Sippar

/si pahr"/, n.

an ancient Babylonian city on the Euphrates, in SE Iraq.

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Ancient city, Babylonia.

It is located southwest of modern Baghdad on the Euphrates River. From the 3rd millennium BC, it was a centre of worship of the Sumerian sun-god Shamash. It was subject to the 1st dynasty of Babylon, but little else is known about the city before 1174 BC, when it was sacked by the Elamites. It recovered from its defeat but was later captured by the Assyrians. Excavations, begun in 1882, have uncovered the remains of a large temple and thousands of religious and historic clay tablets.

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▪ Iraq

modern  Abū Ḥabbah 

      ancient city of Babylonia, located southwest of present Baghdad, central Iraq. Sippar was subject to the 1st dynasty of Babylon, but little is known about the city before 1174 BC, when it was sacked by the Elamite king Kutir-Nahhunte. It recovered and was later captured by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I. Under the 8th dynasty of Babylon, however, King Nabu-apla-iddina (c. 880) rebuilt Sippar's great Temple of Shamash and recorded that while digging in the ruins he found the ancient image of the god, and he depicted himself and Shamash on a stone memorial tablet. This same tablet was later found by King Nabopolassar when he restored the temple in the late 7th century BC. The tablet is now in the British Museum.

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