The E-ninnu 𒂍𒐐 (House of 50) was the

E (temple) E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plu ...

to the warrior god

Ningirsu Ninĝirsu was a Mesopotamia, Mesopotamian god regarded as the tutelary deity of the city of Girsu, Ĝirsu, and as the chief god of the local pantheon of the state of Lagash. He shares many aspects with the god Ninurta. Ninĝirsu was identified as ...

in the Sumerian city of

Girsu Girsu ( Sumerian ; cuneiform ) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of Lagash, at the site of what is now Tell Telloh in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. As the religious center of the kingdom of Lagash, it contained significant temple ...

in southern Mesopotamia. Girsu was the religious centre of a state that was named Lagash after its most populous city, which lay 25 km (16 mi) southeast of Girsu. Rulers of Lagash who contributed to the structure of the E-ninnu included

Ur-Nanshe Ur-Nanshe (, ; ) also Ur-Nina, was the first king of the First Dynasty of Lagash in the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period III. He is known through inscriptions to have commissioned many building projects, including canals and temples, in the state of ...

of Lagash in the late 26th century BC, his grandson

Eannatum Eannatum ( ; ) was a Sumerian ''Ensi (Sumerian), Ensi'' (ruler or king) of Lagash. He established one of the first verifiable empires in history, subduing Elam and destroying the city of Susa, and extending his domain over the rest of Sumer and Akk ...

in the following century,

Urukagina Uru-ka-gina, Uru-inim-gina, or Iri-ka-gina ( ; died 2370 BC) was King of the city-states of Lagash and Girsu in Mesopotamia, and the last ruler of the 1st Dynasty of Lagash. He assumed the title of king, claiming to have been divinely appointe ...

in the 24th century and

Gudea Gudea ( Sumerian: , ''Gu3-de2-a''; died 2124 BC) was a Sumerian ruler ('' ensi'') of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia, who ruled –2060 BC ( short chronology) or 2144–2124 BC ( middle chronology). He probably did not come from the ...

, ruler of

Lagash Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...

in the mid 22nd century BC. The site has yielded inscribed bricks naming Ur-Nanshe and Eannatum, but most bricks date from the restoration effected by

. The

Gudea cylinders The Gudea cylinders are a pair of terracotta cylinders dating to , on which is written in cuneiform a Sumerian myth called the Building of Ningirsu's temple. The cylinders were made by Gudea, the ruler of Lagash, and were found in 1877 during ex ...

, perhaps the longest surviving text written in the

Sumerian language Sumerian ) was the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the List of languages by first written account, oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 2900 BC. It is a local language isolate that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the a ...

, give a semi-mythical account of the building of the temple, along with a description of the rituals and symbols associated with E-ninnu. Some form of temple to Ningirsu probably existed from the early days of the city. Sumerian gods were generally associated with particular cities and Ningirsu means "Lord of Girsu". There was also a temple to Ningirsu called the Bagara in the larger nearby city of Lagash, where the rulers of Lagash had their palace.

Excavations

More than a dozen

diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is Intermediate composition, inter ...

statues of

were discovered, during French excavations at

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in a

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

-era shrine on the Mound of the Palais. The Adadnadinakhe bricks show that the shrine was built by a minor local king, Adad-Nadin-Akhe, to honour Gudea on the site of his temple to Ningirsu, which was then already 2000 years old. Adad-Nadin-Akhe also built a Parthian style palace on the site. The French excavators never realized that the enigmatic E-ninnu they were searching for was directly underneath this shrine, and halted excavations in 1933. Over 80 years later excavators returned to the site under the direction of the British Museum. The head of excavations, Sebastien Rey, was able to finally locate the temple in 2016 and has led several seasons of excavation at the site. In February 2023, archaeologists from the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and

Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

identified the E-ninnu temple alongside the remains of the 4,500 year-old Sumerian Lord Palace of the Kings and more than 200

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

tablets containing administrative records of

Gallery

File:Foundation nail IMG 0073-black.jpg,

Foundation nail Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

dedicated by Gudea to Ningirsu for the building of his temple, the E-ninnu, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon File:Stone tablet. List of various garments dedicated to the temple of E-ninnu by the Akkadian king Rimush. 23rd century BCE. From Nippur, Iraq. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg, Stone tablet. List of various garments dedicated to the temple of E-ninnu by the Akkadian king Rimush. 23rd century BCE. From Nippur, Iraq. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul File:Stone tablet. Votive inscription of Shulgi, king of Ur. Mentions the dedication of the temple of E-ninnu to the god Ningirsu. From Lagash, Iraq. 21st century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg, Stone tablet. Votive inscription of Shulgi, king of Ur. Mentions the dedication of the temple of E-ninnu to the god Ningirsu. From Lagash, Iraq. 21st century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul File:Votive inscription of Gudea, ruler of Lagash mentioning the construction of the temple of E-ninnu for Ningirsu. From Lagash, Iraq. 22nd century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg, Votive inscription of Gudea, ruler of Lagash mentioning the construction of the temple of E-ninnu for Ningirsu. From Lagash, Iraq. 22nd century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul

References

{{Reflist Ancient Near East temples Mesopotamian religion