Dilbat
Encyclopedia
Dilbat was an ancient Sumer
ian minor city located southeast from Babylon
on the eastern bank of the Western Euphrates
in modern day Al-Qādisiyyah, Iraq
.
The ziggurat
E
-ibe-Anu, dedicated to the goddess Urash, was located in the center of the city and was mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh
.
period, around 2700 BC. It is known to have been occupied, at least, during the Akkadian, Old Babyonian,
Kassite
, Sasanian and Early Islamic periods. It was an early agricultural center cultivating einkorn wheat
and producing reed products.
It lay on the Arahtum canal.
small western mound with 1st millennium BC and Early Islamic remains and a larger east mound, roughly 500 meters in circumference, with remains from the 1st to 3rd millennium BC.
Dilbat was excavated briefly by Hormuzd Rassam
, who recovered some cuneiform tablets at the site, mainly from
the Neo-Babylonian period.
The site was worked in 1989 by J. A. Armstrong of the
Oriental Institute of Chicago.
Though Dilbat itself has only been lightly excavated by archaeologists, numerous tablets from there have made their way to the antiquites market over the year as the result of unauthorized
digging.
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian minor city located southeast from Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
on the eastern bank of the Western Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
in modern day Al-Qādisiyyah, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
The ziggurat
Ziggurat
Ziggurats were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels.Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near...
E
É (temple)
É is the Sumerian word or symbol for house or temple, written ideographically with the cuneiform sign .The Sumerian term É.GAL denoted a city's main building....
-ibe-Anu, dedicated to the goddess Urash, was located in the center of the city and was mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Epic of Gilgamesh
Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literature. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the protagonist of the story, Gilgamesh king of Uruk, which were fashioned into a longer Akkadian epic much...
.
History
Dilbat was founded during the Sumerian Early Dynastic IIHistory of Sumer
The history of Sumer, taken to include the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, spans the 5th to 3rd millennia BC, ending with the downfall of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BC, followed by a transition period of Amorite states before the rise of Babylonia in the 18th century BC. The first...
period, around 2700 BC. It is known to have been occupied, at least, during the Akkadian, Old Babyonian,
Kassite
Kassite
Kassite is a rare mineral with formula CaTi2O42. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system and forms radiating rosettes and pseudo-hexagonal tabular crystals which are commonly twinned. Crystals are brownish pink to pale yellow and are translucent with an adamantine luster...
, Sasanian and Early Islamic periods. It was an early agricultural center cultivating einkorn wheat
Einkorn wheat
thumbnail|150px|left|Wild einkorn, Karadag, central TurkeyEinkorn wheat can refer either to the wild species of wheat, Triticum boeoticum , or to the domesticated form, Triticum monococcum...
and producing reed products.
It lay on the Arahtum canal.
Archaeology
The site of Tell al-Deylam consists or two mounds, asmall western mound with 1st millennium BC and Early Islamic remains and a larger east mound, roughly 500 meters in circumference, with remains from the 1st to 3rd millennium BC.
Dilbat was excavated briefly by Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam , was a native Assyrian Assyriologist, British diplomat and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest literature...
, who recovered some cuneiform tablets at the site, mainly from
the Neo-Babylonian period.
The site was worked in 1989 by J. A. Armstrong of the
Oriental Institute of Chicago.
Though Dilbat itself has only been lightly excavated by archaeologists, numerous tablets from there have made their way to the antiquites market over the year as the result of unauthorized
digging.