Early Babylonian plan of the temple of Enlil at Nippur and its enclosure, drawn upon a clay tablet dating from the first half of the second millennium B.C. The labels on the plan are translated from notes on the original.—Cf. Fisher, "Excavations at Nippur," I., pl. 1.
It is difficult to trace through all its stages the early growth of the city, but it would seem that the shrine in the centre of the town was soon raised upon an artificial mound to protect it during periods of inundation. Moreover, as at Fâra, the original settlement must have expanded quickly, for even below the mounds to the south-west of the Shatt en-Nîl, strata have been found similar in character to those under the temple-mound, as well as bricks and wells of the pre-Sargonic period. In reconstructing the plan of the later areas occupied by the temple and its enclosure, considerable assistance has been obtained from an ancient plan of the temple, drawn upon a clay tablet that was found at Nippur. From the form of the characters inscribed upon it, it does not appear to date from an earlier period than the first half of the second millennium B.C., but it may well be a copy of an older original since the form of its temple-enclose appears to agree with that in the time of Narâm-Sin as revealed by the excavations. In it the position of E-kur is marked at one end of a great enclosure surrounded by an irregular wall. The enclosure is cut by a canal or sluice, on the other side of which stood temple-storehouses.
NIPPUR: The inner city after Fischer
The position of gates in the wall are marked, and it will be noted that a large stream, labelled the Euphrates, washes its upper side, while on its other sides are terraces and moats. These details are incorporated in the accompanying plan, but their suggested relation to the remains uncovered in the course of the excavations is largely conjectural. Moreover the period in the temple's history represented by the tablet is not certainly established, and some of the details such as the ground-plan of the temple itself may reproduce its later form.
The most striking feature in the temple-area, which was uncovered in the course of the excavations, is the great temple-tower, or ziggurat, erected by Ur-Engur, and faced by him with kiln-baked bricks bearing his name and inscription.[2] The ziggurat in its later and imposing form was built by him, though within its structure were found the cores of earlier and smaller towers, erected by Narâm-Sin and during the pre-Sargonic period. In fact, Ur-Engur considerably altered the appearance of the temple. In addition to building the ziggurat, he raised the level of the inner court above Narâm-Sin's pavement, and he straightened the course of the outer wall, using that of Narâm-Sin as a foundation where it crossed his line. His wall also included mounds XII. and V., in the latter of which many of the temple-archives have been found. During the Kassite period these were stored in buildings in mound X., across the Shatt en-Nîl in the area included within the inner city during the later periods. An alteration in the course of the river from the north-east to the south-west side of the temple area probably dates from the period of Samsu-iluna, who upon a cone found in débris in the temple-court records that he erected a dam and dug out a new channel for the Euphrates. His object in doing so was probably to bring a supply of water within reach of the later extension of the city on the south-west side.