-šuma-iddin, a lamentation-priest of Sîn, make a copy of that text and had the new inscribed object, a clay drum-shaped object, deposited inside the structure of the moon-god's temple.[162] In addition, Sîn-balāssu-iqbi constructed a statue for Ningal and had it placed inside Gipāru. He also commissioned a new door for Etemennigurru, which he had placed on its former position and over a foundation deposit; the door was made from boxwood (Sumerian taškarin) and outfitted with silver and copper fixtures.
[160] Ḫarrān, with its principal temple Eḫulḫul, located in the northwestern part of the Empire, near the Baliḫ River, was the most important cult center of Sîn in Assyria. See Novotny, Eḫulḫul; Groß, Kulturelle Schnittstelle pp. 139–154; Novotny, Studia Chaburensia 8 pp. 73–94; Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 pp. 10–11; Hätinen, dubsar 20 passim, but particularly pp. 384-416; and Jeffers and Novotny, RINAP 5/2 pp. 23–25.
[161] Asb. 2003–2018; note that only Asb. 2006 and 2008–2009 specifically state that the work was carried out on Ashurbanipal's behalf. These inscriptions, nearly all of which were composed in Sumerian (rather than Akkadian), were written on a wide variety of objects: clay cones, clay disks, and clay drum-shaped objects, bricks, and a stone door socket (made from a reused boundary stone). For details on the Ekišnugal temple complex and its various temples, shrines, and sanctuaries, see George House Most High p. 65 no. 42 (Eadgigi), p. 67 no. 71 (Eankikuga), p. 68 no. 81 (Eanšar), p. 69 no. 91 (E.AŠ.AN.AMAR), p. 79 no. 202 (É.DUB.galekura) and no. 203 (Edublalmaḫ), p. 83 no. 265 (Eešbanda), p. 93 no. 385 (Egipgar), p. 114 no. 653 (Ekišnugal), p. 119 no. 706 (Elugalgalgasisa), p. 149 no. 1090 (Etemennigurru),p. 158 no. 1214 (Eušumgalana), and p. 161 no. 1255 (É-...gukuga); and Zettler and Hafford RLA 14/5–6 (2015) pp. 370–375 §3.1. For information about Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, a son of Ningal-iddin, see Brinkman, Orientalia NS 34 (1965) pp. 248–253; Frame, Babylonia pp. 98–101 and 278; Baker, PNA 3/1 pp. 1129–1130 sub Sîn-balāssu-iqbi no. 3; Brinkman, RLA 12/7–8 (2011) p. 514; and the general introduction to Asb. 2003–2018 in the present volume (p. 135).
[162] Asb. 2007. For the Amar-Suena inscription, see Frayne, RIME 3/2 pp. 256–257 E3/2.1.3.11.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Ur', 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/Ur/]