Tell Ishchali (also Iščāli or Šaǧālī) is an archaeological site in Diyala Province (Iraq) a few hundred meters from the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris, and 3 miles south by southeast from the ancient city of Khafajah. It is thought to be ancient Nērebtum or Kiti and was, for part of its history, under the control of the city-state of Eshnunna which lies about 20 miles to the northeast. It is known to have been occupied during the Isin-Larsa period and Old Babylonian period with excavations ending before earlier levels were reached. Tell Ischali lies about southeast of the modern city of Baghdad.
Ancient name At first, the site of Ishchali was confused with Tutub (now known to be at Khafajah). Upon discovery of a date formula that read "year that king Ishme-Bali built the great wall of Nerebtum", that designation gained some support, although the temple dedicated to Inanna suggested Kiti as another possible toponym. Currently, scholarly opinion is split between Nerebtum and Kiti as the result of many tablets from the temple of Inanna of Kiti being analyzed. The name of Sadlas was also proposed, though an agreement between the rulers of Nērebtum (Ḫammi-dušur) and Šadlaš (Sumu-numhim) on the disposition of prisoners of war is now known.Charpin, Dominique, "Le prix de rachat des captifs d’après les archives paléo-babyloniennes", in Studies in Economic and Social History of the Ancient Near East in Memory of Péter Vargyas, ed. Zoltán Csabai, Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Studies 2: L’Harmattan Kiad, pp. 33–70, 2014
Nērebtum
A number of bricks of Ipiq-Adad II were found in the Kitium temple inscribed with:
Besides Ḫammi-dušur (also Ammi-dušur) two other local rulers of Nērebtum are known from the Old Babylonian period. One, Ikūn-pî-Sîn, also controlled nearby Tutub. He was a contemporary of Sabium (c. 1844–1831 BC), early ruler of Babylon.Boer, Rients de, "Beginnings of Old Babylonian Babylon: Sumu-abum and Sumu-la-El", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 70.1, pp. 53-86, 2018 A single year name of Iku(n)-pi-Sin is known from a text found at Khafajah reading "Year following (the year) when Iku(n)-pi-Sin cap[tured] Diniktum". Presumably it followed one reading "Year when Iku(n)-pi-Sin captured Diniktum".Harris, Rivkah, "The Archive of the Sin Temple in Khafajah (Tutub)", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 31–58, 1955
An oath text of Ibal-pi-El I, ruler of Eshnunna mentions Ikūn-pî-Sîn and provides synchronism with several rulers:
Sîn-abušu, the other known ruler of Nērebtum, had a fairly long reign. Roughly 20 of his year names are known including "Year in which Sîn-abušu the king gave his daughter to (the ruler of) Mankisum", "Year in which Sîn-abušu the king gave his daughter to (the ruler of) Rapiqum" and "Year in which by means of the omens the daughters of Sîn-abušu were chosen in Dur-Rimush". The unlocated city of Dur-Rimush has been suggested as the location of Akkad.Rashid, Fawzi, "Archiv Des Nūršamaš Und Andere Darlehensurkunden Aus Der Altbabylonischen Zeit", Phd thesis, Universität Heidelberg, 1965
Other proposed rulers of Nērebtum are Išmeḫ-bala and Sumun-abi-yarim.
During the reign of Rîm-Anum, ruler of Uruk (c. 1800 BC) prisoners of war from Nērebtum were grouped with those of Eshnunna and Akkad for example "Nabi-Šamaš, a man from Nērebtum, Sîn-napšeram, a man from Ešnunna, [NN], a man from Akkad, […]-iddinam, a man from Ešnunna, a total of four slaves, [pris]oners whom [Dagānma-ilum] sent from [Mutiaba] ...".Jursa, M., "A ‘Prisoner Text’ from Birmingham", in G. Chambon, M. Guichard, & A-I. Langlois (Eds.), De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin, Peeters Publishers. Publications de l'Institut du Proche-Orient Ancien du Collège de France, pp. 507-512, 2019
Kiti The location of Kiti, the cult site of Inanna of Kitītum, is as yet unknown, though it has been suggested that it was an earlier name for Tell Ishchali. She was worshiped in the Diyala region including at the capital city of Eshnunna where this oracular inscription was found:
Kiti is mention on two texts found at Tell Asmar (Eshnunna) "4 sila oil for sacrifices in ki-tiki on the day Bilalama went (away)" and "4 sila oil to ki-tiki for anointing purposes".
History
Finds, including stamp seals and cylinder seals, from the Uruk III (Jemdat Nasr) period and Early Dynastic period were found deposited in a ritual context in the Kitītum temple complex and are thought to have been heirlooms of undetermined provenance. Excavated epigraphic evidence and other finds date to the Old Babylonian period. While a few early local rulers are known, for most of the known history of Ishchali kings from Eshnunna held sway there, including Ipiq-Adad and Ibal-pi-El. During the time of Sabium, king of Babylon, Ibal-pi-El I of Ešnunna, Sîn-iddinam of Larsa and Sîn-kašid of Uruk the king of Nerebtum was Iku(n)-pi-Si.Sasson, Jack M., "Kingship", in Mari Archives: An Anthology of Old Babylonian Letters, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 21-118, 2021
Archeology
The site is a 600 meter by 300 meter irregular mound, with a low spur reaching northward at the northwest corner and small outlying mounds to the north and south, heavily marked by robber holes. The site was surrounded by a city wall, only partially excavated, with at least one large gate. The wall had a width of 8 meters and in the gatehouse of the entrance gate two cuneiform tablets were found.
In the 1920s, items from illegal excavations at Ishchali began appearing on the open market, including many clay tablets. Significant brick robbing by locals was also occurring. Henri Frankfort, Thorkild Jacobsen, and Conrad Preusser, "Tell Asmar and Khafaje: The First Season's Work in Eshnunna 1930/31", Oriental Institute Communications 13, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932 To pre-empt this activity, the Iraq expedition of the Oriental Institute of Chicago conducted two seasons of excavations there between 1934 and 1936. The expedition was led by Henri Frankfort and the work at Ishchali was handled by Thorkild Jacobsen and architect Harold Hill, all of the Oriental Institute. The architect died before publication leaving only an outline and a few chapter drafts. The excavation only covered the Kitītum Temple, a non-public area south of that temple called the "Serai" by the excavators, a short portion of the city wall with one gate, and the Shamash Temple adjacent to that gate. Henri Frankfort, "Progress of the Work of the Oriental Institute in Iraq, 1934/35: Fifth Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition", Oriental Institute Communications 20, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936 H.D. Hill, T. Jacobsen, P. Delougaz, A. Holland, and A. McMahon, "Old Babylonian Public Buildings in the Diyala Region: Part 1 : Excavations at Ishchali, Part 2 : Khafajah Mounds B, C, and D", Oriental Institute Publication 98, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1990 Excavations only reached the Isin-Larsa level before excavations ended., Pinhas Delougaz, "Pottery from the Diyala Region", Oriental Institute Publications 63, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1952
A number of cuneiform tablets from the Old Babylonian period were found and later published. Lutz, Henry Frederick, "Legal and economic documents from Ashjaly", University of California Press, 1931Landsberger, Benno, and Thorkild Jacobsen, "An Old Babylonian Charm against Merḫu", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 14–21, 1955S. Greengus, "Old Babylonian Tablets from Ishchali and Vicinity", PIHANS 44, Istanbul-Leiden, 1979 For a few tablets the provenance is in dispute between Ishcali and Khafajah.Farber, Walter, (detailed review of Greengus book), Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, 1984, pp. 346–50 Of the 280 tablets excavated, 138 went to the Oriental Institute with the remaining 142 assigned to the Iraq Museum. Among them was a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh.Gentili, Paolo, "A Catalogue of the Ishchali Texts in the Iraq Museum", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 257–75, 2004 The tablets illegally excavated from Ishchali are in many locations including the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva, Iraq Museum, Oriental Institute, and the Free Library of Philadelphia. The archive of the chief administrator (sanga) of the Kititum temple is represented by 155 purchased Free Library tablets and 55 excavated Oriental Institute tablets as well as others in the Iraq Museum.Ellis, Maria deJong, "The Archive of the Old Babylonian Kititum Temple and Other Texts from Ishchali", JAOS 106, pp. 757–86, 1986Luigi Cagni, "Briefe aus dem Iraq Museum", Altbabylonische Briefe, 8, Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1980
The Serai South of the Kitītum Temple was a large private residence (thought to have originally been two residences later joined) which the excavators named the Serai. In 1919 a shepherd found two bronze statues here (in a bronze bowl) and they were sold, through a dealer, to the Oriental Institute Museum (A7119 and A7120). Local residents directed the excavators to the site and this was where work began. A number of cuneiform tablets and clay sealings were found at the Serai as well as hematite weights, terracotta figurines and plaques and a bone cylinder seal.
Inanna Temple The most notable feature of Ishchali is the main temple. It was that of Inanna-Kititum, or Inanna of Kiti (occasionally called Ištar-Kititum). It is one of the largest temples ever found in the ancient Near East at 100 meters by 65 meters, oriented from the southwest to the northeast. The temple lay on a raised platform supported by a brick retaining wall. The lower 13 courses of brick were mortared with mud and those above with bitumen. Rebuilt several times, always following the original plan, the monumental building consisted of one large temple on the west side and two smaller areas on the north which are thought to be shrines (the northwestern most shrine was used for domestic type activities in the later periods). The excavators suggested that one of the small shrines was that of Ninshubur, the sukkal of Kititum though there was no finds to support that. The main, western, temple had a cella, antecella (with entrance towers having vertical grooves), and forecourt. Its main entrance to the south also had flanking towers. In the innermost room of the temple (pirishtum) "two accounts of gold and precious stones were found, as well as various seal cylinders".T. Jacobsen, "The Mesopotamian Temple Plan and the Kititum Temple", Eretz-Israel 20 (Yadin Volume), pp. 79–91, 1989
The main, western, temple was at an elevation 4 meters above the surrounding neighborhood while the remaining part of the Kititium Temple was only raised by 2 meters. A cylinder seal, found in the main temple, was inscribed "Mattatum, daughter of Ubarrum, for her recovery to Kititum presented (this seal)" as well as a building brick with an inscription of Eshnunna ruler Ipiq-Adad II dedicated to Ištar-Kititum. Small finds included terracotta plaques and a copper lamp in the form of a lion found in the antecella of the main temple. The southeast third of the temple was occupied by a large open interior courtyard similar to that at the Temple Oval at Khafajah The interior courtyard measured 32 meters wide and 48 meters long. At the southwest end a large staircase flanked by fluted towers led up to the main temple. At the northeast end a second large staircase, also flanked by fluted towers, led down to the street. The excavators defined a stratigraphy with four phases: Phase I-A - Original building Phase I-B - Second occupation of the original building Phase II-A - Rebuilding of north wing (3rd occupation of the original building) Phase II-B - Fourth occupation of the original building Widespread conflagration in the Temple and nearby "Serai" area