Zabala, also Zabalam ( zabalamki, Sumerian - MUŠ3.UNUki, modern Tell Ibzeikh (also Tell el-Buzekh or Tell Ibzaykh), Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq) was a city of ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia, located in what is now the Dhi Qar governorate in Iraq. In early archaeology this location was also called Tel el-Buzekh. Locally it is called Tell Bzikh. Zabala was at the crossing of the ancient Iturungal and Ninagina canals, 10 kilometers to the northwest of Umma. The city's deity was Inanna of Zabala.Powell, M. A. "Evidence for Local Cults at Presargonic Zabala." Orientalia, vol. 45, 1976, pp. 100–104 A cuneiform tablet from Zabala contains one of only a few metro-mathematical tables of area measures from the Early Dynastic Period.Feliu, Lluís. "A New Early Dynastic IIIb Metro-Mathematical Table Tablet of Area Measures from Zabalam" Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 39, no. 2, 2012, pp. 218-225

History The first mentions of Zabala are in seals from the Jemdet Nasr period including a list of early sites - Ur, Nippur, Larsa, Uruk, Kes, and Zabalam.Green, M.W., A note on an archaic period geographical list from Warka, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, pp293-4, 1977 The earliest historical record, a bowl inscription, indicates that Zabala was under the control of Lugalzagesi of Umma. This is further supported by tablets from that period.Powell, Marvin A., "Texts from the Time of Lugalzagesi Problems and Perspectives in Their Interpretation", Hebrew Union College Annual, vol. 49, pp. 1–58, 1978 The city is also known to have been under the control of Me'annedu, father of Lugalzagesi.Armando Bramanti, "Three Administrative Texts from the Time of Me’annedu", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 69, pp. 33–47, 2017

Akkadian Period In the Sargonic Period, Rimush of Akkad reports Zabala as attempting to rebel against the control of the Akkadian Empire:

Shar-kali-sharri and Naram-Sin both reported building a temple to the goddess Inanna in Zabala. Mari A. Gough, Historical Perception in the Sargonic Literary Tradition: The Implications of Copied Texts, Rosetta, University of Birmingham

Post-Akkadian Period

After the fall of Akkad, Zabala came into the sphere of the city-state of Isin as reported by the year names of several rulers including Itar-pisa and Ur-Ninurta. The town was later subject to Abisare of Larsa, whose year name reported the building of the "Favorite of Inanna of Zabalam" canal. The Rulers of Larsa, M. Fitzgerald, Yale University Dissertation, 2002

Ur III Period During the Ur III period, Zabala was controlled by the Ur governor in Umma which was the capital of Umma Province. The ruling family of Ur III Umma. A Prosopographical Analysis of an Elite Family in Southern Iraq 4000 Years ago, J.L. Dahl, UCLA dissertation, 2003

Babylonian Period Cuneiform texts state that Hammurabi built Zabala's temple Ezi-Kalam-ma (House of the Life of the Land) to the goddess Inanna.George, A. R., "House Most High. The temples of ancient Mesopotamia", Winona Lake, 1993 Tablet MS 1876/1 in the Schøyen Collection The temple of Inanna in Zabalam is the subject of hymn 26 from a collection known as Temple Hymns, traditionally attributed to Enheduanna.

Archaeology

The roughly rectangular site, which covers an areas of about 61 hectares, was first identified during the South Mesopotamian Mound Survey in 1954. It consists of three main mounds, east, west, and south. It is surrounded by a wall which was "built of brick and clay with plaster material, and is decorated with buttresses and recesses". A. Goetze, "Archaeological Survey of Ancient Canals", Sumer, vol 11, iss. 2, pp 127-128, 1955 Beginning in the early 1900s, a great deal of illegal excavation occurred in Zabala. An example of writing from the time of Hammurabi was removed from Zabala during this period. This activity reached a new height in the 1990s, at which time the Iraqi State Organization of Antiquities and Heritage authorized an official excavation, the first at the site. Two seasons of excavation, in 2001 and 2002, occurred under the direction of Haider Al-Subaihawi. Several public and religious buildings were uncovered, a number of cuneiform tablets and an inscribed stone foundation cylinder of Warad-Sin, king of Larsa were found. A bronze sculpture (canephor, which is a form of Caryatid ), from Warad-Sin which mentions his father Kudur-Mabuk was also found.Al-Subaihawi, H. 2003/4 Archaeological Prospecting in Site Buzeikh, 2001–2002 (in Arabic). Sumer 52: 169–200Fahad, Saad S., "Two Unpublished Texts from Zabalam (Ibzikh) Dated to the Reign of Warad-Sin", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 68, pp. 3-8, 2016 A number of Old Babylonian period cylinder seals were also found. Ali, Fayhaa Mawlood, "Cylinder Seals from the Site of Tell Bzikh (Zabalam)", Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations 23.1, pp. 1680-1690, 2024 A further outbreak of archaeological looting at Zabala broke out after the 2003 War in Iraq.al Hamdani, A. (2008): Protecting and Recording our Archaeological Heritage in Southern Iraq, NearEastern Archaeology, vol. 71, pp. 221–230

See also Cities of the ancient Near East

References

Further reading B. Alster, "Geštinanna as Singer and the Chorus of Uruk and Zabalam", UET 6/1 22, JCS, vol. 37, pp. 219–28, 1985 Postgate, J., "Soap for Zabala?", in The Third Millennium, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 617–629, 2020

External links CDLI background on Zabala Year Names of Naram-Sin of Akkad Year Names of Abisare of Larsa Translation of Temple Hymns of Enheduanna Post 2003 war looting at Zabala