Agade

According to the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus (555–539), Babylon's last native king, Ashurbanipal was one of two Assyrian kings who had rebuilt Eulmaš, the temple of the goddess Ištar at Agade, the capital of the third-millennium ruler Sargon whose location is still unknown.[87] Nabonidus stated that both Ashurbanipal and his father Esarhaddon had failed to properly rebuild Eulmaš since neither of them had been able to find the temple's original, divinely-sanctioned foundations, which had been laid by Sargon of Agade.[88] That king claimed:

Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, and Ashurbanipal, his son, to whom the god Sîn, king of the gods, granted the totality of (all) lands, sought out the (original) foundation(s) of Eulmaš, but did not reach (them). They put down in writing, saying: "I sought out the (original) foundation(s) of that Eulmaš, but I did not reach (them). I cut down poplar(s) and maštû-tree(s) and (then) built a replacement Eulmaš and gave (it) to the goddess Ištar of Agade, great lady, my lady."[89]

Since such admissions would not have been included in Assyrian royal inscriptions, it can be confidently assumed that Nabonidus' scribes drafted Ashurbanipal's "confession" of not constructing Eulmaš precisely on its ancient, Sargonic-period foundations and with durable, high-quality materials. Presumably, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal gave the temple of Ištar at Agade the care it deserved when rebuilding that sacred structure. Unfortunately, no contemporary witness presently survives to give those Assyrian kings' testimonies about their work on Eulmaš.[90]

Notes

[87] Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 p. 87 Nabonidus 10 ii 1´–4´ and p. 137 Nabonidus 27 ii 37–45a. Asb. 252 is probably an inscription recording work on Eulmaš at Agade, but its building account is completely missing. For the attribution of the text written on clay cylinder fragment 81-2-4,174 to Ashurbanipal, see the commentary of Asb. 252. For information on Eulmaš, see Frame, Mesopotamia 28 (1993) pp. 21–50; George, House Most High p. 155 no. 1168; Bartelmus and Taylor, JCS 66 (2014) pp. 113–128; and Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 p. 8.

[88] Nabonidus makes the same claim for one of the Kassite kings named Kurigalzu (probably the first king of this name) and for Nebuchadnezzar II. For a discussion of Nabonidus criticizing Nebuchadnezzar, see Schaudig, Studies Ellis pp. 155–161.

[89] Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE p. 137 Nabonidus 27 ii 37–45a.

[90] According to two Babylonian chronicles (Leichty, RINAP 4 pp. 7–8), the statue of the goddess Ištar of Agade, together with the statues of other gods of that city, that had been in Elam (presumably in its religious capital Susa) were returned to Agade on 10-XII-674, at the very end of Esarhaddon's seventh regnal year, presumably as part of a treaty agreement between Assyria and Elam. The return of that cult image was very likely the principal reason that Esarhaddon undertook work on Eulmaš. Given that this project began late in Esarhaddon's reign, this work was probably unfinished in late 669 and, therefore, the task of completing it fell to his successors. Based on Nabonidus' inscriptions, it was Ashurbanipal, not Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, who took responsibility for ensuring the completion of this temple of Ištar of Agade.

Jamie Novotny

Jamie Novotny, 'Agade', 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/agade/]

 
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