{ "id": "ep7t10xdr4", "slug": "ekitusgirzal", "title": "Ekitušgirzal", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places" }, { "id": "places.sites", "label": "Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites" }, { "id": "places.sites.archaeological", "label": "Archaeological sites and site complexes", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.archaeological" }, { "id": "places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "label": "Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites" }, { "id": "places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites.roman-and-late-antique-sites-of-anatolia-and-the", "label": "Roman and late antique sites of Anatolia and the Caucasus", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites.roman-and-late-antique-sites-of-anatolia-and-the" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.mena.nodate.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · Not dated: Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.nodate.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "path": [ { "id": "geo.mena", "label": "Middle East and North Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena" }, { "id": "geo.mena.nodate", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · Not dated", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.nodate" }, { "id": "geo.mena.nodate.places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.nodate.places" }, { "id": "geo.mena.nodate.places.sites", "label": "Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.nodate.places.sites" }, { "id": "geo.mena.nodate.places.sites.archaeological", "label": "Archaeological sites and site complexes", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.nodate.places.sites.archaeological" }, { "id": "geo.mena.nodate.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "label": "Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.nodate.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Ekitušgirzal (é-ki-tuš-gir₁₇-zal, \"House, Abode of Joy\") was a temple of the goddess Bēlet-Eanna, a manifestation of Ištar, in the New City district of eastern Babylon, rebuilt by Abī-ēšuh and Nebuchadnezzar II and surviving into the Hellenistic Period; a namesake temple of Ištar stood at Ilip.", "snippet": "Ekitušgirzal (é-ki-tuš-gir₁₇-zal, \"House, Abode of Joy\") was a temple of the goddess Bēlet-Eanna, a manifestation of Ištar, in the New City district of eastern Babylon, rebuilt by Abī-ēšuh and Nebuchadnezzar II and surviving into the Hellenistic Period; a namesake temple of Ištar stood at Ilip.", "node": "places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites.roman-and-late-antique-sites-of-anatolia-and-the", "markdown": "# Ekitušgirzal\n\n**Ekitušgirzal** (written in Sumerian as é-ki-tuš-gir₁₇-zal, meaning \"House, Abode of Joy\") was a temple in Babylon dedicated to the goddess Bēlet-Eanna, a manifestation of Ištar. It stood in the New City district, in the eastern half of Babylon's inner city, and is known from cuneiform temple lists and topographical texts.[1](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btmao/cbd/qpn/E.html) • [2](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Name and meaning | Ekitušgirzal, Sumerian é-ki-tuš-gir₁₇-zal, \"House, Abode of Joy\"[1](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btmao/cbd/qpn/E.html) |\n| Deity | Ištar worshipped as Bēlet-Eanna[3](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/cbd/qpn/E.html) |\n| Location | New City district of Babylon, eastern half of the inner city[2](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000) |\n| Rebuilding | (Re)built by the Old Babylonian king Abī-ēšuh (r. ca. 1711–1684 BC) and the Neo-Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604–562 BC)[2](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000) |\n| Survival | The temple survived into the Hellenistic Period[2](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000) |\n| Attestation | 10 attested instances in the Babylon temple-name corpus, 9 as the east Babylon temple of Bēlet-Eanna and 1 as a temple of Ištar at Ilip[3](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/cbd/qpn/E.html) |\n\n## Name and deity\n\nThe name belongs to a family of Sumerian ceremonial temple names built on é (\"house\") and ki-tuš (\"abode, seat\"). In the lexical corpus of Babylonian temple names the written form é-ki-tuš-gir₁₇-zal is normalized as Ekitušgirzal, with variant writings including é-ki-tuš-gir₁₇-zal-la and damaged forms ending in gir₁₇-zil.[3](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/cbd/qpn/E.html) In the topographical text *Tintir = Babylon*, Tablet IV, the entry pairs the Sumerian name with the Akkadian description É šu-bat ta-šil-ti and identifies the building as the temple of the goddess Bēlet-Eanna, \"House, abode of j[oy]\".[6](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/Q007952)\n\nBēlet-Eanna (Akkadian for \"Lady of Eanna\") is the East Semitic counterpart of the epithet Nin-Eanna, \"Lady of Eanna\", which derives from Inanna's temple Eanna in Uruk.\n\n## Location in Babylon\n\nThe temple stood in the New City district of Babylon, in the eastern half of the inner city.[2](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000) According to Andrew R. George, whose *House Most High* (1993) catalogs Mesopotamian temple names, Babylon had two separate temples dedicated to the goddess under this aspect: Ekitušĝarza (\"house, abode of the regulations\"), located close to the city wall in the Tuba district of the western half, and Ekitušgirzal, located in the eastern part of the city.[3](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/cbd/qpn/E.html) George's catalog assigns Ekitušgirzal entries nos. 624–625.[3](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/cbd/qpn/E.html)\n\nThe *Tintir = Babylon* topographical text, Tablet IV, lists the temple among the sanctuaries of that part of the city; published descriptions of the entry state it was one of two temples in that part of Babylon, while other summaries of the same text give four.[2](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000) • [5](https://atlantides.org/changelogs/2021/02/)\n\n## History\n\nThe temple is mentioned in Old Babylonian Period texts. It was (re)built by the Old Babylonian king Abī-ēšuh, who reigned ca. 1711–1684 BC, and later by the Neo-Babylonian ruler [Nebuchadnezzar II](https://www.edgepedia.org/nebuchadnezzar-ii), who reigned 604–562 BC. The temple survived into the Hellenistic Period, making it one of the Babylonian sanctuaries whose cult continued under Seleucid rule.[2](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000)\n\n## A second Ekitušgirzal at Ilip\n\nThe temple name is not unique to Babylon. Of the ten attested instances in the first-millennium temple-name corpus, nine refer to the east Babylon temple of Ištar as Bēlet-Eanna and one refers to a temple of Ištar at Ilip, a site in northern [Babylonia](https://www.edgepedia.org/babylonia).[3](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/cbd/qpn/E.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Ekitušgirzal, temple-name entry, Mesopotamian Temple Names (BTMAO), Oracc](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btmao/cbd/qpn/E.html)\n2. [Place Ekitušgirzal, Pleiades directory of ancient places (Jamie Novotny)](https://pleiades.stoa.org/indexes-old/unlocated?b_start%3Aint=2000)\n3. [Ekitušgirzal, temple-name entry, Babylonian Temples of the First Millennium (BTTO), Oracc](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/cbd/qpn/E.html)\n4. [Tintir = Babylon, Tablet IV, edition in BTTO (Oracc), lines o 8']\n5. [Pleiades Change Log, February 2021](https://atlantides.org/changelogs/2021/02/)\n\n6. [Tintir = Babylon Tablet IV, BTTO edition Q007952, Oracc](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/Q007952)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites › Archaeological sites and site complexes › Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East › Roman and late antique sites of Anatolia and the Caucasus*\n\n*Initially written Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/ekitusgirzal", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/ekitusgirzal.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Ekitušgirzal\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/ekitusgirzal. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Ekitušgirzal](https://www.edgepedia.org/ekitusgirzal)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/ekitusgirzal](https://www.edgepedia.org/ekitusgirzal). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Ekitušgirzal\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/ekitusgirzal. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Ekitušgirzal was a temple of the goddess Bēlet-Eanna, a manifestation of Ištar, in the New City district of eastern Babylon, rebuilt by Abī-ēšuh and Nebuchadnezzar II and surviving into the Hellenistic Period; a namesake temple of Ištar stood at Ilip." }