Temple of Eridu

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Location of the most important buildings in Eridu with reconstruction of the temple

The temple of Eridu is a sacred building discovered in the central hill of ruins of the Eridu site (today Tell Abū Šaḫrēn) in southern Mesopotamia (southern Iraq ). A total of 18 layers of construction of the temple, from the late Obed period onwards , have been excavated and explored. As these layers overlap, the building grew increasingly into a high terrace, which Ur-Nammu later expanded into a ziggurat .

The architecture of the temple of Eridu corresponds to the prototypical Mesopotamian temple. Its essential element was an elongated, symmetrical central hall . On its sides were further, less symmetrically arranged chambers. The outer facade was structured by pillars and niches . The building, laid out on a base, was accessible through a side entrance, to which a staircase led up. A pedestal could be made out on the southwestern narrow wall, opposite to which there was a sacrificial altar in the northeastern area of ​​the temple .

literature

  • Seton Lloyd, Fuad Safar: Eridu . In Sumer 3, 1947, 85 ff.
  • Seton Lloyd, Fuad Safar: Eridu . In Sumer 4, 1948, 115 ff.
  • Ernst Heinrich : The temples and sanctuaries in ancient Mesopotamia . 2 vols. Berlin 1982.