Nippur

Involved Persons

Hackl, Johannes (PI); Levavi, Yuval (PI)

Abstract

The Project aims to advance a more comprehensive and nuanced socio-economic history of the city of Nippur during the first millennium BCE and, by extension, of Babylonia as a whole. While Nippur’s role is relatively well explored in the Neo-Assyrian and Late Achaemenid periods, the long sixth century (626–484 BCE), notably the best-documented period of Babylonian history, has remained surprisingly neglected. The Project will address this gap in knowledge along two dimensions: (1) a synchronic level, aiming for a better understanding of Nippur’s role during the long 6th century, away from the dominant Babylon-Uruk axis; and (2) a diachronic level, where these results will be compared with the well-researched Neo-Assyrian and Late Achaemenid periods. In this way, the Project will make a significant contribution to the history of Nippur by tracing its transformation from an important garrison city of the Assyrian Empire (eighth and seventh centuries) to a ‘backwater’ city in the sixth century, and ultimately to a land-for-service hub of the Achaemenid Empire in the fifth century.

Funding

The project is funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556302271.