É (temple)

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É^[1] is the Sumerian for "house" or "temple", written ideographically with the cuneiform sign 𒂍 (Borger nr. 324, encoded by Unicode at codepoint U+1208D)

Specific temples:

E-ab-lua (House with teeming cattle) temple to Suen in Urum
E-ab-shaga-la (House which stretches over the midst of the sea) temple to Ninmarki in Gu-aba
E-abzu, "temple of the abzu" (also E-engura "House of the subterranean waters") temple to Enki in Eridu.
E-ad-da, temple to Enlil
E-akkil (House of lamentation) temple to Ninshubur in Akkil
E-am-kur-kurra, "temple of the lord of lands" to Bēl in Assur
E-^dama-geshtin "mother of wine"
E-ama-lamma
E-^da-mal, temple in Babylon
E-amash-azag, "temple of the bright fold" in Dur-ilu
E-ana (House of heaven) temple to Inana in Uruk
E-an-da-di-a, the ziggurat of Akkad
E-an-ki, "temple of heaven and earth"
E-a-nun, temple of Lugal-girra
E-an-za-kar "temple of the pillar"
E-a-ra-li "temple of the underworld"
E-a-ra-zu-gish-tug "temple of the hearing of prayers"
E-^das-^dmah "temple of the supreme god"
E-^das-ra-tum "temple to the goddess Ashratum"
E-babbar (Shining house) temple to Utu in Larsam
E-bara-igi-e-di "temple of wonders", zigurrat to Dumuzi in Akkad
E-bagara
E-^dbau, temple to the goddess Bau in Lagash
E-belit-mati "temple to the mother of the world"
E-bur-sigsig (House with beautiful bowls) temple to Shara in Umma
E-^dbur-^dsin, temple to the deified king Bur-Sin in Ur
E-dam, built by Ur-Nanshe in Lagash
E-dara-an-na "temple of the darkness of heaven"
E-di-kud-kalam-ma "temple of the judge of the world"
E-Dilmuna "temple of Dilmun" in Ur
E-dim-an-na "temple of the bond of heaven", built by Nebuchadnezzar for Sin
E-dim-gal-abzu in Lagash
E-dim-gal-kalama (House which is the great pole of the Land) temple to Ishtaran in Der
E-du-azaga "temple of the brilliant shrine", to Marduk
E-du-kug (House which is the holy mound) in Eridu, Nippur
E-dub (Storage house) temple to Zababa in Kish (Sumer)
E-duga
E-dumi-zi-abzu, to Tammuz, destroyed in the time of Urukagina
E-^ddun-gi, temple to the deified king Dungi
E-dur-gi-na "temple of the lasting abode", built by Nebuchadnezzar
E-^de-a, shrine to Ea (Enki) at Khorsabad built by Sargon.
E-engura (House of the subterranean waters, also "E-abzu") temple to Enki in Eridu
E-eshdam-kug in Ngirsu
E-gida (Long house) temple to Ninazu in Enegir
E-gud-du-shar (House with numerous perfect oxen) temple of Ningublaga in Ki-abrig
E-hamun
E-hursang (House which is a hill) of Shulgi in Ur
E-hush
E-ibe-Anu, temple to Urash in Dilbat
E-igi-kalama (House which is the eye of the Land) of Lugal-Marad to Ninurta in Marad
E-igi-shu-galam
E-igi-zi(d)-bar-ra, temple to Ningirsu, built by Entemena
E-igizu-uru (House, your face is mighty) temple to Ninshubur in Akkil
E-Iri-kug
E-itida-buru
E-kish-nu-ngal (House sending light to the earth (?)) temple to Nanna in Ur
E-kug-nuna temple to Inana in Uruk
E-kur "mountain temple" to Enlil in Nippur
E-ku-nin-azag "temple of the brilliant goddess" in Ngirsu
E-nga-duda (House, chamber of the mound) temple to Shu-zi-ana in Nga-gi-mah
E-nga-ngish-shua
E-ngalga-sud (House which spreads counsel far and wide) temple to Bau in Iri-kug
E-ngeshtug-Nisaba (House of the Wisdom of Nisaba) in Ur
E-ngipar in Uruk
E-ngishkeshda-kalama (House which is the bond of the Land) temple to Nergal in Kutha
E-ninnu, temple to Ningirsu in Lagash

E-a-mer, the ziggurat of E-ninnu

E-mah (Magnificent house) temple to Shara in Umma
E-mah (Exalted house) temple to Ninhursanga in Adab.
E-me-ur-ana (House which gathers the divine powers of heaven) temple to Ninurta in Nippur
E-me-urur
E-melem-hush (House of terrifying radiance) temple to Nuska in Nippur
E-meshlam, temple of Nergal
E-mu-mah (House with a magnificent name)
E-mud-kura, in Ur
E-mush (House which is the precinct) or E-mush-kalama, temple to Lulal in Bad-tibira
E-namtila
E-ni-guru
E-ningara
E-ninnu (House of 50), temple to Ningirsu in Lagash
E-nun, the abzu in Eridu
E-nun-ana (House of the prince of heaven), temple to Utu in Sippar
E-nutura
E-puhruma
E-sag-il "temple that raises its head", the temple of Marduk in Babylon, according to the Enuma elish home to all the gods under the patronage of Marduk.
E-sang-ila
E-sara
E-sikil (Pure house) temple to Ninazu in Eshnunna
E-sila
E-Sirara
E-shag-hula, in Kazallu
E-shara, in Adab
E-sheg-meshe-du, in Isin
E-shenshena, to Ninlil
E-sherzid-guru (House clad in splendour) temple to Inana in Zabala
E-shu-me-sha (House which …… the divine powers)
E-suga (Joyous (?) house)
E-tar-sirsir
E-temen-anki "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth", the ziggurat to Marduk in Babylon
E-temen-ni-guru, main ziggurat of Ur
E-tilla-mah
E-Tummal (Tummal House), temple to Ninlil in Nippur
E-tur-kalama
E-uduna, built by Amar-Suena
E-Ulmash, in Akkad
E-unir (House which is a ziggurat) temple to Enki in Eridu
E-uru-ga
E-zagin (Lapis lazuli house), temple to Nisaba in Uruk
Ezi-Kalam-ma, to Inana in Zabala, built by Hammurabi

The term temen appearing frequently after É in names of ziggurats is translated as "foundation pegs", apparently the first step in the construction process of a house, compare for example verses 551-561 of the account of the construction of E-ninnu:

He stretched out lines in the most perfect way; he set up (?) a sanctuary in the holy uzga. In the house, Enki drove in the foundation pegs, while Nance, the daughter of Eridu, took care of the oracular messages. The mother of Lagac, holy Jatumdug, gave birth to its bricks amid cries (?), and Bau, the lady, first-born daughter of An, sprinkled them with oil and cedar essence. En and lagar priests were detailed to the house to provide maintenance for it. The Anuna gods stood there full of admiration.

Temen has been occasionally compared to Greek temenos "holy precinct", but since the latter has a well established Indo-European etymology (see temple), the comparison is either mistaken, or at best describes a case of popoular etymology or convergence. In E-temen-an-ki, "the temple of the foundation pegs of heaven and earth", temen has been taken to refer to an axis mundi connecting earth to heaven (thus re-enforcing the Tower of Babel connection), but the term re-appears in several other temple names, referring to their physical stability rather than, or as well as, to a mythological world axis, compare the Egyptian notion of Djed.

[edit] Notes

^ The word is phonologically simply /e/, the acute accent is an assyriological convention specifying the corresponding cuneiform sign.

[edit] See also

Ancient Near East Portal

[edit] References

The building of Ningirsu's temple: composite text (translation), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
Abraham and the City of Ur, The Book of the Cave of Treasures (1927)
D. D. Luckenbill, The Temples of Babylonia and Assyria, The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (1908) [1]