Eridu
Sign in to saveEridu (; Sumerian: eridugki; Akkadian: irîtu) was a Sumerian city located at Tell Abu Shahrain (), also Abu Shahrein or Tell Abu Shahrayn, an archaeological site in Lower Mesopotamia. It is located in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, near the modern city of Basra. Eridu is traditionally considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia based on the Sumerian King List. Located south-southwest of the ancient site of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew around temples, almost in sight of one another. The city gods of Eridu were Enki and his consort Damkina.
AI overview
Eridu was an ancient Sumerian city in what is now Iraq that is traditionally believed to be the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia, located near several other temple-centered Sumerian settlements. The city, dedicated to the gods Enki and Damkina, has been archaeologically identified at a site called Tell Abu Shahrain in modern-day Iraq near Basra.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Ancient site.name
- Eridu
- Ancient site.alternate_name
- Tell Abu Shahrain
- Ancient site.image
- Ziggurat at Eridu (30809118442).jpg
- Ancient site.caption
- Ruins of a ziggurat at Eridu
- Ancient site.map_type
- Iraq
- Ancient site.relief
- yes
- Ancient site.location
- Al-Batha Subdistrict, Nasiriyah District, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq
- Ancient site.region
- Lower Mesopotamia, Mesopotamia, West Asia
- Ancient site.type
- Ancient city
- Ancient site.area
- At most
- Ancient site.excavations
- 1855, 1918–1919, 1946–1949, 2018
- Ancient site.archaeologists
Article
29 sectionsContents
- Location
- Archaeology
- Artifacts
- Architecture
- Temple and ziggurat
- History
- Chalcolithic Age
- Ubaid period
- Uruk period
- Early Bronze Age
- Early Dynastic Period
- Akkadian period
- Ur III period
- Middle Bronze Age
- Isin-Larsa period
- Lament for Eridu
- Old Babylonian period
- Late Bronze Age
- Iron Age
- Neo-Assyrian period
- Neo-Babylonian period
- Mythology
- List of rulers
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Further reading
- External links
- Language
Eridu (; Sumerian: eridugki; Akkadian: irîtu) was a Sumerian city located at Tell Abu Shahrain (), also Abu Shahrein or Tell Abu Shahrayn, an archaeological site in Lower Mesopotamia. It is located in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, near the modern city of Basra. Eridu is traditionally considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia based on the Sumerian King List. Located south-southwest of the ancient site of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew around temples, almost in sight of one another. The city gods of Eridu were Enki and his consort Damkina. Enki, later known as Ea, was considered to have founded the city. His temple was called E-Abzu, as Enki was believed to live in Abzu, an aquifer from which all life was thought to stem. According to Sumerian temple hymns, another name for the temple of Ea/Enki was called Esira (Esirra).
At nearby Ur there was a temple of Ishtar of Eridu (built by Lagash's ruler Ur-Baba) and a sanctuary of Inanna of Eridu (built by Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu). Ur-Nammu also recorded building a temple of Ishtar of Eridu at Ur which is assumed to have been a rebuild.