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Updated: June 20, 2025
Nabubaliddin, in restoring the cult of Shamash at Sippar, makes provisions for an elaborate outfit of garments, specifying different garments for various periods of the year.
Nebuchadnezzar is obliged to rebuild parts of E-Babbara, and the last king of Babylonia, Nabonnedos, is so active in his building operations at Sippar that he arouses the anger of the priests of Babylon, who feel that their ruler is neglecting the sanctuaries of Marduk and Nabu.
Under the influence of this Assyrian extension of the term, Nabopolassar, in the Neo-Babylonian period, applies the title to the consort of Shamash at Sippar, but he is careful to specify 'Belit of Sippar, in order to avoid misunderstanding.
A consort of the sun-deity, appearing frequently at his side in the incantation texts, is Â. It is more particularly with the Shamash of Sippar, that  is associated. She is simply the 'beloved one' of the sun-deity, with no special character of her own.
Marduk's supremacy no longer being questioned, there was no necessity to curtail the homage paid to Shamash at Sippar or to En-lil at Nippur; hence the religious importance of the old centers is not diminished by the surpassing glory of Babylon. There was room for all. Marduk's toleration is the best evidence of his unquestioned headship.
A temple to Gula in Sippar was called E-ulla; that is, 'the beautiful house. The old temple to Sin at Harran bore the significant name E-khulkhul, 'house of joys, while the pious wish of the worshipper is again expressed in the name 'threshold of long life, given to the zikkurat in Sippar.
The Nâr Sharri or "King's Canal", the Nahar Malkha of the Greeks and the Nahr el-Malik of the Arabs, protected the right bank of the Tigris by its own high artificial banks, which can still be traced for hundreds of miles; but it took its supply from the Euphrates at Sippar, where the ground is some 25 ft. higher than on the Tigris.
We shall have occasion in a succeeding chapter to trace the history of the sun-temple at Sippar so far as known.
Less than is the case with the other gods, is he identified with any particular city, and we therefore find in the most ancient period, two centers of Southern Babylonia claiming Shamash as their patron saint, Larsa, represented by the mound of Senkereh, and Sippar, occupying the site of the modern Abu-Habba.
At all events, the six days may be safely regarded as connected in some way, direct or indirect, with solar worships, and it is natural to find that in so prominent a center of sun-worship as Sippar, all the solar festivals were properly and solemnly observed.
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