Etemenanki

Etemenanki (“the house-base of the sky and the ground”) is a Ziggourat dedicated to the god Mardouk with Babylon. At the origin high of seven stages, there remains nothing any more the building except its track.

The myth

The biblical account of the Tower of Babel that the men tried to raise to the sky for a long time marked the spirits, source of inspiration for good number of writers and artists.

Writings in clay

This account clearly refers to the towers called Ziggourat S which assyro-Babylonian civilization had built and represented on cylindrical seals or low-reliefs. Preserved at Louvre, the shelf known as “of Esagil”, gone back to 229 av. J. - C. and copies of a document of the 6th century, gives measurements of the ziggourat of Babylon.

The tower of Babel?

Most fabulous of them was built by the kings of the first dynasty (- 1894 to -1595 front J. - C.) with Babylon and was even renovated several times thereafter, in particular at the time néo-Babylonian (- 625 to -539 front J. - C.). The square plan had 91 meters on side and the height would have been of 90 meters.

The time

The erection and the existence of the tower are spread out over almost 20 centuries of history, since the first Babylonian dynasty until the beginning of the Christian era.

The crowned district

Babylon was the seat of two capacities. The first was that of the king, who lived a gigantic palate located at the north of the city, the second that of the guardian god of the city, Mardouk, also called Bêl, “the Lord”, king of the gods of the Babylonian Pantheon. Like the human sovereign, it had in the crowned district a vast residence, the Esagil “the house whose top is raised”, where in the shape of a statue its divinity incarnated itself.

If one believes of it an inscription of Nabuchodonosor, the ceilings of this complex were supported by beams in gold cedar covered and money. The building was surrounded by its own enclosure at the edge of Euphrate.

Esagil

Probably born with Babylon, this religious complex, with the image of the city was destroyed then rebuilt and finally restored on several occasions, so much so that there still existed at the 2nd century of the Christian era. On the plan opposite one sees the print of the ziggourat inside the complex.

Eyewitnesses

Alexandre Large the (fourth century BC), king of Macedonia (336 - 323 front J. - C.), conquering Persian Empire and one of the largest military chiefs of the world:

“It arrived to Babylon with all its army. The hospitality of the inhabitants encouraged it to remain more than thirty days in this city. ”

Hérodote (fifth century BC), Greek historian (484-406 av. J. - C.), called “the father of the history”:

“In the medium draws up a massive, long and broad tower of a stage, surmounted by another tower which supports a third of it, and so on, to eight turns. ”

Excavations

Surveys: In 1811, by C.J. Rich, followed by R. Mignan for East India Compagny. In 1849, by the geologist W.K. Loftus, followed by P. - E. Botta.

preliminary Excavations: In 1850, A.H. Layard begins excavations around the ziggourat. In 1852 F. Fresnel and J. Oppert carry out the detailed foreground of the city. In 1854, H.C. Rawlinson with G. Smith make short excavations. In 1876, H. Rassam. In 1887, W. Budge for British Museum.

principal Excavations: from 1897 to 1898, German excavations directed by R. Koldewey. from 1899 to 1914, German excavations directed by W. Andrae, F. Wetzel, O. Reuther, G. Buddensieg.

Restoration of several buildings by the Iraqi archeologists.

Materials

Clay, the reeds and the tar were mainly used for the construction of the ziggourats. Clay was moulded to obtain bricks. These turns were full, i.e., that there is neither part nor corridor inside.

The bricks have a whole a print which was engraved in their mould: " I have Nabuchodonosor, wire of Nabopolassar, makes set up this tower in the honor of the Mardouk god. Lord, grants us to it life éternelle". These bricks were covered with blue enamel. ( Of the gods, the tombs, scientists , C.W. Ceram).

The high temple

On the last stage drew up the gigunû, whose architecture is very badly known.

The writing of Nabopolassar (625-605) declares:

“Mardouk, IE lord, ordered to me in connection with Etemenanki, the tower on floors of Babylon, which before my time had fallen in ruins, to ensure its base in the center of the lower world and its top, to make it similar to the sky”.

The writing of Nabuchodonosor (605-562), affirms that “of Etemenanki, I raised the point with cooked bricks of enamel resplendent, similar to the color of the sky. ”

The account of Hérodote gives following description of it:

“the last tower contains a large vault, and in the vault one sees a bed richly drawn up and close to him a gold table. They still say that the god comes in person in his temple and rests on this bed”. ( Stories , I).

The reconstitution

It is on the basis of statement of the German mission of 1897 that this modeling was carried out, since the existing backwater cannot much any more help us…

The ziggurat consisted of seven piled up towers the ones on the others. Each one probably had its own color. Connected between them by staircases, the direct access with the last, Gigunû, plated high temple of blue glazed bricks, was done by a slope-staircase monumental. Two side slopes gave access the first sitted one.

In the fiction

Etemenanki is the name given to the " tower of the création" , remains sealed of the Lord in the manga Angel Sanctuary where is solved the final intrigue.

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