Dilbat
Tell al-Deylam · Tell Dulaim · Dulbat
Early Bronze to Neo-Babylonian (c.3000–539 BCE)·Sumerian → Akkadian → OB → Kassite → NB·🇮🇶 Babylon Governorate, S Babylon, Iraq
About
About Dilbat
Dilbat (Tell al-Deylam, ancient Dulbat) is a 30-ha Sumerian town 30 km south of Babylon on the Arahtu canal, centre of the grain-goddess Uraš and later Nabu of Dilbat. Soundings by Hormuzd Rassam and 1980s Iraqi work revealed OB houses with archives, Kassite–NB ziggurat podium (E-Ibbi-Anum), and evidence for intensive date-palm orchard irrigation. The site preserves an intact NB residential quarter with vaulted houses and tablet school.
Why it mattersUraš/Dilbat cult; NB orchard irrigation model.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Uraš vs Nabu syncretism?
- 02Orchard water management?
Theories
- 01Canal orchard economy (Buringh)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3200 BCE
- Period
- Early Bronze to Neo-Babylonian (c.3000–539 BCE)
- Culture
- Sumerian → Akkadian → OB → Kassite → NB
- Builders
- Sumerian → Hammurabi → Nebuchadnezzar II
- Purpose
- Settlement and ceremonial centre
- Abandoned
- 539 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1870s (Rassam note)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3200 BCE
Sumerian Dilbat founded
c.1800 BCE
OB archives
c.1300 BCE
Kassite ziggurat E-Ibbi-Anum
1980s
Iraqi soundings NB quarter
On the ground
Structures & features
32.1500° N · 44.5000° E · 22 m · 3 mapped features
E-Ibbi-Anum Ziggurat and Uraš Temple
templeKassite ziggurat podium and Uraš temple platform with foundation deposits
32.1504° N · 44.5002° EOld Babylonian Archive Houses
archiveOB residential block yielding cuneiform house archives
32.1507° N · 44.4995° ENeo-Babylonian Date-Palm Canal System
hydraulicCanal embankments and palm-grove basin remains, southern lower town
32.1494° N · 44.5008° E