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Updated: May 2, 2025
When we come to the cult of Marduk at Babylon and of Nabu at Borsippa, the inscriptions, chiefly those of Nebuchadnezzar, come to our aid in showing us the arrangement of the various chapels that were comprised within the sacred precincts of E-Sagila and E-Zida, respectively.
The priests of Marduk could view with equanimity the rise and growth of Assyria's power. The influence of E-Sagila and E-Zida was not affected by such a shifting of the political kaleidoscope. Babylon remained the religious center of the country.
To the same class belong such designations as E-dur-an-ki, 'the link of heaven and earth, the name of a zikkurat at Larsa; E-an-dadia, 'the house reaching to heaven, the zikkurat at Agade; E-pa, 'the summit house, the zikkurat to Nin-girsu at Lagash; E-gubba-an-ki, 'the point of heaven and earth, one of the names of the zikkurat in Dilbat; E-dim-anna, 'the house of heavenly construction, the chapel to Sin within the precinct of E-Zida at Borsippa, a name that again conveys the notion of an edifice reaching up to heaven.
The temple on the east side of the Euphrates, known as E-Sagila, 'the lofty house, was the older, and dates probably from the beginnings of Babylon itself; that in Borsippa, known as E-Zida, 'the true house, seems to have been founded by Hammurabi.
Every New Year's day the son paid a visit to his father, on which occasion the statue of Nabu was carried in solemn procession from Borsippa across the river, and along the main street of Babylon leading to the temple of Marduk; and in return the father deity accompanied his son part way on the trip back to E-Zida.
The zikkurat, the great court, the shrines, and the smaller structures formed a sacred precinct, and it was this precinct as a whole that constituted the temple in the larger sense, and received some appropriate name. Thus E-Kur at Nippur, E-Sagila at Babylon, E-Zida at Borsippa are used to denote the entire sacred precinct in these cities, and not merely the chief structure.
The chief sanctuaries to which the Neo-Babylonian kings devoted themselves were, in the first instance, E-sagila of Babylon and E-zida of Borsippa.
O merciful one among the gods! O merciful one who loveth to give life to the dead! Marduk, king of heaven and earth, King of Babylon, lord of E-sagila, King of E-zida, lord of E-makh-tila, Heaven and earth are thine. Thou art the shedu, thou art the lamassu. O merciful one among the gods! One scarcely detects any difference between such a hymn and those to Sin and Nebo.
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