📷 Wikimedia Commons · CC

Where in the world

Iraq

Nippur

Sumerian · Iraq

Field notes

civilizations: Sumerian
types: City
occupied: 5,000 BCE — 800 CE
country: Iraq

The site

Nippur is an ancient Sumerian city in southern Iraq, the sacred seat of Enlil, the "Lord Wind" who ruled the Sumerian cosmos beneath the sky-god An. Occupation reaches far back into the Ubaid, Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods and continued for millennia, making it one of Mesopotamia's most enduring settlements. Its religious standing made it a spiritual heart of Sumer rather than a seat of kings.

Nearby sites