Ehursag

'''Eḫursag''' ({{langx|sux|{{cuneiform|𒂍𒄯𒊕}}}}) is a Sumerian term meaning "house of the mountains".<ref name="George1993">{{cite book|author=A. R. George|title=House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=31miWZGVevMC&pg=PA2|accessdate=9 June 2011|year=1993|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-0-931464-80-5|pages=2–}}</ref>

Sumerian ÉḪURSAG is written as a special ligature (ÉPAxGÍN 𒂍𒉺𒂅),<ref name="EbelingMeissner1998">{{cite book|author1=Erich Ebeling|author2=Bruno Meissner|author3=Dietz Otto Edzard|title=Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie: Nab-Nuzi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3q2DZPc-XCMC&pg=PA15|accessdate=9 June 2011|year=1998|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-017296-6|pages=15–}}</ref> sometimes etymologized as É.ḪAR.SAG ({{cuneiform|𒂍𒄯𒊕}}), written with the signs É "temple" (or "house"), ḪAR "mountain" and SAG "head".

Ehursag is commonly associated with a temple of Enlil discovered by Sir. Charles Leonard Woolley during excavations at Ur in modern-day Iraq. He originally considered this to be a palace, a view that was later rejected in replace for a temple. The location of the royal palace at Ur remains unknown. No graves were discovered under the Ekursag during these excavations.<ref name="Sharlach2004">{{cite book|author=Tonia M. Sharlach|title=Provincial taxation and the Ur III state|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sxz1ahiQQnsC&pg=PA9|accessdate=9 June 2011|year=2004|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-13581-9|pages=9–}}</ref> Woolley eventually conceded that it was a "minor temple of some sort." Modern scholars still vary on their interpretations of it as a temple, palace, or administrative building. It has even been suggested to be a wing or annex of the main temple, having had some of its foundations destroyed.<ref name="Crawford2004">{{cite book|author=Harriet E. W. Crawford|author-link=Harriet Crawford|title=Sumer and the Sumerians|url=https://archive.org/details/sumersumerians00|url-access=registration|accessdate=9 June 2011|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-53338-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sumersumerians00/page/103 103]–}}</ref> Stamped bricks used in the construction of the foundations revealed that they were built by Ur-Nammu of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Bricks from the pavement bore the stamp of his successor, Shulgi and later ones of the Isin-Larsa period after Ur was destroyed by Elamites.<ref name="Crawford2004"/> Ehursag is also the name or epithet of Ninhursag's temple at Hiza and has been suggested to have been an interchangeable word with Enamtila.<ref name="George1993"/> The Ehursag at Ur was restored in 1961 using ancient and modern bricks, a 2008 report for the British Museum noted that this had collapsed in some areas, especially the northwest corner.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arxaiologia.gr/assets/media/PDF/3769.pdf |title=Curtis, John., Rahee, Qais Hussein., Clarke, Hugo, Al Hamdani, Abdulamir M., Stone, Elizabeth., Van Ess, Margarete., Collins, Paul., Ali, Mehsin., An assessment of archaeological sites in June 2008: An Iraqi-British Project., p. 8, arxaiologia.gr, Iraq, 2008 |access-date=2011-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006182032/http://www.arxaiologia.gr/assets/media/PDF/3769.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also== * Ziggurat of Ur * Ur * Ekur * Enamtila * Hursag * Hubur

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

Category:Mesopotamian religion Category:Mythological mountains Category:Sumerian words and phrases