Lunar alignments at Ur: Entanglements with the Moon God Nanna
Issue: Vol 5 No. 2 (2019)
Journal: Journal of Skyscape Archaeology
Subject Areas:
DOI: 10.1558/jsa.39074
Abstract:
In ancient Sumer the Moon god, Nanna, was the patron deity for the city of Ur. In this article data are presented showing how the city of Ur was astronomically aligned to the Moon. Assessments are made using satellite imagery in combination with early maps and aerial photographs. Also shown is how the geographic location of Ur relative to Nippur may be related to the Moon’s 18.6-year nodal cycle. It is also shown how lunar calendric data are likely embedded in an ancient legend that tells of the Moon god’s journey from Ur to Nippur. Together these and other lines of evidence demonstrate how one of the world’s oldest cities was shaped through its entanglement with the gods – and in particular, the Moon god Nanna.
Open Access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives: CC BY-NC-ND
Author: William F. Romain
References :
Adams, R. M., 1981. Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Aveni, A. F., 2001. Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Black, J., G. Cunningham, E. Robson and G. Zólyomi, 2004. The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Black, J. and A. Green, 1992. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Britton, J. P., 2007. “Calendars, Intercalations and Year-Lengths in Mesopotamian Astronomy”. In Calendars and Years: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient Near East, edited by J. M. Steele, 115–132. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Cohen, M. E., 1993. The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.
Colbow, G., 1997. “More Insights into Representations of the Moon God in the Third and Second Millennium BC”. In Sumerian Gods and Their Representations, edited by I. L. Finkel and M. J. Geller, 19–31. Groningen: Styx Publications.
Collon, D., 1992. “The Near Eastern Moon God”. In Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning, Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East, edited by D. J. W. Meijer, 19–37. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Ferrara, A. J., 1972. “The Itinerary of Nanna-Suen’s Journey to Nippur”. Orientalia (new series) 41 (1): 1–4.
Ferrara, A. J., 1973. Nanna-Suen’s Journey to Nippur. Rome: Biblical Institute Press.
Fisher, D. and L. Sims, 2017. “Modelling Lunar Extremes”. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 3 (2): 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.34686
George, A. R. 2016. “Die Kosmogonie des alten Mesopotamien”. In Anfang & Ende: vormoderne Szenarien von Weltentstehung und Weltuntergang, edited by M. Gindhart and T. Pommerening, 7–25, 132–133, 140. Darmstadt: von Zabern.
González-García, A. C., 2015. “Lunar Alignments – Identification and Analysis”. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, edited by C. L. N. Ruggles, 493–506. New York: Springer. https://doi.
org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_37
González-Garcίa, A. C., 2016. “Lunar Extremes, Lunar Cycles and the Minor Standstill”. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 2 (1): 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.v2i1.30035
Hallo, W. W., 1966. “The Coronation of Ur-Nammu”. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 20 (3–4): 133–141. https://doi.org/10.2307/1359648
Hashim, B. M., R. Ajmi and S. A. Abduljabbar, 2013. “Identification of Dust Sources in Iraq Using Meteorological Surface Data and Satellite Data”. Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering A2: 299–305.
Heinrich, E., 1982. Die Tempel und Heiligtumer im alten Mesopotamien: Typologie, Morphologie und Geschichte, 2 vols. Berlin: Verlag Walter de Gruyter.
Hritz, C., 2010. “Tracing Settlement Patterns and Channel Systems in Southern Mesopotamia Using Remote Sensing”. Journal of Field Archaeology 35 (2): 184–203. https://doi.org/10.1179/009346910X12707321520477
Jacobsen, T., 1960. “The Waters of Ur”. Iraq 22: 174–185. https://doi.org/10.2307/4199683
Jacobsen, T., 1976. The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Jotheri, J., 2016. Holocene Avulsion History of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in the Mesopotamian Floodplain. Phd diss., Durham University, Durham.
Jotheri, J., M. Altaweel, A. Tuji, R. Anma, B. Pennington, S. Rost and C. Watanabe, 2017. “Holocene Fluvial and Anthropogenic Processes in the Region of Uruk in Southern Mesopotamia”. Quaternary International 483: 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.11.037
Kosowsky, M., 2012. HeyWhatsThat [online]. Accessed October 2019, http://www.heywhatsthat.com/
Kramer, S. N., 1956. History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Kramer, S. N., 1961 [1944]. Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium BC. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lamont, D. A., 1995. “Running Phenomena in Ancient Sumer”. Journal of Sport History 22 (3): 207–215.
Leick, G., 1991. A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology. London: Routledge.
Marriott, C. A., 2016. Sky Map Pro (version 12) [online]. Accessed October 2019, http://www.skymap.com/
McCormac, J. C., 1991. Surveying Fundamentals (2nd edition). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Nadali, D. and A. Polcaro, 2016. “The Sky from the High Terrace: Study on the Orientation of the Ziggurat in Ancient Mesopotamia”. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 16 (4): 103–108.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, n.d. “Magnetic Field Calculators” [online]. Accessed October 2019, https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/calculators/magcalc.shtml
Potere, D., 2008. “Horizontal Positional Accuracy of Google Earth’s High Resolution Imagery Archive”. Sensors 8 (12): 7973–7981. https://doi.org/10.3390/s8127973
Pournelle, J. R., 2003. Marshland of Cities: Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Early Mesopotamian Civilization. PhD diss., University of California, San Diego.
Pournelle, J. R., 2013. “Physical Geography”. In The Sumerian World, edited by H. Crawford, 13–32. London: Routledge.
Pulighe, G., V. Baiocchi, and F. Lupia, 2015. “Horizontal Accuracy Assessment of Very High Resolution Google Earth Images in the City of Rome, Italy”. International Journal of Digital Earth 9 (4): 342–362. https://doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2015.1031716
Rey, S., 2019. “Girsu: Home of the Thunderbird”. World Archaeology 8 (11): 30–35.
Romain, W. F., 2017. “The Archaeoastronomy and Feng Shui of Xanadu: Kublai Khan’s Imperial Mongolian Capital”. Time and Mind 10 (2): 145–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2017.1310567
Romain, W. F., 2018a. “Ancient Skywatchers of the Eastern Woodlands”. In Archaeology and Ancient Religion in the American Midcontinent, edited by B. H. Koldehoff and T. R. Pauketat, 304–341. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Romain, W. F., 2018b. “Supplemental Material for ‘Solstice Alignments at Angkor Wat: Connecting to the Cycles of Time’”. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology 4 (2): S1–S17. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.38250
Rossi, C. and G. Magli, 2019. “Wind, Sand and Water. The Orientation of Late Roman Forts in the Kharga Oasis (Egyptian Western Desert)”. In Archaeoastronomy in the Roman World, edited by G. Magli, A. C. González-García, J. Belmonte Aviles and E. Antonello, 153–166. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97007-3_10
Ruggles, C., 1999. Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Saggs, H. W. F., 1988. The Babylonians: A Survey of the Ancient Civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. London: Folio Society.
Sharlach, T., 2013. “Calendars and Counting”. In The Sumerian World, edited by H. Crawford, 305–318. London: Routledge.
Sissakian, V. K., N. Al-Ansari and S. Knutsson, 2013. “Sand and Dust Storm Events in Iraq”. Natural Science 5 (10): 1084–1094. https://doi.org/10.4236/ns.2013.510133
Sparavigna, A. C., 2016. “A Ziggurat and the Moon”. PHILICA Art. 618 [online]. Accessed July 2018, https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2797629
Steinkeller, P., 2001. “New Light on the Hydrology and Topography of Southern Babylonia in the Third Millennium”. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 91 (1): 22–84. https://doi.org/10.1515/zava.2001.91.1.22
Stol, M., 1992. “The Moon God as Seen by the Babylonians”. In Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning, Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East, edited by D. J. W. Meijer, 245–277. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Tiede, V., 2011. “Ziggurat, Khirigsuur & Ling: Ancient Astro-Architecture Across Asia”. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC XIX), Évora, Portugal, 5th–9th September.
Tiede, V., 2018. “Ziggurats of Mesopotamia: An Astro-Archaeological Analysis”. Paper presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC XXVI), Graz, Austria, 28th August–1st September.
Ur, J., 2013. “Patterns of Settlement in Sumer and Akkad”. In The Sumerian World, edited by H. Crawford, 131–155. London: Routledge.
Wolkstein, D., 1983. “Interpretation of Inanna’s Stories and Hymns”. In Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, edited by D. Wolkstein and S. N. Kramer, 136–173. New York: Harper & Row.
Woolley, C. L., 1934. Ur Excavations, vol. 2: Plates. The Royal Cemetery. A Report on the Predynastic and Sargonid Graves Excavated Between 1926 and 1931 [Oxford]: Trustees of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
Woolley, C. L., 1939. Ur Excavations, vol. 5: The Ziggurat and Its Surroundings. [Oxford]: Trustees of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
Woolley, C. L., 1955a. Excavations at Ur: A Record of Twelve Years’ Work. (3rd [corrected] impression) London: Ernest Benn.
Woolley, C. L., 1955b. Ur Excavations, vol. 4: The Early Periods. Philadelphia: Trustees of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
Woolley, C. L., 1965. The Sumerians. New York: W.W. Norton.
Woolley, C. L., 1974. Ur Excavations, vol. 6: The Buildings of the Third Dynasty. Philadelphia: Trustees of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
Woolley, C. L. 1976. Ur Excavations, vol. 7: The Old Babylonian Period. Philadelphia: Trustees of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
Woolley, C. L. and P. R. S. Moorey, 1982. Ur ‘of the Chaldees’: A Revised and Updated Edition of Sir Leonard Woolley’s Excavations at Ur by P. R. S. Moorey. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Zettler, R. L. 1998. “Early Dynastic Mesopotamia”. In Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur, edited by R. L. Zettler and L. Horne, 1–7. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Zettler, R. L. and L. Horne, eds, 1998. Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.