Near East Kingdoms

Nippur / Nibu (City State) (Sumer)
Incorporating Puzrish Dagan

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The city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture. It developed out of the end of the Pottery Neolithic across the Fertile Crescent, a period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices spread far and wide across the Near East and beyond.

As irrigation improved so the more southerly reaches of the Euphrates could at last be occupied by humans and their animals. Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was subjected to permanent settlement, initially in the form of pastoralists but soon as farmers too. Cultures around the edges of this progression included the Hassuna and Samarra which began this settlement process, and perhaps elements of the Hissar culture in the Iranian highlands were also involved.

By the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states which were independent of one another and which used local canals and boundary stones to mark their borders. Many early historical events in the region are found only in the Sumerian king list, which notates the rulers of the city states (and see feature link), but archaeology has also uncovered a wealth of detail.

Nippur (located in the modern town of Afak, close to the city of Diwaniyah, and still known as Nuffar or Niffer) was one of the oldest of all Sumerian cities. Its earliest occupation is sometimes dated to 5262 BC during the early Pottery Neolithic. Human habitation of southern Mesopotamia was only just about starting to become possible at this time, given advances in farming and irrigation techniques.

The city was (and its ruins still are) situated on both sides of the Shatt-en-Nil canal in the middle of the Babylonian plain. This canal was one of the Euphrates' earliest courses, lying between the river's modern course and the Tigris, almost a hundred and sixty kilometres to the south-east of Baghdad.

In the AD 1880s this was marshland, with the site being accessible only by boat, while Nippur's ruins cover 2.6 square kilometres of raised land. The first modern archaeological examination was carried out by Austen Layard in 1851. He was defeated by the climate after just two weeks of trench-opening.

Originally, Nippur (or Nibu in Sumerian) was a village of reed huts in those same marshes, but its settlement area gradually rose upwards as a result of continuous habitation and building work. Reed was replaced with mud brick, and a holy centre seems to have existed there almost from the very beginning. The city was regarded as sacred by many of the most powerful early kings who began to appear in the 'Early Dynastic I' period at the start of the third millennium BC.

Enmebaragesi was one of the early kings of Kish who achieved a level of domination over areas of Sumer, in the late twenty-seventh century BC. One of his outstanding achievements was the construction at Nippur of the temple of Enlil, the leading deity of the Sumerian pantheon, ruler of the cosmos and only subject to the god An. In fact, in Sumerian cuneiform, the local name of the city, Nibu, and the god Enlil are one and the same. Ninlil, Ninurta, and Ninnibru also had large temples, plus there were another twenty-two even in Kassite times.

Nippur gradually became the spiritual and cultural centre of Sumer. It was never the location of a major kingship, although it was claimed once or twice on a smaller scale. It had its own ensis though (an ensi was an early form of city ruler. The title eventually became a common descriptor for a city governor, especially when subordinated to a king in another city).

Even when protected by its third millennium city wall, it remained Sumer's central spiritual centre into the Amorite period in southern Mesopotamia when first Isin and then Babylon dominated. Largely it fulfilled the role of Sumer's centre of learning - a regional Oxford or Harvard - with scribes being trained there, and intellectual snobbery being part of its everyday discourse.

Rulers who succeeded in imposing their control over a swathe of the southern alluvium, necessarily including Nippur itself, celebrated and symbolised their sovereignty by making offerings, presumably in person, to Enlil in his temple of Ekur, since he was the overarching patron deity of the whole region. It seems improbable that any ruler could have made such offerings to Enlil when another was effectively in control of Nippur, so it can be accepted that rulers who offered inscribed bowls at Nippur were for at least a while acknowledged as 'king' at (but not of) Nippur.

Puzrish Dagan, today's Drehem, was a small city which was largely counted as a suburb of Nippur. Very little of note took place there. Instead it seems to have provided what today would be known as services. During the 'Ur III' period it supplied much of the livestock needed by the temples in Nippur (presumably both for priestly food and godly offerings).

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, Gwendolyn Leick (Penguin Books, 2001), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, Samuel Noah Kramer ('List 1' of Sumerian rulers, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1963), from First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies, Peter Bellwood (Second Ed, Wiley-Blackwell, 2022), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from The Ancient Near East, c.3000-330 BC, Amélie Kuhrt (Routledge, 2000, Vol I & II), from Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Road (Facts on File, 2000), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), from The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, S Lloyd (Revised Ed, London, 1984), from Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J N Postgate (Routledge, 1994), from The First Empires, J N Postgate (Oxford 1977), from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from Ancient History: A Theory About Ancient Times, L C Gerts (List 4 of Sumerian rulers, Chapter 12: The Sumerian king list, 2002), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), from The Age of the God-Kings, Kit van Tulleken (Ed, Time Life Books, Amsterdam 1987), and from External Links: Ancient Worlds, and The Sumerian Kings List, J A Black, G Cunningham, E Fluckiger-Hawker, E Robson, & G Zólyomi ('List 2' of Sumerian rulers, available via the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford, 1998), and Ancient History, Anthony Michael Love ('List 3' of Sumerian rulers at Sarissa.org), and Images from History (University of Alabama), and City of Culture 2600 BC - Early Mesopotamian History and Archaeology at Abu Salabikh, John Nicholas Postgate (Archaeopress Archaeology, 2024, and available via Archaeopress).)

c.5262 BC

The earliest occupation of Nippur (located in the modern town of Afak, close to the city of Diwaniyah, and still known as Nuffar or Niffer) is amongst the earliest for the whole of Sumerian cities. This is sometimes dated to 5262 BC, during the early Pottery Neolithic. Human habitation of southern Mesopotamia is only just about becoming possible at this time.

c.3100 - 2900 BC

The Uruk IV influence suddenly fades around 3100 BC (or 3200 BC in some modern sources) for reasons unknown. Local traditions re-emerge in places which had previously taken on board Uruk influences. Elam's advanced city of Susa experiences an influx of immigrants who introduce great changes there.

The Uruk III or Jemdet Nasr period in Sumer is one of comparative isolation (with the city of Jemdet Nasr supplying the type site). A new social structure is built which will become a fundamental part of the successive 'Early Dynastic' period. A host of early cities are mentioned at this time, on seals which are discovered at Jemdet Nasr itself. These cities include Kesh, Larsa, Nippur, Ur, Uruk, and Zabalam.

c.2900 BC

The Jemdet Nasr period fades in favour of a new, outward-looking 'Early Dynastic' period. True writing now blossoms as it moves closer to spoken Sumerian, archives explode with mercantile records and administrative acts, and the first kings begin to appear as leading city figures take on more duties and increasing power, ostensibly as deputies of the gods themselves.

Nippur itself becomes the focus of Sumer's unified cult practices, in favour of Ur. Positioned centrally in Sumer, perhaps this location is more satisfactory for the region's cities. All of them seem to be joined together when it comes to paying homage to the Sumerian pantheon of gods, headed by Enlil who is Nippur's patron (another good reason for making this city the religious centre).

This unique status lasts until the eighteenth century BC which witnesses the rise of Babylon. Seals mention it frequently, even when they are found in small or obscure Sumerian cities such as Abu Salabikh, Arina, Kesh, Urum, and Zabalam.

Legendary Antediluvian king.

Legendary Antediluvian king.

c.2600 BC

According to the king list, Kish subdues the Elamites ('Enmebaraggesi, the king who smote the Land of Elam'), although it is not an historically provable event. Enmebaraggesi also becomes the dominant ruler in Sumer, in place of Uruk, and constructs the temple of Enlil at Nippur. He is the earliest king whose existence has been archaeologically confirmed.

c.2440s BC

Eannatum of Lagash annexes virtually all of 'Post-Diluvian' Sumer, including Kish, Nippur, Uruk (briefly), Ur, and Larsa, and reduces his arch-rivals at Umma, twenty-nine kilometres away, to a tributary state with the defeat of Enakalle.

In addition, he extends his realm to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf, apparently using terror as a matter of policy. The stele of the vultures describes the violent treatment which is meted out to his enemies.

Urur of Akshak leads a northern coalition against him but that is destroyed, with Akshak recognising Lagash's supremacy along with Mari. Lagash is later eclipsed by Umma under Lugalzaggesi.

c.2342 BC

Urukagina of Lagash destroys much of the old bureaucracy, ending the influence of the priests. He creates a near-idyllic state, but in the process weakens Lagash to the point that it cannot (or will not) defend itself from its mortal enemies in Umma.

Lugalzaggesi of Umma sacks Lagash and burns all of its holy temples, with the support of the priestly elite of Nippur. Urukagina flees to the town of Girsu, which does not seem to have fallen to Umma, and subsequently disappears from history.

c.2430 BC

Nippur is conquered by Enshakushanna of Uruk.

c.2300 BC

Sargon's Akkadian empire controls the city, although Akkadian controls in the south appear to be pretty loose.

Approximately 2230 BC, Naram-Sim of Agade is prompted by a pair of inauspicious oracles to attack the E-kur temple (or Ekur), supposedly protected by the god Enlil, head of the pantheon.

As a result of this, eight chief gods of the Anunaki pantheon come together and withdrawn their support from Agade, pronouncing famine upon the city and its empire. A southern rebellion against Agade prompts the priesthood of Ninurta to back a rival pretender, although the entire rebellion is soon put down.

After having calmed matters through military action, Naram-Sin places his son, Sharkalisharri (Shar-kali-sharri), in Nippur to control it directly. As his father's eventual successor to the Akkadian crown, he becomes keen to ensure the support of Nippur and the priesthood of Enlil.

c.2230 - 2217 BC

Son of Naram-Sin of Agade, succeeded him (until 2193 BC).

c.2193 BC

Great climatic changes are taking place which result in a mega-drought in the Far East's Longshan culture and in the Near East. The latter sees the decline of Sumerian 'Post-Diluvian' civilisation, the Akkadian empire, and the Egyptian 'Old Kingdom', plus the start of Egypt's 'First Intermediate' period, and flooding in Bronze Age Britain.

The Gutians sweep through southern Mesopotamia and overthrow both Elam and the Akkadian empire, either during Naram-Sin's reign or that of his son, ending Sumerian/Akkadian domination of the region.

The Akkadians survive but both Sumer and Egypt endure a short (climate-induced) dark age at this time, and very little is known about post-imperial Agade itself until around 2100 BC.

c.2112 BC

The Semitic-speaking kings of the new dynasty at Ur, Ur-Nammu and Shulgi, rebuild the temples and city walls at Nippur along the same lines as the earlier work of Naram-Sin of the Akkadian empire.

Most of the livestock for the temples comes from Nippur's supply centre, Puzrish-Dagan. Nippur reaches the maximum extent of its size and splendour, with only gradual decline awaiting it in the third millennium BC.

Sumerian language has by now ceased to be spoken by the population of southern Mesopotamia. Instead it has become a language of learning, transmitted by scholars in much the same way as the Latin of late medieval Europe. Many tablets are found by archaeologists in the city's 'scribal quarter', dating from the 'Old Babylonian' period.

c.2004 - 1998 BC

With the collapse of Sumerian civilisation and the fall of Ur, Nippur is briefly occupied by invading Elamites before becoming a possession of the Amorite kingdom of Isin. The city seems to suffer some damage from the occupation but also gains recognition from the Elamites.

The entire southern mound becomes uninhabited. The walls are far from serviceable. Nearby Abu Salabikh is also gradually abandoned as conditions there become untenable. Much of its scribal population probably emigrates to nearby Nippur.

c.1890 BC

A weakened Isin loses control of Nippur around this point in time, although the details are not known. A single Amorite king is known for the city, so it may be the case that he rules during this period.

Ruler in Nippur, period uncertain.

c.1822 - 1763 BC

Rim-Sin of Larsa is known as the 'shepherd of the land of Nippur', suggesting the city falls under Larsa's control. In fact it seems to be held by Rim-Sin's family in 1822 BC but may be lost to Uruk in 1810 BC, before being recaptured in 1800 BC.

c.1763 - 1595 BC

Larsa is defeated by the Babylonian empire and Nippur passes to Hammurabi. Its spiritual centre is transferred to Babylon and the city declines towards full abandonment by 1720 BC. A skeleton staff may remain in the temple of Ekur in order to maintain minimal services.

The reasons are obscure, possibly with Babylon's response to post Hammurabi revolts being severe enough to destroy the local infrastructure. An alternative is that Hammurabi's system of economically-interdependent districts has collapsed, crashing the economy of the entire region. When the Kassites gain power around 1595 BC, Nippur is restored to its former glory.

c.1375 - 1235 BC

Nippur is the repository of a very substantial administrative archive which concentrates on the reigns of the Babylonian kings from Burnaburiash II to Kashtiliash IV inclusive. The city and surrounding province is administered by a governor who oversees the local agricultural organisation which produces sometimes huge harvests.

This completes the city's recovery after 1720 BC, but the archive ends with the Assyrian capture of Babylonia, and five years later the city is briefly captured by Elam. This terminates the recovery period for the city.

c.1200 BC

Nippur is mostly abandoned between 1200-900 BC during a regional decline in urbanism following the 'Bronze Age Collapse'.

By 1000 BC there is perhaps nothing more than a small population clustered around the ancient ziggurat. Control eventually passes to the Assyrians who engineer a revival from about 700 BC. The population is largely made up of Babylonians and Aramaeans, but also large groups of exiles after being deported from their homelands.

Then the Seleucids take control, turning the temple into a fortress. Final decay sets in under the Sassanids, although they regard it as an important site, and the former city becomes a collection of mud huts beside the ziggurat. The Parthians construct over the ruins of the temple and the town finally disappears in the thirteenth century AD.