Borsippa

Borsippa was a sister city to Babylon, sacred to Nabu, god of writing and son of Marduk, and its ziggurat, Ezida, still stands as one of the most conspicuous ancient ruins in southern Iraq: a mass of mudbrick rising some fifty metres from the plain with a fragment of the upper stage standing on top like a tower. Parts of the brickwork have been fused into glassy slag by intense heat, which older accounts attributed to lightning and modern ones generally explain as a fierce fire in the structure. The ruin was long identified in European tradition with the Tower of Babel, a claim now attached more usually to Babylon's own ziggurat. Excavation by Austrian teams uncovered the temple of Nabu at the base.

History

In the late 3rd millennium BC the god of Borsippa, a sister city of Babylon, was Tutu, later merged with Marduk. Nebuchadnezzar's stele, found on the site in the 19th century, called its ziggurat the "tongue tower", which led later Arabic tradition to identify it with the Tower of Babel; when complete it stood 70 metres high in seven terraces, and even in ruin it rises 52 metres over the plain (Wikipedia, Borsippa).

What to look for

• The standing tower - the fragment of upper stage on the ziggurat mass.
• Vitrified brick - masonry fused to glass by intense heat.
• The Nabu temple - the excavated precinct at the foot of the mound.
• The plain view - the flat country from the base of the ruin.

When to go

November to March; the ruin is exposed and the plain is severe in summer. Late afternoon light on the brickwork is good. The site is usually combined with Babylon and Kish.

Things to know

Climbing the mound is discouraged and the brickwork is unstable. Interpretation on site is minimal. The Tower of Babel association is a European tradition rather than an established identification. Facilities are none.

Nearby

Babylon lies northeast; Kish is beyond it.

Key facts