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Updated: June 20, 2025
Marduk appears under a variety of names which will be taken up at their proper place. See Schrader's Assyrisch-Babyl. Hommel's view that Gish-galla, in Gudea's inscriptions, is Babylon lacks convincing evidence, but the city may be as old as Gudea's days for all that. Near Sippar. Bêl matâti. Sayce, Religion of the Ancient Babylonians, pp. 98 seq.; Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, p. 88.
Another class is formed by such names as are suggested by the attributes of the deity to whom the edifices are dedicated. Such are E-babbara, 'the brilliant house, which, as the name of the temples to Shamash at Sippar and Larsa, recalls at once the character of the sun-god.
It has long been recognized that Pantibiblon, or Pantibiblia, from which the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh of his Antediluvian kings all came, was the city of Sippar in Northern Babylonia.
A letter written by Ammiditana, one of the later kings of the First Dynasty, to three high officials of the city of Sippar, contains directions with regard to certain duties to be carried out by the soothsayers attached to the service of the city, and indicates the nature of their functions.
One of the greatest of the northern kings erects a temple in honor of the god, and the later Babylonian kings vie with one another in doing honor to the two oldest sanctuaries of Shamash, at Sippar and Larsa. Perhaps the pristine affinity between Marduk, who, as we saw, was originally a sun-deity, and Shamash, also had a share in Hammurabi's fondness for coupling these two gods.
Both terms for this room convey the idea of its being "shut off" from the rest of the building, precisely as the holy of holies in the temple of Jerusalem containing the ark, was separated from the central hall. We are fortunate in having a pictorial representation of such a papakhu. A stone tablet found at Sippar represents Shamash seated in the "holy of holies" of the temple E-Babbara.
A name like E-edinna, 'house of the field, a temple to the consort of Shamash at Sippar, may also have been suggested by some attribute of the goddess. Lastly, we have a class of names that might be described as purely ornamental, or as embodying a pious wish. Of such we have a large number.
The history of E-Kur, so intimately bound up with political events, may be taken as an index of the fortunes that befell the other prominent sanctuaries of Babylonia. The foundation of the Shamash temple at Sippar, and known as E-Babbara, 'the brilliant house, can likewise be traced as far back as the days of Naram-Sin.
Nebopolassar speaks of placing sweet herbs under the walls, and Nabonnedos pours oil over the bolts and doors, as well as on the thresholds of the Shamash temple at Sippar, and fills the temple with the aroma of frankincense.
It is through Nabonnedos and Nabubaliddin, chiefly, that we learn many of the details of the history of E-Babbara during this long period. Of the other important temples that date from the early period of Babylonian history, we must content ourselves with brief indications. The temple to Shamash at Larsa, while not quite as old as that of Sippar, was quite as famous.
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