Eridu
Eridu
(ā`rĭdo͞o), ancient city of SumerSumerand Sumerian civilization
. The term Sumer is used today to designate the southern part of ancient Mesopotamia. From the earliest date of which there is any record, S Mesopotamia was occupied by a people, known as Sumerians, speaking a non-Semitic language.
..... Click the link for more information. , Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates, S of Ur (in present-day S Iraq). Excavations conducted from 1946 to 1949 revealed that Eridu was the earliest known settlement in S Mesopotamia and dated from c.5000 B.C. A temple discovered there was probably dedicated to the water god Ea.
Eridu
(also Eredu), one of the oldest Sumerian cities (now Abu Shahrain), located in what is now southern Iraq. Founded on the shore of the Persian Gulf, Eridu developed into the center of an early farming society in southern Mesopotamia (the Eredu culture flourished from the end of the sixth millennium to the first half of the fifth millennium B.C). It was later the center of the Ubaid, or Obeid, culture and then of the Uruk culture (fourth millennium B.C). It is mentioned in written sources dating from the middle of the third millennium to the middle of the first millennium B.C. At the beginning of the third millennium B.C, it lost its importance as a city but remained the center of the cult of Ea (Enki), the god of waters and wisdom.
Excavations, conducted in 1918–20 and 1946–48, uncovered mud-brick dwellings and public buildings, a ziggurat, and platform temples, built on the site of earlier sanctuaries, including the temple of Ea, with remains of sacrifices (fishbones). The temples consisted of an elongated hall with an altar and small chambers flanking the hall on two sides, the usual plan of the Sumerian temple (beginning in the fifth millennium B.C). In the necropolis at Eridu (Ubaid period), approximately 1,000 mud-brick cists were unearthed. Cultic articles, pottery, and weapons were found.