Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:55:37.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ishtar Temple at Nineveh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Julian Reade
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nineveh, like modern Mosul of which it is now a suburb, lay at the heart of a prosperous agricultural region with many interregional connections, and the temple of Ishtar of Nineveh dominated the vast mound of Kuyunjik (Fig. 1). Trenches dug on behalf of the British Museum, mainly by Christian Rassam in 1851–2, Hormuzd Rassam in 1852–4 and 1878–80, George Smith in 1873–4, and Leonard King and Reginald Campbell Thompson in 1903–5, impinged on the site. The main temple was almost completely cleared, together with an area to the north-west, by Thompson and colleagues in four seasons between 1927 and 1932 (Figs. 2–3). Many original King and Thompson records are kept in the Department of the Ancient Near East at the British Museum; some photographic negatives are at the Royal Asiatic Society in London. The numerous objects from Thompson's excavations are now divided between the Iraq Museum, the British Museum (where they are registered in the 1929-10-12, 1930-5-8, 1932-12-10 and 1932-12-12 collections, mostly corresponding to the four successive seasons), the Birmingham City Museum, the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge; some were given to other institutions, and to individuals who had contributed to the excavation costs.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 67 , Issue 1: Nineveh. Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part Two , Spring 2005 , pp. 347 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmad, Ali Yaseen and Grayson, A. K. 1999 Sennacherib in the Akitu House. Iraq 61: 187–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrae, W. 1925 Coloured ceramics from Ashur. London.Google Scholar
Andrae, W. 1935 Die jüngeren Ischtar-Tempel in Assur. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 73: 1–12.Google Scholar
Andrae, W. 1935a Die jüngeren Ischtar-Tempel in Assur (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichung der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 58). Leipzig.Google Scholar
Barag, D. P. 1985 Catalogue of Western Asiatic glass in the British Museum I. London.Google Scholar
Barnett, R. D. 1976 Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. London.Google Scholar
Barnett, R. D., Bleibtreu, E. and Turner, G. 1998 Sculptures from the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh. London.Google Scholar
Beckman, G. 1998 Ištar of Nineveh reconsidered. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 50: 1–10.Google Scholar
Bollweg, J. 1999 Vorderasiatische Wagentypen im Spiegel der Terracottaplastik bis zur altbabylonischen Zeit (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 167). Freiburg/Göttingen.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1956 Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Königs von Assyrien (Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft 9). Graz.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1961 Einleitung in die Assyrischen Königsinschriften. Leiden/Köln.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1967 Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur, Band I: Repertorium der sumerischen und akkadischen Texte. Berlin.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1996 Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Börker-Klähn, J. 1982 Altvorderasiatische Bildstelen und vergleichbare Felsreliefs (Baghdader Forschungen 4). 2 vols. Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Brinkman, J. A. 1976 Materials and studies for Kassite history I: A catalogue of cuneiform sources pertaining to specific monarchs of the Kassite dynasty. Chicago.Google Scholar
Budge, E. A. W. 1914 Assyrian sculptures in the British Museum: Reign of Ashur-nasir-pal. London.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. 1998 Iluni, roi d'Ešnunna. NABU 1998(1), No. 29: 33–4.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. and Durand, J.-M. 1997 Aššur avant l'Assyrie. MARI 8: 367–91.Google Scholar
Cole, S. W. and Machinist, P. 1998 Letters from priests to the kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (State Archives of Assyria 13). Helsinki.Google Scholar
Collon, D. 2001 Catalogue of the Western Asiatic seals in the British Museum: Cylinder seals V: Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods. London.Google Scholar
Collon, D. 2003 The Ninevite 5 seal impressions. In Rova, E. and Weiss, H. (eds.), The origins of North Mesopotamian civilization: Ninevite 5 chronology, economy, society (Subartu 9): 249–69. Turnhout.Google Scholar
Curtis, J. E. 1976 Parthian gold from Nineveh. In British Museum Yearbook I: The classical tradition: 47–66. London.Google Scholar
Curtis, J. E. 1983 Some axe-heads from Chagar Bazar and Nimrud. Iraq 45: 73–81.Google Scholar
Curtis, J. E. and Reade, J. E. (eds.) 1995 Art and empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum. London.Google Scholar
Dalley, S. 2001 Old Babylonian tablets from Nineveh; and possible pieces of early Gilgamesh epic. Iraq 63: 155–67.Google Scholar
D'Andrea, M. M. 1981 Letters of Leonard William King, 1902–1904; introduced, edited and annotated with special reference to the excavations of Nineveh (MA thesis, University of Wisconsin). River Falls.Google Scholar
Dossin, G. 1950 Correspondance de Samsi-Addu (Archives Royales de Mari I). Paris.Google Scholar
Driver, G. R. and Miles, J. C. 1955 The Babylonian laws II: Transliterated text, translation, philological notes, glossary. Oxford.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 1987 Villes fantômes de Syrie et autres lieux. MARI 5: 199–234.Google Scholar
Finkel, I. L. and Reade, J. E. 1996 Assyrian hieroglyphs. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 86/2: 244–68.Google Scholar
Frahm, E. 1997 Einleitung in die Sanherib-Inschriften (Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft 26). Wien.Google Scholar
Frahm, E. 1998 Sanherib und die Tempel von Kuyunjik. In Maul, S. M. (ed.), Festschrift für Rykle Borger zu seinem 65. Geburtstag am 24. Mai 1994: Tikip santakki mala bašmu (Cuneiform Monographs, 10): 107–21. Groningen.Google Scholar
Frahm, E. 2000 Die Akitu-Häuser von Ninive. NABU 2000/4, No. 66: 75–9.Google Scholar
Frayne, D.R. 1993 Sargonic and Gutian periods (2334–2113 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia: Early periods 2). Toronto/Buffalo/London.Google Scholar
Fuchs, A. 1996 Die Inschrift vom Ištar-Tempel. In Borger, 1996: 258–96.Google Scholar
Fuchs, A. 1998 Die Annalen des Jahres 711 v. Chr. (State Archives of Assyria Studies 8). Helsinki.Google Scholar
Gadd, C. J. 1936 The stones of Assyria. London.Google Scholar
George, A. R. 1979 Cuneiform texts in the Birmingham City Museum. Iraq 41: 121–40.Google Scholar
George, A. R. 1993 House Most High: The temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake.Google Scholar
Grayson, A.K. 1987 Assyrian rulers of the third and second millennia BC (to 1115 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian periods 1). Toronto/Buffalo/London.Google Scholar
Grayson, A.K. 1991 Assyrian rulers of the early first millennium BC, Part 1 ( 1114–859 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian periods 2). Toronto/Buffalo/London.Google Scholar
Grayson, A.K. 1996 Assyrian rulers of the early first millennium BC, Part II (858–745 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian periods 3). Toronto/Buffalo/London.Google Scholar
Groneberg, B. R. M. 1997 Lob der Ištar: Gebet und Ritual an die altbabylonische Venusgöttin: Tanatti Ištar (Cuneiform Monographs 8). Groningen.Google Scholar
Gut, R. V. 1995 Das prähistorische Ninive: Zur relativen Chronologie der frühen Perioden Nordmesopotamiens (Baghdader Forschungen 19). 2 vols. Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Gut, R. V., Reade, J. E. and Boehmer, R. M. 2001 Ninive—Das späte 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr. In Meyer, J.-W., Novák, M. and Pruss, A. (eds.), Beiträge zur Vorderasiatischen Archäologie Winfried Orthmann gewidmet: 14–129. Frankfurt am Main.Google Scholar
Haller, A., and Andrae, W. 1955 Die Heiligtümer des Gottes Assur und der Sin-Šamaš-Tempel in Assur (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichung der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft 67). Berlin.Google Scholar
Hallo, W. W. 1957 Early Mesopotamian royal titles: A philologie and historical analysis (American Oriental Series 43). New Haven.Google Scholar
Heinrich, E. 1982 Die Tempel und Heiligtümer im alten Mesopotamien: Typologie, Morphologie und Geschichte (Denkmäler Antiker Architektur 14). 2 vols. Berlin.Google Scholar
Herbordt, S. 1992 Neuassyrische Glyptik des 8.–7. Jh. v. Chr. (State Archives of Assyria Studies 1). Helsinki.Google Scholar
Howard-Carter, T. 1983 An interpretation of the sculptural decoration of the second millennium temple at Tell al-Rimah. Iraq 45: 64–72.Google Scholar
Joannès, F. 1993 La culture matérielle à Mari (V): Les parfums. MARI 7: 251–70. Paris.Google Scholar
Lambert, W. G. 1992 Catalogue of the cuneiform tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum: Third supplement. London.Google Scholar
Lambert, W. G. 2004/2005 Ištar of Nineveh. Iraq 66 (2004): 35–9 = RAI 49/1 (2005): 35–9.Google Scholar
Lambert, W.G. and Millard, A. R. 1968 Catalogue of the cuneiform tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum: Second supplement. London.Google Scholar
Livingstone, A. 1989 Court poetry and literary miscellanea (State Archives of Assyria 3). Helsinki.Google Scholar
Luckenbill, D. D. 1924 Sennacherib, king of Assyria: Annals (Oriental Institute Publications 2). Chicago.Google Scholar
Mallowan, M. E. L. 1936 The bronze head of the Akkadian period from Nineveh. Iraq 3: 104–10.Google Scholar
Mallowan, M. E. L. 1977 Mallowan's Memoirs. London.Google Scholar
Mattila, R. 2002 Legal transactions of the royal court of Nineveh II (State Archives of Assyria 14). Helsinki.Google Scholar
Menzel, B. 1981 Assyrische Tempel (Studia Pohl: Series Maior 10). 2 vols. Rome.Google Scholar
Millard, A. 1968 Fragments of historical texts from Nineveh: Ashurbanipal. Iraq 30: 98–111.Google Scholar
Millard, A. 1994 The eponyms of the Assyrian empire 910–612 BC (State Archives of Assyria Studies 2). Helsinki.Google Scholar
Moorey, P. R. S. 1971 Catalogue of the ancient Persian bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford.Google Scholar
Moorey, P. R. S. 1994 Ancient Mesopotamian materials and industries: The archaeological evidence. Oxford.Google Scholar
Moortgat, A. 1969 The art of ancient Mesopotamia. London/New York.Google Scholar
Nunn, A. 1988 Die Wandmalerei und der glasierte Wandschmuck im alten Orient (Handbuch der Orientalistik 7/1/2/B6). Leiden.Google Scholar
Nylander, C. 1980 Earless in Nineveh: Who mutilated “Sargon's” head? American Journal of Archaeology 84: 329–33.Google Scholar
Oates, D. 1967 The excavations at Tell al Rimah, 1966. Iraq 29: 70–96.Google Scholar
Oates, D. 1968 Studies in the ancient history of northern Iraq. London.Google Scholar
Oates, D. 1972 The excavations at Tell al-Rimah, 1971. Iraq 34: 77–86.Google Scholar
Parpola, S. 1986 The royal archives of Nineveh. In Veenhof, K. R. (ed.), Cuneiform archives and libraries: 223–36. Leiden.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. 1996 The White Obelisk and the problem of historical narrative in the art of Assyria. Art Bulletin 78: 334–55.Google Scholar
Postgate, C., Oates, D. and Oates, J. 1997 The excavations at Tell al Rimah: The pottery (Iraq Archaeological Reports 4). London.Google Scholar
Rassam, H. 1897 Asshur and the land of Nimrod. New York/Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1968 Tell Taya (1967): Summary report. Iraq 30: 234–64.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1973 Tell Taya (1972–3): Summary report. Iraq 35: 155–87.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1975 Ashurnasirpal I and the White Obelisk. Iraq 37: 129–50.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1977 Shikaft-i Gulgul: Its date and symbolism. Iranica Antiqua 12: 33–44.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1981 Fragments of Assyrian monuments. Iraq 43: 145–56.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1986 Archaeology and the Kuyunjik archives. In Veenhof, K. R. (ed.), Cuneiform archives and libraries: 213–22. Leiden.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1987 Was Sennacherib a feminist? In Durand, J.-M. (ed.), La femme dans le Proche-Orient antique: 139–45. Paris.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1998 Assyrian eponyms, kings and pretenders, 648–605 BC. Orientalia 67: 255–65.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1998a Greco-Parthian Nineveh. Iraq 60: 65–83.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2000 Ninive (Nineveh). Reallexikon der Assyriologie 9 (5–6): 388–433. Berlin/New York.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2000a Early Dynastie statues in the British Museum. NABU 2000(4), No. 73: 82–6.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2000b Early foundation records from the Ištar Temple at Nineveh. NABU 2000(4), No. 75: 86–7.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2000c Assyrian sculptures in the British Museum: Technical notes. NABU 2000(4), No. 78: 88.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2002 Sexism and homotheism in ancient Iraq. In Parpola, S. and Whiting, R. M. (eds.) Sex and gender in the ancient Near East (Comptes rendus, Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 47): 551–67. Helsinki.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2002a The ziggurrat and temples of Nimrud. Iraq 64: 135–216.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. and Walker, C. B. F. 1982 Some Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions. Archiv für Orientforschung 28: 113–22.Google Scholar
Russell, J. M. 1998 The final sack of Nineveh. New Haven/London.Google Scholar
Russell, J. M. 2003 Obelisk. Reallexikon der Assyriologie 10 (1/2): 4–6. Berlin/New York.Google Scholar
Searight, A., Finkel, I. L. and Reade, J. E. In preparation Assyrian stone vessels and related material in the British Museum.Google Scholar
Seux, M.-J. 1976 Hymnes et prières aux dieux de Babylonie et d'Assyrie. Paris.Google Scholar
Smith, G. 1875 Assyrian discoveries. London.Google Scholar
Sollberger, E. 1974 The White Obelisk. Iraq 36: 231–8.Google Scholar
Stepniowski, F. M. 1988 Metrologische und geometrische Interpretationen der Grundrisse sakrale Bauwerke in Assur. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 120: 173–88.Google Scholar
Streck, M. 1916 Assurbanipal und die letzten assyrischen Könige bis zum Untergange Nineveh's (Vorderasiatische Bibliothek 7). 3 vols. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Strommenger, E. 1970 Die neuassyrische Rundskulptur (Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 15). Berlin.Google Scholar
Tenu, A. 2004/2005 Ninive et Aššur à l'époque médio-assyrienne. Iraq 66 (2004): 27–33 = RAI 49/1 (2005), 27–33.Google Scholar
Thompson, H. O. 1972 Cosmetic palettes. Levant 4: 148–50.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell 1934 The buildings on Quyunjiq, the larger mound of Nineveh. Iraq 1: 95–104.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell 1940 A selection from the cuneiform historical texts from Nineveh (1927–1932). Iraq 1: 85–131.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell, and Hamilton, R. W. 1932 The British Museum excavations on the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, 1930–31. Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 19: 55–116.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell, and Hutchinson, R. W. 1929 A century of excavation at Nineveh. London.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell, and Hutchinson, R. W. 1929a The excavations on the Temple of Nabu at Nineveh. Archaeologia 79: 103–48.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell, and Hutchinson, R. W. 1931 The site of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nineveh, excavated in 1929–30 on behalf of the British Museum. Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 18: 79–112.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell, and Mallowan, M. E. L. 1933 The British Museum excavations at Nineveh, 1931–32. Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 20: 71–186.Google Scholar
Tubb, J. N. 1985 Some observations on spearheads in Palestine in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. In Tubb, J. N. (ed.), Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages: Papers in honour of Olga Tufnell: 189–96. London.Google Scholar
Veenhof, K. R. 2000 Ninive 5. Akkadische und altassyrische Periode. Reallexikon der Assyriologie 9 (5–6): 433–4. Berlin/New York.Google Scholar
Veenhof, K. R. 2003 The Old Assyrian list of year eponyms from Karum Kanish and its chronological implications (Publications of the Turkish Historical Society VI.64). Ankara.Google Scholar
Vincente, C.-A. 1995 The Tall Leilan recension of the Sumerian king list. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 85: 234–70.Google Scholar
Weidner, E. F. 1939 Die Reliefs der assyrischen Könige (Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft 4). Berlin.Google Scholar
Weiss, H. 1985 Teil Leilan on the Habur plains of Syria. Biblical Archaeologist 48: 5–34.Google Scholar
Weissert, E. 1997 Royal hunt and royal triumph in a prism fragment of Ashurbanipal. In Parpola, S. and Whiting, R. M. (eds.), Assyria 1995: 339–58. Helsinki.Google Scholar
Westenholz, A. 2000 Assyriologists, ancient and modern, on Naramsin and Sharkalisharri. In Marzahn, J. and Neumann, H. (eds.), Assyriologica et Semitica: Festschrift für Joachim Oelsner anlässlich seines 65. Geburtstages am 18. Februar 1997 (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 252): 545–55. Münster.Google Scholar
Westenholz, J. G. 2004/2005 The Old Akkadian presence in Nineveh: Fact or fiction. Iraq 66 (2004): 7–18 = RAI 49/1 (2005): 7–18.Google Scholar
Wilcke, C., and Seidl, U. 1976 Inanna/Ištar. Reallexikon der Assyriologie 5(1/2): 74–89. Berlin/New York.Google Scholar
Wiseman, D. J. 1962 Catalogue of the Western Asiatic seals in the British Museum: Cylinder seals I: Uruk-Early Dynastic periods. London.Google Scholar
Woolley, C. L. 1969 Carchemish II: The town defenses. London.Google Scholar
Yuhong, Wu 1994 The localisation of Nurrugum and Ninet = Ninuwa. NABU 1994(2), No. 38: 35–7.Google Scholar
Ziegler, N. 2004/2005 The conquest of the holy city of Nineveh and the kingdom of Nurrugûm by Samsi-Addu. Iraq 66: 19–26 = RAI 49/1 (2005): 19–26.Google Scholar