Zabala (Sumer)

Zabala (also Zabalam, modern Tell Ibzeikh site, Iraq) was a city of ancient Sumer in what is now the Dhi Qar governorate in Iraq. The citiesdeity was Inanna of Zabala. The temple of Inanna in Zabalam is the subject ofhymn 26 in the temple hymns of Enheduanna.

History

The first mentions of Zabala are in seals from the Jemdet Nasr Period including a list of early cites - Ur, Nippur, Larsa, Uruk, Kes, and Zabalam. [Green, M.W., A note on an archaic period geographical list from Warka, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, pp293-4, 1977] The earliest historical record, a bowl inscription, indicates that Zabala was under the control of Lugalzagesi of Lagash. In the Sargonic Period, Shar-kali-sharri and Naram-Sin bothreported building a temple to the goddess Inanna in Zabala [ [http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/Issue_01/Gough.htm] Mari A. Gough, Historical Perception in the Sargonic Literary Tradition: The Implications of Copied Texts, Rosetta, University of Birmingham] and Rimush of Akkad reportsZabala as attempting to rebel against the control of the Akkadian Empire. After thefall of Akkad, Zabala came into the sphere of the city-state of Isin as reportedby the year names of several rulers including Itar-pisa and Ur-Ninurta.The town was later subject to
Abisare of Larsa, who's year name reported the building of the"Favorite of Inanna of Zabalam" canal. [ [http://cuneiform.ucla.edu/staff/fitz/dissertation.pdf] The Rulersof Larsa, M. Fitzgerald, Yale University Disertation, 2002] During the Ur III period, Zabala was controlled by the Ur governor in Ummawhich was the capital of Umma Province. [ [http://cdli.ucla.edu/staff/dahl/dissertation.pdf] The ruling family of Ur III Umma. A Prosopographical Analysis of an Elite Family in Southern Iraq 4000 Years ago, J.L. Dahl, UCLA disertation, 2003] Cuneiform texts state that Hammurabi built Zabala's temple Ezi-Kalam-ma to the goddess Innana. [ [http://www.schoyencollection.com/babylonianhist.htm Tablet MS 1876/1 in the Schøyen Collection] ]

Archaeology

Beginning in the early 1900s, a great deal of illegal excavation occurred in Zabala. Thisactivity reached a new height in the 1990s, at which time the Iraqi State Organization of Antiquities and Heritage appears to have authorized an official excavation, thefirst at the site. It is notclear that the results were ever published. A further outbreak of archaeological lootingat Zabala broke out after the 2003 war in Iraq.

Notes

ee also

Cities of the Ancient Near East

References

External links

* [http://cdliwiki.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/doku.php/sites/zabala CDLI background on Zabala]
* [http://cdli.ucla.edu/tools/yearnames/HTML/T2K3.htm Year Names of Naram-Sin of Akkad]
* [http://cdli.ucla.edu/tools/yearnames/HTML/T10K2.htm Year Names of Abisare of Larsa]
* [http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/section4/tr4801.htm Translation of Temple HYmns of Enheduanna]
* [http://www.savingantiquities.org/feature_iraq.php Post 2003 war looting at Zabala]