Eanna

The Eanna (“the house of the Sky”) is the principal temple of the goddess sumérienne Inanna (Ishtar at the Babylonian Akkadiens and ) in the town of Uruk. By extension, this term indicates the central district of this city, devoted to this goddess, where many archaeological discoveries were made. In the beginning, Eanna was a village; its fusion with Kullab gave rise to Uruk. It was rebuilt and restored many times since the time of Ubaid, which explains the superposition of the buildings in the excavated zone.

Level IV

Seven large temples date from the end of the Period of Uruk, on level IV has (fine). Most imposing is the “calcareous temple”, which owes its name has its foundations built out of limestone, and which is for dimensions 80 meters long for 30 broad. Two other temples had the characteristic to have its walls decorated by cones of various colors (red, black, white, gray) planted in the wall, and thus forming a kind of mosaic of colors creating of the geometrical reasons. One finds also the “temple red”, whose walls are painted in a color red-dew. If these buildings were named “temples”, nothing proves in fact that they had this function, in the absence of explicit written sources.

It is level IV of Eanna which delivered the oldest shelves wrote found in Mésopotamie, which appears to confirm the tradition sumérienne wanting to see in Uruk the birthplace of the writing. They are then shelves of accountancy, which had been put at the rebus, therefore found out of their context of drafting.

Following phases

The following periods transfer to follow one another of other constructions. The Ziggurat of Ishtar, contruite with the site of an old temple, measures 52 meters on sides. It dates from the time of the kingdom of Ur III (). At this period, the whole of Eanna is renovated. One surrounds the crowned zone of a double enclosure, and a temple of Ningishzida is built.

After one period without much construction, which lasts more than one half-millenium, and during which the worship of Ishtar if not was stopped, or strongly has periclity, the king kassite Karaindash builds a temple. But it is at the times néo- Assyrie nne and néo-Babylonian that Eanna becomes again one of the sanctuaries major of Mésopotamie. Sargon II restores the wall, works continued by Merodach-Baladan, which makes build a small temple with the foot of the ziggurat.

Néo-Babylonian period

The sanctuary of Eanna is still restored by the néo-Babylonian sovereigns (626 - 539 av. J. - C.). An important batch of administrative files was exhumed in this temple, and offers very precise information on its operation under the reign of Nabonide.

These sources at that time provide a typical example of the economic management of the Babylonian temples. It was ensured by two characters whose activities and influence was not limited only to this field because they dealt with all that touched with the temple out of the religious field, and could even occupy a place in the administration of the city where was the sanctuary, a intendant-treasurer ( šatammu ) and an administrator charged to assist it ( qīpu ). The šatammu has as a role to manage the accounts of the temple (assisted by an assistant charged with the case of the temple, the ša muhhi quppi ša šatammu ), and it directs the business enterprises of the temple, with the assistance of the qîpu. They have also the load of recruitment and of the maintenance of the farm laborers, the oblats ( širku ), they grant the contracts of tenant farming, box the taxes and the royalties, decide work to carry out, etc All in all, they were to manage the fields and the human and financial mass of the temple. They were assisted in their tasks by other administrators constituting a precise hierarchy aiming at exploiting these resources.

In Uruk, the šatammu and the qīpu were traditionally assisted by a third character, the scribe of the temple ( tupšar bīti ), which directed the scribes of the temple there. But Nabonide, anxious to reinforce its authority on the temples, replaced it by a royal administrator, the royal officer chief of the administration ( ša rēš šarri bēl piqitti ). The qīpu was of more isolated of the direction of the temple, which was thus entrusted to the royal officer and the šatammu . To control finances of the temple whose this last had the load, and particularly the share of the budget being allocated to the king, one named a royal officer appointed with the royal cassette of Eanna. The king was thus ensured that the stock management of the palate would not be done against its interest. One sees thus how Nabonide could make sure control of these powerful organizations which were the temples while obtaining from the additional resources to reinflate the royal treasure, despizing many protests which were going to result from these measurements, which one knows that they were applied to other temples of Babylonia.

Late times

After the fall of the Babylonian kingdom in 539 av. J. - C., Eanna remains a place of important worship under the Perses Achéménides.

With the hellenistic time, the worship of Anu supplants that of Ishtar. Eanna then becomes a secondary zone of the city. During refittings of the urban space of Uruk, the center of the worship of the local goddess is transported a little more to the south, around a new building, Irigal. They are the administrators of the new temple of Anu, the Bīt Rēš , who deal with the management of the temple of Ishtar, his worship and his dependences.

The town of Uruk ends up being abandoned at the 2nd century before J. - C. Thus is completed the long story of Eanna, which remained over one exceptionally long duration one of the principal places of worships of Low ancient Mésopotamie.

See too