XXX
THE PERIBOLOS OF ETEMENANKI
The route from the south-west corner of the Kasr to Amran leads first to a small mound which we have named the south-west building. It consists largely of mud-brick masonry that belongs to the later Parthian (?) period. So far we have done little excavation here. We next pass the long low-lying stretch that now represents a water-channel that once lay here. We then ascend a range of mounds that also extends from east to west. A cross-cut has shown that it consists of the ruins of Babylonian houses of crude brick, lying one above another, as we shall find them later in Merkes. This was the town site of the common people.
On the other side of this range of mounds a somewhat considerable plain of remarkable uniformity stretches away to the hill of Amran Ibn Ali, cut through diagonally by the road that leads from our village of Kweiresh to Hilleh. It is called Sachn, literally “the pan,” a term which in modern days is applied to the open space enclosed by arcades that surrounds the great pilgrimage mosques, such as those of Kerbela or Nedjef. Our Sachn, however, is no other than the modern representation of the ancient sacred precinct in which stood the zikurrat Etemenanki, “the foundation stone of heaven and earth,” the tower of Babylon, surrounded by an enclosing wall against which lay all manner of buildings connected with the cult (Fig. [114]).
This enclosing wall forms almost a square, divided by cross walls into separate parts, three of which we have already recognised. All the buildings consisted largely of crude brick, and only, as an exception, the very considerable crude-brick core of the tower in the south-west corner was enclosed in a thick wall of burnt brick, which has been removed deep down by brick robbers. Now only their deep and broad trenches are to be seen, but these enable us to recognise the site of a great open stairway which led up to the tower from the south. The ruin is not yet excavated.
Fig. 114.—Plan of Esagila and Etemenanki.
AE Ancient bed of Euphrates.
AR Arachtu wall.
Ä Earlier building.
B Bridge over the Euphrates.
ES E-Sagila, the temple of Marduk.
ET E-Temenanki, the tower of Babylon.
HH Principal Citadel.
N Nabonidus wall.
NH Northern court.
NR Nebuchadnezzar wall.
ÖA Eastern annex.
P Procession Street of Marduk.
S Later Parthian (?) buildings.
U Urash(?) Gate.
WH Western court.
1–12. The doorways in the peribolos of Etemenanki.
Fig. 115.—East side of the peribolos of Etemenanki.
Fig. 116.—Esarhaddon’s Etemenanki inscription.