Sumerian word or symbol for house or temple
Wall plaque showing libations by devotees and a naked priest, to a seated god and a temple.
Ur, 2500 BCE.
[1]Evolution of the word "Temple" (
Sumerian: "É") in
cuneiform, from a 2500 BCE relief in
Ur, to Assyrian cuneiform circa 600 BCE.
[2]É (Cuneiform:𒂍)[3] is theSumerian word or symbol forhouse ortemple.
The Sumerian term É.GAL (𒂍𒃲,"palace", literally "big house") denoted a city's main building. É.LUGAL (𒂍𒈗,"king's house") was used synonymously. In the texts ofLagash, the É.GAL is the center of theensi's administration of the city, and the site of the city archives.[4]Sumerian É.GAL is the probable etymology of Semitic words for "palace, temple", such as Hebrew היכלheikhal,[5] and Arabic هيكلhaykal. It has thus been speculated that the word É originated from something akin to *hai or *ˀai, especially since the cuneiform sign È is used for /a/ inEblaite.
The term TEMEN (𒋼) appearing frequently after É in names of ziggurats is translated as "foundation pegs", apparently the first step in the construction process of a house; compare, for example, verses 551–561 of the account of the construction of E-ninnu:
He stretched out lines in the most perfect way; he set up (?) a sanctuary in the holy uzga. In the house, Enki drove in thefoundation pegs, whileNanshe, the daughter of Eridu, took care of the oracular messages. The mother ofLagash, holy Gatumdug, gave birth to its bricks amid cries (?), and Bau, the lady, first-born daughter of An, sprinkled them with oil and cedar essence. En and lagar priests were detailed to the house to provide maintenance for it. The Anuna gods stood there full of admiration.
Temen has been occasionally compared to Greektemenos "holy precinct", but the latter has a well established Indo-European etymology (from *temə- meaning to cut).[6]
InE-temen-an-ki, "the temple of the foundation (pegs) ofheaven andearth",temen has been taken to refer to anaxis mundi connecting earth to heaven (thus re-enforcing theTower of Babel connection), but the term re-appears in several other temple names, referring to their physical stability rather than, or as well as, to a mythological world axis; compare the Egyptian notion ofDjed.
List of specific temples
[edit]- E-ab-lu-a - 𒂍𒀖𒇻𒀀, (House with teeming cattle) temple toSuen inUrum
- E-ab-šag-a-la - 𒂍𒀊𒊮𒀀𒇲, (House which stretches over the midst of the sea) temple toNinmarki inGu-aba
- E-abzu - 𒂍𒍪𒀊 , "temple of theabzu" (also E-engura "House of the subterranean waters") temple toEnki inEridu.
- E-ad-da - 𒂍𒀜𒁕, temple toEnlil
- E-akkil - 𒂍𒃰𒋺𒋛, (House of lamentation) temple toNinshubur inAkkil
- E-am-kur-kurra - 𒂍𒆳, "temple of the lord of lands" toBēl inAssur
- E-dama-geštin "mother of wine"
- E-ama-lamma
- E-da-mal, temple inBabylon
- E-amaš-azag, "temple of the bright fold" inDur-ilu
- E-ana (House of heaven) temple toInanna inUruk
- E-an-da-di-a, the ziggurat ofAkkad
- E-an-ki, "temple of heaven and earth"
- E-a-nun, temple ofLugal-girra
- E-an-za-kar "temple of the pillar"
- E-a-ra-li "temple of the underworld"
- E-a-ra-zu-giš-tug "temple of the hearing of prayers"
- E-das-dmaḫ "temple of the supreme god"
- E-das-ra-tum "temple to the goddessAshratum"
- E-babbar (Shining house) temple toUtu inLarsa
- E-bara-igi-e-di "temple of wonders", ziggurat toDumuzi in Akkad
- E-bagara
- E-dbau, temple to the goddessBau inLagash
- E-belit-mati "temple to the mother of the world"
- E-bur-sigsig (House with beautiful bowls) temple toShara inUmma
- E-dbur-dsin, temple to the deified kingBur-Sin inUr
- E-dam, built byUr-Nanshe inLagash
- E-dara-an-na "temple of the darkness of heaven"
- E-di-kud-kalam-ma "temple of the judge of the world"
- E-Dilmuna "temple ofDilmun" inUr
- E-dim-an-na "temple of the bond of heaven", built byNebuchadnezzar forSin
- E-dim-gal-abzu inLagash
- E-dim-gal-kalama (House which is the great pole of the Land) temple toIshtaran inDer
- E-du-azaga "temple of the brilliant shrine", toMarduk
- E-du-kug (House of the sheer heap) inEridu,Nippur
- E-dub (Storage house) temple toZababa inKish (Sumer)
- E-dubba, scribal schools
- E-duga
- E-dumi-zi-abzu, toDumuzi-abzu, destroyed in the time ofUrukagina
- E-ddun-gi, temple to the deified kingDungi
- E-dur-gi-na "temple of the lasting abode", built byNebuchadnezzar
- E-de-a, shrine to Ea (Enki) atKhorsabad built bySargon.
- E-engura (House of the subterranean waters, also "E-abzu") temple toEnki inEridu
- E-ešdam-kug inGirsu
- E-gida (Long house) temple toNinazu inEnegir
- E-gud-du-shar (House with numerous perfect oxen) temple ofNingublaga inKi-abrig
- E-ĝa-duda (House, chamber of the mound) temple toShu-zi-ana inNga-gi-mah
- E-ĝa-ĝiš-šua
- E-ĝalga-sud (House which spreads counsel far and wide) temple toBau (goddess) inIri-kug
- E-ĝeštug-Nisaba (House of the Wisdom ofNisaba) inUr
- E-ĝipar inUruk
- E-ĝiškešda-kalama (The House which is the bond of the Land) temple toNergal inKutha
- E-ḫamun (The House of Harmony)
- E-ḫursaĝ (The House which is a hill) ofShulgi inUr
- E-ḫuš
- E-ibe-Anu, temple toUrash inDilbat
- E-igi-kalama (House which is the eye of the Land) ofLugal-Marada/Ninurta inMarad
- E-igi-šu-galam
- E-igi-zi(d)-bar-ra, temple toNingirsu, built byEntemena
- E-igizu-uru (House, your face is mighty) temple toNinshubur inAkkil
- E-Iri-kug
- E-itida-buru
- E-kiš-nu-ĝal (House sending light to the earth (?)) temple toNanna inUr
- E-kug-nuna temple toInanna inUruk
- E-kur "mountain temple" toEnlil inNippur
- E-ku-nin-azag "temple of the brilliant goddess" inGirsu
- E-maḫ (Great house) temple toShara inUmma
- E-maḫ (Great house) temple toNinhursanga inAdab.
- E-me-ur-ana (House which gathers the divine powers of heaven) temple toNinurta inNippur
- E-me-urur
- E-melem-ḫuš (House of terrifying radiance) temple toNuska inNippur
- E-mešlam, temple ofNergal
- E-mu-maḫ (House with a great name)
- E-mud-kura, inUr
- E-muš (House which is the precinct) or E-mush-kalama, temple toLulal inBad-tibira
- E-namtila
- E-ni-guru
- E-nin.gara
- E-ninnu (House of 50), temple toNingirsu inLagash
- E-a-mer, the ziggurat of E-ninnu
- E-nun, theabzu inEridu
- E-nun-ana (House of the prince of heaven), temple toUtu inSippar
- E-nutura
- E-puḫruma
- E-sag-il "temple that raises its head", the temple ofMarduk inBabylon, according to theEnuma elish home to all the gods under the patronage of Marduk.
- E-sara (Cuneiform: E2SAR.A) "House of the Universe" dedicated toInanna inUruk byUr-Nammu
- E-sikil (pure house) temple toNinazu inEshnunna
- E-sila
- E-Sirara
- E-šag-ḫula, inKazallu
- E-šara, inAdab
- E-šeg-meše-du, inIsin
- E-šenšena, toNinlil
- E-šerzid-guru (House clad in splendour) temple toInanna inZabala
- E-šu-me-ša (House which deals being rouge), temple toNinurta inNippur
- E-suga (Merry house)
- E-tar-sirsir
- E-temen-anki "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth", the ziggurat toMarduk inBabylon
- E-temen-ni-guru, main ziggurat ofUr
- E-tilla-maḫ
- E-Tummal (Tummal House), temple toNinlil inNippur
- E-tur-kalama
- E-uduna, built byAmar-Suena
- E-Ulmaš, in Akkad
- E-unir (House of gaze reach) temple toEnki inEridu
- E-uru-ga
- E-zagin (Lapis lazuli house), temple toNisaba inUruk
- E-zida-temple toNabu
- E-zi-Kalam-ma, toInanna inZabala, built byHammurabi
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